As the old saying goes, variety is spice of life. It turns out, it’s also the key to keeping yourself motivated to meet your goals when you haven’t yet made much progress. The catch: if you are almost at your goal, less variety is more motivating. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, PhD candidate Jordan Etkin talks about her research that finds variety has a huge impact on motivation.

On July 28, 2011, the 10th cohort of executive MBA students celebrated the end of their 19-month journey at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The 35 executives joined in Van Munching Hall’s Frank Auditorium with family, friends and members of the Smith School community for a recognition ceremony to honor their accomplishments.

On July 28, 2011, the 10th cohort of executive MBA students celebrated the end of their 19-month journey at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The 35 executives joined in Van Munching Hall’s Frank Auditorium with family, friends and members of the Smith School community for a recognition ceremony to honor their accomplishments.

Finance and economics faculty experts at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on the federal debt ceiling debate. They can help explain the implications for the global economy should a deal not be reached, and they can provide perspective on why the political fight has been raging in Washington. *The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content. This issue is not going away soon.

Faculty Highlight Economic Lessons for Business Students in the Classroom The summer humidity hangs over Washington – along with another hot and sticky issue: What to do about the federal budget and the looming legally limited ceiling on how much money our nation can borrow. With a fast-approaching Aug. 2 deadline, lawmakers have spent months squabbling about the problem, which could have big impacts on the global economy.

College Park, Md. – June 28, 2011 -- The University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Health IT Research (Center) a multi-campus initiative with collaboration across the College Park and Baltimore campuses, awarded $15,000 in funding to each of two teams working on promising health information technologies as part of the inaugural Health IT Seed Grant Program. The investments demonstrate the University of Maryland’s commitment to advancing innovation and research to accelerate the transformation of the nation’s health care system.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business celebrated the outstanding achievements of students, faculty and alumni at the 31st Annual Doctoral Award Banquet, held May 18, 2011.

Smith School senior Rebecca Hammer has been presented with two opportunities of a lifetime. Hammer, a finance and economics double major and Chinese language minor, was awarded two major international awards: a Fulbright Award to teach English in Taiwan and a Boren Scholarship to study Chinese intensively, either in the People’s Republic or Taiwan.

Fulbright recipient and Smith alumna Kara Marston ’07 is venturing back to her roots to study the status of women in Armenia. Marston, who is half Armenian and nearly fluent in the language, is one of four 2011-12 Fulbright recipients at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. She will spend September to July abroad. “I’ve always been really tied to my roots,” Marston said of her decision to apply for a Fulbright scholarship to Armenia. “I went in 2007 and volunteered with a media company, and again in 2009 to volunteer again.”

Mary Crowe-Kokonis  A Campus Brat, Mary Knows All and is Known by All