College Park, Md. - Financial and health IT experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to analyze the U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether President Barack Obama‘s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional. These experts can discuss what's at stake related to patients, insurers, IT investment and health insurance exchanges, and the U.S. economy. The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

Academic experts and business leaders from around the world gathered to share the latest knowledge on service marketing, operations, and management at the 21st annual Frontiers in Service Conference, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service (CES) and hosted at the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Lemma Senbet, the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance, has been appointed Executive Director of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), a premier economic policy research institution serving Africa. The Nairobi, Kenya-headquartered not-for-profit corporation is working to build a thriving community of well-informed economics researchers whose work can shape policies and boost economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Thursday, June 7, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 10, 2012, 7:30 a.m. With digital communications, writing skills for executives are more important than ever. How can you be sure you’re staying professional while getting your point across? In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Ken White talks about writing for executives.

Thursday, May 24, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, May 27, 2012, 7:30 a.m. Having a global perspective is critical to leading in today’s business world. At the Smith School, students take part in international experiences abroad and at home to shape their view of the world and give them the practical preparation needed to excel and lead. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Kislaya Prasad talks about the impact international experiences can have on perspective and career.

Thursday, June 7, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 10, 2012, 7:30 a.m. Writing Skills for Executives With digital communications, writing skills for executives are more important than ever. How can you be sure you’re staying professional while getting your point across?

In boardrooms, many members are standalone actors. They “listen, make their points and go home,” said Carly Fiorina, MBA ’80. “But the reality is the rest of the world sees the company board as a team with responsibilities.”

Professor Lemma W. Senbet has advice for his students: “I tell them to always do your best, wherever you are and whatever you are doing – you never know who could be watching. One thing leads to another and you may end up someplace very different from where you started. Situations are what you make of them.”

Debra L. Shapiro, the Clarice Smith Professor of Management and Organization at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, has been elected to serve a five-year term on the executive committee of the Academy of Management (AOM), effective August 2012. Shapiro will serve from August 2015-2016 as academy president and the year afterward as immediate past president.

The best way to do this – specifically how to effectively and efficiently sort through and manage enormous amounts of healthcare data to improve quality of care – was the topic of discussion among thought leaders from the Smith School, IBM and the federal government at the second annual IBM Business Analytics Workshop. Smith and IBM co-hosted the daylong event at Van Munching Hall on May 17, 2012.