In early November 2010, the atrium of Van Munching Hall was packed with almost 200 Smith MBAs and alumni who came to attend the 12th Annual Smith Consulting Forum, the largest event held by any professional student organization at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Organized by the MBA Consulting Club and the Office of Career Services, this year’s forum focused on the practice of “consulting in an unpredictable marketplace.”

College Park, Md. – November 1, 2010 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the winners of its fourth annual Mergers & Acquisitions Competition, held October 28-29. The event, organized by Smith’s MBA Finance Association, challenged 10 teams of MBA students from leading business schools to craft and present M&A pitches to a panel of executive and faculty judges. The student team from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business won the $5,000 first prize.

On Tuesday, October 5, 2010, the Smith Association of Women MBAs (SAWMBA) held its annual GE Women’s Panel event at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Over the years, SAWMBA has established a valuable relationship with General Electric (GE), specifically its Women’s Network. Every year, the association hosts a panel that gives Smith women and SAWMBA supporters the opportunity to hear practical and sincere advice from successful women employed by GE. This year’s panel topic was “A Profile of Leadership and Building Career Capital.”

The Smith School made its presence known at the 32nd Annual National Black MBA Conference hosted by the National Black MBA Association. This year’s event was held in Los Angeles, California, from September 21-25, 2010.

Comcast Center was full of good cheer as the Smith School celebrated the commencement of 780 undergraduates, 360 MBA/MS students, 51 EMBA students, and 9 doctoral students on May 21. William Gossman, MBA ’91, CEO of hi5 and keynote speaker at commencement, urged students in his commencement address to “practice their leadership skills on themselves.” “Don’t assume legitimacy. Don’t search for legitimacy. Create it for yourself, today,” said Gossman. “Once you have created that vision and that legitimacy, you need the courage to make it so.”

Darden hosted an inter-MBA cricket tournament on April 3, 2010. Five teams participated in the tournament; University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business fielded three teams. The teams were split in two groups: “Pool A” having Smith and Darden Wilkinson teams playing each other in the best of three playoff format with the winner advancing to the final.

A talented team MBA students from the Robert H. Smith School of Business won the 2010 Rutgers MBA Supply Chain Case Competition held at Rutgers Business School, New Jersey. Vivek Srivastava, Jayraj Ganesh, Chia-Chia Chang, and Srivatsakumar Sarvepalli represented Smith School at the competition. Five other teams representing Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Lehigh University, University of Delaware, and Syracuse University competed for a cash prize of $750.

Thursday, April 8, 2010, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, April 11, 2010, 7:30 a.m.; Monday, April 12, 2010, 4:30 a.m. Exploring Business in India     Despite a global recession, India’s economy has been growing at a steady pace and the prime minister expects it to expand at least 7 percent this year. Even if you’re not planning to start or expand a business in India, exploring its business climate and culture can be an enlightening experience.

College Park, Md. – February 26, 2010 — The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business ranked No. 7 for research productivity among U.S. and foreign business schools, according to a study released yesterday by the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management.

The MBA Consulting Club at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business organized its annual signature event, the Consulting Forum, on November 13, 2009. The forum, features representatives from top consulting firms and aims at facilitating an open dialogues between students, faculty, and the industry professionals.