The Smith CIO Forum, held October 8, explored the advantages and challenges of mobility with a full day of discussion and presentations on mobility in the workplace. Going Mobile, Changing the Pace and Place of Business brought together the world-class research of the Smith decision and information technologies faculty with the experience of high-level practitioners to explore issues of security, applications performance, and infrastructure key to the success of a mobile work force.

The 6th Annual Smith Consulting Forum, the annual signature event presented by the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business MBA Consulting Club, drew more than 175 participants on October 1, 2004. Sponsored by one of the worlds leading business consulting organizations, BearingPoint, the forum brought together current MBA students, alumni, faculty, experienced industry practitioners, and prominent experts for a daylong comprehensive exploration of current industry trends that are forcing an inevitable transformation in the landscape of the consulting industry.

The M.B.A. program at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business was ranked #1 by management consulting industry recruiters in The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Guide to Business Schools, published September 22. The survey also shows the Smith School is the #3 pick of corporate recruiters in the technology, telecommunications and Internet industry. Corporate recruiters from all industries rated Smith the worlds #7 school for information technology and the #10 school for entrepreneurship.

The stage was set in Houston, Texas, for a spectacular showdown. The Smith School, Michigan State University, University of Michigan, University of Georgia, Baylor University, and Georgia State University teams were competing for a $15,000 grand prize awarded to the winner of the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Annual Case Competition an event annually sponsored by DaimlerChrysler Corporation since 1992. The competition stretched over two days, and included graduate students from 30 top business schools around the country.

The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business provided Nextel BlackBerry 7510 wireless handheld devices to all of its full-time MBA students at the start of the fall 2004 semester. The objective of the groundbreaking initiative is to encourage Smith School MBAs to explore the potential of always on technology and to teach them how to leverage such technology in the educational experience.

Sprinting, jumping and hurdling, nearly 160 students representing 22 countries came together on August 16, 2004, in Van Munching Hall to begin their two-year pursuit of the coveted Smith School MBA degree. The weeklong orientation for the Class of 2006, whose collective favorite Olympic sport is track and field, featured keynote speakers, team-building exercises, career planning, and networking events.

For the past two years eSmith has been evolving into a comprehensive gateway that allows students, faculty, and staff to navigate through a network of public and private information, services, and business functions of the Smith School and the University of Maryland. The internal portal provides a secure infrastructure to present Web-based applications and information to the Smith community, focusing on tools for collaboration, research, and personal productivity.

A team of Smith MBAs placed third this past weekend in the 2004 International Graduate Logistics Case Competition in Chicago, Illinois. The team, comprised of Jeremy Gove, Muthu Venkatachalam, Bruce Chiang, Larry Legates, and Silvana Muguerza, won in the first round before falling short in a hard-fought final round.

Last month five Smith MBAs -- Jayaraman Anantharam, Ryan Fleming, Lea Kleinschmidt, Catherine Philbin, and Estella Y.J. Rong -- participated in the Fifth Annual Kenan-Flagler Marketing Case Competition at the University of North Carolina.

The MBA program at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is ranked #18 among all U.S. MBA programs in the Financial Times MBA 2004 rankings, published Jan. 26. The influential rankings place Smiths MBA program #4 among those of all U.S. public business schools and #27 in the world. The rankings are consistent with the findings of other leading business publications such as The Wall Street Journal, which placed the Smith Schools MBA program #19 worldwide in its most recent rankings.