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April 2015

Roberson Receives Golden Apple Award

l-r: Laura Barthel, Mike Roberson, Kirby Easterling, and Lana Carnes
The Department of Management, Marketing and International Business is pleased to announce Dr. Mike Roberson as the 2015 College of Business and Technology Golden Apple Award recipient. According to Department Chair, Dr. Lana Carnes, "What a meaningful tribute this was for Mike and his teaching career."  Roberson, Professor of Management, received his award in a ceremony on April 29.
 
Golden Apple Awards were also presented to Laura Barthel, Kirby Easterling, and Lana Carnes.  "The number of MMIB faculty members receiving the Golden Apple Award indicates the importance placed on teaching as the first priority," said Carnes.
 
Golden Apple Award winners are nominated by students and awarded by EKU Housing "in recognition of excellence in teaching and going above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of students."
 
Carnes continued, "The many accolades and awards given to MMIB Faculty this year continue to highlight the emphasis on quality instruction both inside and outside of the classroom.  Keeping the focus on students' success is the key to happiness and fulfillment in our profession, and MMIB does that very well."

Barthel Receives SGA Distinguished Educational Leadership Award

Laura Barthel

The Department of Management, Marketing and International Business is pleased to announce Laura Barthel as recipient of the 2015 Student Government Association Distinguished Educational Leadership Award for Exceptional Classroom Instruction.

Barthel, Instructor of Corporate Communication and Technology, was recognized at the SGA Recognition and Inauguration Banquet on April 28.  Dr. Beth Polin, Assistant Professor of Management, was also recognized as a nominee for the award.

The SGA Distinguished Educational Leader is an annual award determined each spring through student nominations. Students may nominate exceptional professors in the categories of Outstanding Service, Exceptional Classroom Performance, Excellent Student Support, or Most Outstanding.

New SGA student leaders were also sworn in.  Two of the three are MMIB students: Collin Potter, Executive Vice President (junior Marketing Research & Analytics major from Mt. Sterling), and Karlee Tanel, Vice President for Student Activities (junior International Business major from Cedarburg, Wi.).

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Henry named 2015 MMIB distinguished senior

Nicole Henry

Ms. Nicole Henry has been named the 2015 Distinguished Senior for EKU's Department of Management, Marketing and International Business. She was honored during a presentation on Friday, April 7, at the School of Business College to Careers Conference.

The student is selected based on superior academic achievement, excellent leadership, citizenship, character and services to EKU.

Nicki, from Chagrin Falls, Oh., expects to graduate in December with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, PGA/Golf Management option.

Nicki is a member of the Women’s Golf team and is a shining example of a student athlete at EKU. She maintains a near-perfect 3.97 grade point average while managing a demanding academic and athletic schedule. Along with multiple mentions on the EKU President's and Dean's Lists, she has earned the OVC Medal of Honor and a place on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll. An EKU Colonel Scholar, she has also received the Bratzke Award of Excellence.

No stranger to community involvement, Nicki started an ALS charity (Birdies Fore ALS) after her grandmother was diagnosed as an initiative to raise awareness and money for ALS through golf. She also serves on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for Women's Golf and has served as a Service Officer for her home high school, Kenston High School National Honor Society.

Her multiple awards as a golfer will no doubt help further her plan to become a PGA Head Golf Professional and eventually have her own golf and fitness related business.

Nicki is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Chi Alpha Sigma National Student-Athlete Honor Society, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Please join us in congratulating Nicole Henry on being selected as the 2015 distinguished senior representing the Department of Management, Marketing and International Business.

At the luncheon, the college honored distinguished seniors and distinguished alumni from each of the academic departments within the College of Business and Technology. Ms. Sharon Ritchey was selected as the MMIB departmental distinguished alum. In addition, recipients of scholarships and awards for the 2014-15 academic year were recognized and honored for outstanding achievement.

Photos of all of MMIB's Outstanding Seniors...

MMIB Recognizes Distinguished Alumna and Seniors

Ms. Sharon Ritchey, MMIB Distinguished Alumnus 2015

Sharon Ritchey, Senior Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, AXA US, was recognized by the Department of Management, Marketing, and International Business as Distinguished Alumnus for 2015.  Ms. Ritchey provided the Keynote Presentation to over 125 MMIB Seniors for their College to Careers Conference.

As Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Ritchey oversees the company’s operations, including technology, digital, and data analytics capabilities.  She leads the development of AXA operations platform that supports the business customer experience.

Ms. Ritchey joined AXA in November 2013 from Hartford Financial Services, Inc., where she spent 14 years in various operating and technology roles and most recently served as Executive Vice President of the Retirement Plans Group.  In this role, Ms. Ritchey managed the P & L of the Retirement Plan business including corporate 401 (k), government 457, and not-for-profit 403(b) plans.  Prior to The Hartford, Ms. Ritchey spent four years in senior marketing and quality six sigma roles at GE Capital.  She began her career at Citicorp serving in roles of increasing responsibility across the company’s retail, banking, and customer service divisions.

In 2008, Ms. Ritchey received the “Women in Insurance Leadership” award from Insurance Networking News and was recognized as a “Woman to Watch” by Business Insurance.  In 2009, she was recognized as a Hartford Business Journal “Remarkable Woman.

Ms. Ritchey holds a BBA in Marketing  and an MBA from Eastern Kentucky University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  She currently serves as a board member on the LPGA Foundation Board.

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Lingjie Cai Participates in University Presentation Showcase

Lingjie Cai with Dr. Weiling Zhuang

Lingjie Cai, with his mentor, Dr. Weiling Zhuang, participated in the University Presentation Showcase, April 17, 2015.  Lingjie's project was: "The Impacts of Language Intensity on Email Open Rate.

Cai is a senior international student from Liupanshui, China majoring in Marketing Research and Analytics.

Richmond-Schwenningen, two schools, two continents, one project

EKU students interacting with DHBW from the perspective of the BTC classroom

Students in Professor Allen D. Engle, Sr.’s international management class in the School of Business at EKU are working long distance in four teams with students in Professor Bianka Lichtenberger’s human resources class at the Dual Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW) in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany this spring term.

“One common concern we here at EKU share with business schools all around the world is how to give undergraduate students insights into the many difficulties and challenges inherent in doing business across geographic, cultural, institutional and temporal boundaries” said Engle, EKU Foundation Professor and Professor of Management.  “I have worked for two springs now with longtime colleague Professor Bianka Lichtenberger, instructor of an undergraduate HRM course and Vice Rector at DHBW’s Villingen-Schwenningen campus” Engle added.

“It is easy to provide students with international insights with 20,000 euros per student to spend on trips, internships and international assignments. How we can provide that international context of group work at an affordable price – in this case no extra cost. That takes some planning, creativity and flexibility,” said Engle.

Four teams of EKU international business students have been working since January – through the snowiest semester in 30 plus years – to research and create a “prospectus”, a report on the strategic context of four German based multinational enterprises (MNEs). The firms selected were SAP, Siemens, BOSCH and KABA. These reports were uploaded on a shared web based platform operating from the DHBW, named “WILLI”.  Four student teams from DHBW are operating as HR consultants to the four EKU Management groups, building on the strategic context presented by EKU students, to make a series of recommendations for creating proposed job descriptions for four executives and further recommending recruitment and selection and training and development methods and models for the four German firms.

“This ‘forced interdependence’ between small teams of three to six students on both sides of the Atlantic gives our EKU student a taste of the issues, processes, relationship building and tolerance for complexity and ambiguity that are realities in today’s global business environment,” Engle went on. This is the second spring term that this ongoing experiment in international education has occurred. Lessons were learned last spring and modifications were made to the processes, timing, and exact nature of the course requirements. This shared learning experience is one of several operating at DHBW this term. Other teams in other classes at the Schwenningen campus are working with student groups in Mexico, Spain, and Brazil. The overall consortium of schools interested in investigating this form of shared learning consists of EKU, DHBW and schools in Turkey, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, Mexico and South Africa, and goes by the name of “Blended Learning International Coordination” (BLIC).

“I recently presented an interim report on issues learned the first year at the second annual meeting of a regional group of schools (Tennessee Tech, Appalachian State, Western Carolina and EKU) in Asheville, N.C.; and the faculty at our regional sister institutions were very interested in what we had done. I could not have done this project without the commitment to exploring and valuing diversity and internationalization provided by my chair, Lana Carnes, Dean Erekson, Dr. Vice and President Benson. A particular note of appreciation should be given to Mike Hawksley, Instructor and Lab Manager for the EKU School of Business. His hard work and professionalism working with Bernd Doerr and Michael Pelz, Mike’s opposite numbers in Germany, really makes all this possible for our students,” said Engle.

This spring, Engle is celebrating his 25th anniversary as a faculty member at EKU. His past service to the university has included being elected Chair of the University Senate (1993-1994), a member of Planning Committees and Steering Committees for institutional reaccreditation and Banner system roll out, and numerous search committees across the university. He was named a member of the EKU Society of Foundation Professors in 2013. He is coauthor of the bestselling textbook International Human Resource Management. 6th ed. (2013) published world-wide by Cengage Publishing. Engle has held a three year recurring appointment as Visiting Professor at ESCP-Europe (École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) Europäische Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin since 2007.

Rep. Rita Smart Leads Etiquette Dinner

Rep. Rita Smart with MMIB students and faculty

A business etiquette dinner was hosted by EKU’s Phi Beta Lambda on April 14, 2015. The dinner provided many valuable benefits to all who attended.

We were honored to have Representative Rita Smart as the presenter for the evening. Ms. Rita Smart has been serving Madison County in the 81st legislative district as a Kentucky State Representative since 2011. She is the owner of the Bennett House Bed & Breakfast and is currently very involved in her community and the Richmond and Berea Chambers of Commerce.

At Representative Smart’s instruction, those who attended the etiquette dinner learned much to enhance their professionalism that will serve them well in their future endeavors, such as job interviews and formal business dinners. She taught the attendees about dinner conversation and the proper etiquette conduct through each course of the meal. Along with learning skills that will be invaluable to their future careers and a wonderful three-course meal, attendees will also be receiving a complimentary autographed cookbook from Ms. Smart and the Bennett House.

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