School News

ALUMNI

New BBA Alumni Network Announced
With 11 years of success supporting the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA) Network, the school has extended this effort to BBA alumni by establishing the McCombs BBA Alumni (MBBA) Network.
 
The MBBA Network will connect alumni to each other and to McCombs, enhance the student experience through interaction with alumni and provide lifelong learning opportunities. The MBBA Network will leverage MMA Network best practices to develop a strong organization that provides valuable opportunities for BBA alumni. As the school creates the MBBA Network, it will also work with the Master in Professional Accounting and Business Honors programs on program-specific alumni initiatives.
 
In the coming year, the school will work with volunteers to create an advisory board, host several launch receptions in cities around the country and begin the tradition of an annual graduation event. Over the next
few years, the MBBA Network will expand its services to include additional activities.
 
Jennie Loev Named Director of Alumni Relations
Jennie Loev, MBA ’03 and director of the McCombs MBA Alumni (MMA) Network, is the new director of alumni relations. She will continue with her duties related to the MMA Network as well as oversee the operations and planning for the entire McCombs School Alumni Relations Department.
 
MBA Alumni Earn Executive Education Appointments
Trent Thurman, MBA ’94, has been appointed director of the Texas Evening MBA program. Thurman previously served as the associate director for the Texas MBA in Houston and the Texas MBA in Dallas
programs. Steven Burton, MBA ’04, has been named the new director of the Houston and Dallas Texas MBA programs after serving as the director of career management for working professionals since 2004.

Faculty and Staff

Four Faculty Earn Endowment Appointments
The following endowment appointments were made:
Robert Parrino, Lamar Savings Centennial Professorship in Finance; Michael Clement, KPMG Faculty Fellowship in Accounting Education; Raji Srinivasan, Spurgeon Bell Centennial Fellowship; and Frenkel ter Hofstede, Collins Hill Jr. Fellowship.
 
Three Faculty Named Senior Distinguished Lecturer
Rick Byars of the IROM Department and Bob Duvic and Jim Nolen of the Finance Department were promoted to the rank of distinguished senior lecturer, which is a new level of recognition for faculty at the university.
 

ACCOUNTING

Anderson Takes Reins from Jennings
Urton Anderson has succeeded Ross Jennings as chair of the Department of Accounting. Anderson has been teaching at The University of Texas at Austin since 1985 and most recently served as the associate dean for undergraduate programs.
 
Mills Named to IRS Council, Honored by American Taxation Association
Lillian Mills, associate professor of accounting, was selected for the Internal Revenue Service Advisory
Council for a three-year term.
 
“Professor Mills continues to serve as a bridge between serious academic scholarship and tax policy formation,” said Ross Jennings, former chair of the Department of Accounting. “I am sure she will make great contributions to this prestigious group and that this appointment will provide her with many opportunities to bring new ideas back to the classroom and to her research.”
 
Mills also was awarded the 2007 manuscript award from the American Taxation Association for co-authoring the paper, “Last Chance Earnings Management: Using the Tax Expense to Meet Analysts’ Forecasts.”
 
Granof Selected for Prestigious University Award
Michael Granof, accounting professor, has been selected to receive the prestigious Civitatis  Award for exemplary service. This award is one of the highest honors bestowed upon members of the university community. It was established in 1997 to recognize outstanding faculty citizenship throughout a career.
 

FINANCE

Texas MBA Team Takes 2nd in CNBC’s MBA Challenge
After defeating MIT and Columbia in the first two rounds of CNBC’s “Fast Money MBA Challenge,” a team of MBA students from McCombs yielded to Yale in the finals, a live national broadcast from NASDAQ’s Times Square headquarters. Throughout the day leading up to the final show, the Texas students—Ben Jones, Tim Killgoar, Justin Sander and Chris Semain, all MBA ’08—made appearances on the cable business network and represented McCombs with class, enthusiasm and grace under pressure.
 

IROM

Morrice Succeeds Shively as Chair of IROM Department
Doug Morrice became the chair of the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management in September 2007. Morrice joined the McCombs faculty in 1990 and has built a strong reputation as an accomplished teacher, scholar and service contributor. Morrice has also served in several administrative roles, including graduate adviser and as the director of the Supply Chain Management Consortium.
Morrice replaces Tom Shively, who chaired the department for five years.

MANAGEMENT

Lavie Earns Sloan Fellowship, Best Paper Awards
Dovev Lavie, assistant professor of management, received the William H. Newman Award for Best Paper at the 2007 Academy of Management Conference in August 2007. He also garnered a Distinguished Paper Award and an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management.
 
In February, Lavie received a Sloan Industry Studies Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowship is given to scholars who show exceptional promise in the early stages of their careers in contributing to the advancement of knowledge, as well as to U.S. industrial development and economic competitiveness. Each fellow receives a grant of $45,000 for a two-year period, administered by his or her institution.
 

MARKETING

Mahajan Wins Award for Best Book in Marketing
Marketing Professor Vijay Mahajan received the 2007 Berry-AMA Book Prize for the Best Book in Marketing from the American Marketing Association Foundation. His book, “The 86% Solution: How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century,” explains that the developing world now holds the greatest market potential for global companies and presents techniques and strategies necessary to win in this market.