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Leadership and Innovation Showcase Winners Announced

The Showcase, held April 21, drew 29 student project entries from throughout the college. Two teams from the college’s Undergraduate Programs and three teams from the college’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management were awarded prizes. Winners were selected by a panel of judges that included members of the college’s Board of Advisors and faculty.

Winning first place out of 17 graduate-level projects was the MGIM team comprised of members Marcelo Anderson, Brad Armstrong, Jeremy Bernier, Jessica Bostian and Chadwick Thompson. They presented a concept to revolutionize the sound elements of gaming devices by introducing 3D sound capabilities through the development of 3D headsets.

“This concept leverages the spatialization of sound, which will create a more realistic and engaged experience for the average gamer,” according to the team’s project summary. This class project was conducted by the MGIM students during their fall semester at the program’s partner institution, IAE located, near Aix-en-Provence, France. Their instructor was Anne-Marie Guerin, one of their faculty members at IAE.

First place at the undergraduate level went to Jennifer Miller for her supply chain project in which she analyzed the corporate container program that her project sponsor, Caterpillar, Inc., uses in shipping goods between suppliers and manufacturing plants. She identified substitute containers and prepared a cost benefit analysis. Donavon Favre, supply chain and operations lecturer in the Department of Business Management, was her instructor for this supply chain undergraduate practicum class.

Miller was able to discuss her project with Caterpillar’s chairman and chief executive officer, James Owens, who was at the event to receive the college’s Person of the Year award. As he toured the exhibits, Owens also spoke with other students about their team projects.

Second place at the undergraduate level went to a team of two undergraduate students, John Mickey and Michael Nulty, who completed the project as part of their entrepreneurship studies. Their instructor was Lewis Sheats, lecturer in the entrepreneurship curriculum. The students developed two business plans, one for Recertification Services and the other for Agape Ministries. The students gave three presentations to their class and a final presentation to a panel of investors.

At the graduate level, second place went to a team of two Master of Accounting students, Lora Blackburn and Ashley Glasgow. As part of their class, Risk Measurement Tools, they created a model to evaluate the acceptance of a manufacturing contract when excess capacity existed. The model determined the probability that cash inflow would exceed cash outflows by more than 25 percent. Their instructor was Paul Bergey, associate professor of information technology.

Third place at the graduate level went to a team of MBA students in the college’s Managing the Global High Tech Workforce class taught by Lisa McNary, lecturer. Team members Ryan Baker, Rohit Choudhary, Vasavi Mandavailli, Clay Robblee and Joe Waters developed a new model for understanding the components of impression management, allowing the best control of one’s audience in today’s technology-based communications environment. Their work was based on the Elemental Theory of Impression Management (ETIM).

“We are very pleased with the quality of entries submitted to our first annual Leadership and Innovation Showcase,” said Ira R. Weiss, dean of the college. “Our students put a great deal of effort into their projects, and while they do report their results to their project sponsors, the student teams have not previously had the opportunity to show a wider audience the kind of work that they do. We hope to continue to grow this program in the coming years, providing more students the opportunity to showcase their leadership and creative problem solving,” he aid.

“This is a great opportunity for our entire student body to see the kind of work they might be doing through our practicum projects. It’s also a tremendous opportunity for recruiters and other members of the wider business community to see how our students put their classroom learning to work, solving real world problems,” he said.

More than 150 people viewed exhibits at the Showcase and attended the colleges’ Person of the Year award ceremony that concluded the afternoon event. Owens announced the winners of the student project Showcase awards following the presentation of the Person of the Year award. The top five student teams received scholarships supported by a contribution from Red Hat.

The winning projects were selected by three teams of judges.

  • Team One: Jeff Stocks, president and chief executive officer of Manpower, and Mitzi Montoya, Zelnak Professor of Marketing Innovation in the Department of Business Management and assistant dean for research;
  • Team two: Billy Troxler, president and CEO, Troxler Electronic Laboratories, Inc., and David Washington, teaching assistant professor, Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIE); and
  • Team three: Rodney Gaddy, vice president, Northern Region, Progress Energy, and Steve Allen, professor of economics and MIE and associate dean for graduate programs and research.

Stocks, Troxler and Gaddy are members of the college’s Board of Advisors.

Photo ID:

Left to right: First Place Undergraduate Project: Jennifer Miller, Jim Owens; First Place Jenkins Graduate School Project: Marcelo Anderson, Jessica Bostian, Brad Armstrong and Chadwick Thompson. Jeremy Bernier was not available for the photo.

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