Raising the Bar in 2016

The NC State Poole College community – students, alumni, faculty, staff, employers and friends – has raised the bar in 2016.

Together, we have worked tirelessly to think beyond traditional boundaries and to do the extraordinary, and we have raised the bar for management education at NC State. Following is a selection of our recent accomplishments.

Amazing performance in nearly all major rankings. Among these are:

• #9 best online MBA program, Princeton Review 2016
• #17 TFE Times Top Economics Schools
• #34 best graduate accounting program, Public Accounting Review 2016
• #48 Economics Doctoral Program, U.S. News & World Report
• #49 best undergraduate business program, Bloomberg Businessweek 2016
• #52 best full-time MBA program, US News & World Report 2016

A growing reputation for graduating students … prepared to deliver value to hiring organizations from day one. Examples include:

• More than 100 companies and nearly 1,400 students participated in the October 2016 Poole College Career Fair.
• Average undergraduate salaries greater than $50,000 for the first time, May 2016 graduates.
• 92% of 2016 MBA graduates accepting full-time positions within three months of graduation.
• The Jenkins MBA ranked #14 worldwide for pre- versus post-MBA salary growth, The Economist 2016.

Incredible results realized by students applying new knowledge. Accolades include:

• National Black MBA Case Competition | Jenkins MBA team placed second in the case competition, and an MBA student placed fourth in the Digital Whiteboard Pitch competition.
• Deloitte-SAP Co-Innovation Event | Poole undergraduate team received third place.
• Novo Nordisk Innovation in Action Competition | Jenkins MBA representation on first place team, which advanced to the international finals in Denmark and defeated the Danish team to become global winners.
• Lulu eGames, NC State’s biggest startup competition | A strong showing in the 2016 competition, with a total of 10 teams from undergraduates and graduate programs reaching the finals, and seven achieving top-three status in one or more categories.
• Successful student-managed events, including FoodCon and the Innovative Women’s Conference.

Program enhancements designed to optimize the Think and Do experience, such as:

• The Jenkins MBA curriculum was redesigned to improve the foundation, enhance experiential learning, and deepen analytical and critical thinking skills development.
• The Jenkins MAC program was recognized for impactful use of technology, for which three professors received an Innovation in Accounting Education Award from the American Accounting Association for the program’s use of Second Life to provide a hands-on learning virtual experience with a real world audit process.
• We launched the McLauchlan Leadership Series, for which we recently identified our 2017 fellows.
• The Jenkins MBA hosted our first major case competition, the NC State Grand Business Challenge, sponsored by Merck.
• The Career Management Center created the Jenkins MBA Alumni Career Management Program, giving alumni access to virtual resources, executive coaching sessions and new networking opportunities.
• Our Executive Education team launched FastTrack, an ongoing series of half-day programs designed to help individuals develop analytical, leadership and innovation skills.
• We built on our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion with the appointment of Tayah Lin Butler as director of diversity and inclusion, who provides both leadership and program development.
• The Undergraduate Program launched a business analytics honors program in response to overwhelming demand from all sectors of industry. Poole College is a leading innovator nationwide in this effort at the undergraduate level.

Future-focused world-class faculty and administration.

• Annette Ranft joined Poole College of Management as dean and Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. chair on July 1.
• Two Poole College professors received the NC State Holladay Medal for Excellence.
• Fay Cobb Payton, professor of information technology, received the NC Technology Association’s Tech Educator of the Year Award and was named an NC State University Scholar.
• We introduced our three newly named professors: Joe Brazel, Jenkins Distinguished Professor of Accounting; Jon Carr, Jenkins Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship; and Sebastian Heese, Owens Distinguished Professor in Supply Chain Management.
• Stacy Wood, Langdon Distinguished Professor of Business Management, was invited to write an overview of the literature on consumers and innovation, producing: The Psychology of Innovation. She also was elected president-elect of the board for the Association for Consumer Research for 2017 and will begin serving as president in January 2018.

Generous gifts making an extraordinary impact on the lives of students.

NC State launched our most ambitious fundraising campaign in our proud history, a campus wide goal of $1.6 billion to move NC State from good to great. Poole College alumni, students, staff and faculty have all played a role in that effort, giving back each and every year through the annual fund. And many alumni have come forward to start to establish their own legacy at NC State by creating endowed scholarships, supporting faculty or investing in our programs. Thank you!

We have much to be proud of but the hard work is just beginning. We are energized by the challenge and see great promise for the NC State Poole College of Management in 2017.

– Annette L. Ranft, Dean and Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Chair