K-State Master of Business Administration Program Ranks Among World's Best for Teaching and Researching Ethical, Social and Environmental Responsibility

In a class on electronic marketing, Kansas State University students earning their master of business administration degree learn how a Web forum designed for children may be susceptible to pedophiles, and what U.S. and state gambling, drug and alcohol laws mean for safely selling items online.

In a graduate accounting class, the same students study current events to fully understand the effect that failure to disclose key financial information has on individual investors, the entire free market and society.

Such real-world business lessons, including a capstone course focusing on ethics and social responsibility, helped K-State's master of business administration program rank among the Global 100 best in the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes biennial survey and alternative rankings. The institute examines how well schools demonstrate significant leadership in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues into their master of business administration programs. The institute's Web site and publications help guide prospective students in choosing their master's of business education program.

Nearly 150 schools from around the world vied for a position in the top 100. K-State is the only university in Kansas to make the cut. K-State's program ranked second in the Big 12 and sixth among all land grant universities. Overall, K-State ranked No. 77 in the world, ahead of such schools as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tulane. Moreover, in a separate ranking of graduate faculty research related to social, environmental and ethical issues in business, K-State ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 and No. 29 in the world.

"Business school rankings historically have not focused much on ethics," said Diane Swanson, who spearheaded this year's bid for rank, K-State's first attempt. "The Aspen Institute's ranking parallels the business world's increasing emphasis on the triple bottom line in which ethical and environmental outcomes are stressed along with the importance of profit."

Swanson is K-State's von Waaden business administration professor and leads K-State's business ethics education initiative. Joining her in the task force that bid for global ranking were Dann Fisher, associate professor of accounting, and Brian Niehoff, interim associate provost, on leave from his post as head of the department of management in the College of Business Administration.

"During the past 10 or so years, the College of Business's recruitment has resulted in a critical mass of faculty across all departments who have research and teaching interests in business ethics and ethics-related fields," Niehoff said. "This ranking reflects the quality of their work."

K-State's director of graduate programs in business, which includes the master of business administration program, is Jeff Katz, associate dean in the College of Business Administration and the Edgerley Family Chair in Business.

"We are delighted K-State has been recognized for the excellence of our MBA program," he said. "The rankings reflect the outstanding world-class faculty who teach our graduate students and the real-world emphasis of our program that attracts top graduate students from all over the world."

K-State's College of Business Administration is led by Yar M. Ebadi.

"During the last few years, the college has been working to develop strategic priority areas on which we could focus to attain national recognition," Ebadi said. "Business ethics was among those select priorities. It is a great accomplishment for our outstanding faculty involved in this area of research to receive these excellent results from the Aspen Institute. I am very proud of what we have achieved in our MBA program and look forward to continuing to advance our national reputation in ethics and social responsibility."

Kirk Schulz, K-State's president, said, "We're incredibly proud that the Aspen Institute has recognized the quality of K-State's master's of business administration program and named it among the best in the world. This honor reflects not just on the master's program but also the longstanding quality of the College of Business Administration as a whole. After all, it is among an elite 10 percent of business schools and colleges in the nation to hold accreditation for all business and accounting programs by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business."

The rankings examined several factors, including how coursework is preparing students for the environmental, social and ethic complexities of modern day business. Swanson said ethical considerations have been a part of the coursework since K-State initiated a master of business administration program in the 1980s, long before these rankings began.

This emphasis continues today with courses like the core course she teaches on the management of legal, ethical and public policy issues, a capstone course that students take toward the end of their program.

"It's where we direct students to apply a lot of what they have learned to actual cases involving corporate social responsibility," Swanson said.

More information about K-State's ranking is available online at http://ow.ly/vN2x

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Diane Swanson, 785-532-4352, swanson@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/swansonbio.html

News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

When the Aspen Institute recently recognized Kansas State University's master's of business administration program as one of the world's best for integrating ethical, social and environmental issues into the curriculum, it highlighted several of the program's courses.

* Management of legal, ethical and public policy issues, taught by Diane Swanson, von Waaden business administration professor. It is the capstone course and the college's main vehicle for delivering ethics, social and environmental issue coverage in the masters of business administration program. Topics include corporate citizenship, environmental sustainability, ethics in global business, crisis prevention, stakeholder relations, moral reasoning, corporate governance, the role of ethics training programs and whistle-blowing.

* Electronic marketing, taught by Esther Swilley, assistant professor of marketing. Students explore issues like online security, information privacy, intellectual property rights, efforts to control Internet gambling, basic ethical concepts and the Internet's effect on public safety and welfare.

* Management accounting and business problem solving, taught by John Morris, assistant professor of accounting. Students to do a research project that focuses on recent accounting-related scandals. His accounting concepts and analysis class emphasizes the impact of financial reporting for public corporations and compliance with disclosure requirements.

* Advanced business law, taught by Lawrence H. Vogel, adjunct instructor of management. The course includes discussion of real-world situations and ethical considerations like fraud and misrepresentation and the importance of truthfulness.

* Advanced entrepreneurship, taught by Jim Bloodgood, associate professor of management. The course includes discussions of the increasing potential for socially-oriented entrepreneurial ventures and possibilities for environmentally-based ventures.

* Compensation and performance management, taught by Bruce Prince, professor of management, and Valerie Evans, instructor of management, and also by Bill Turnley, professor of management. Prince's and Evans' section addresses the Fair Labor Standards Act and other pertinent laws as they relate to employee benefits. Turnley's section examines topics like diversity, career development, gender issues, and religion and spirituality in the workplace.

* International management, taught by Brian Niehoff, professor of management and interim associate provost. The course tackles subjects like motivating and leading employees from different cultures and career development in international environments.

* Behavioral management theory, taught by Turnley, Niehoff and Thomas A. Wright, professor of management and the Jon Wefald Leadership Chair in Business Administration. Part of the course has students fill out questionnaires to determine their dominant character strengths and offers tactics for students to better view the world through the lens of ethics and virtue.

More information about the courses is available online at http://ow.ly/vN2x

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Diane Swanson, 785-532-4352, swanson@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/swansonbio.html

News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Kansas State University will receive the 2009 Sloan Consortium Effective Practice Award for ELATEwiki, a collaborative Web site that allows students and faculty to post messages and interact through a dynamic information exchange.

The award will be presented Oct. 29 at the 15th annual International Sloan Consortium in Orlando, Fla. It is the first time K-State has received an award from the consortium, which advocates the integration of online education into the mainstream of higher education and helps entities improve effectiveness by assessing the affordability, quality and satisfaction of online education.

"We are especially pleased and honored to receive this award from the Sloan Consortium that does so much to promote and enhance the quality of online education," said Dave Stewart, assistant dean for the Division of Continuing Education at K-State. "ELATEwiki has become a very creative resource for dialogue and idea exchange among faculty and students, and it is very deserving of this recognition," Stewart said.

The ELATEwiki Web site is constructed using wiki technology, which permits access, multimedia expressiveness, remote collaboration, tracking and reversibility of postings.

Roger McHaney, a university distinguished teaching scholar and professor and interim head of the department of management at K-State, serves as the wiki keeper for ELATEwiki.

"ELATEwiki was originally intended to enhance and support faculty development and student learning at K-State. However, the project was broadened for use by all institutions of higher learning," McHaney said.

ELATEwiki is used for sharing ideas and encouraging synergistic improvement of teaching practices. Articles posted on the wiki can include text, videos, images and embedded Web applications, and may be shared via RSS feeds. A community of users helps promote collaborative, active learning among students, faculty and outside experts in the field.

McHaney said the list of contributors and Web visitors continues to increase.

"As of October, the ELATEwiki main page received more than 28,000 visitors; during the first few months following its March release, the number of entries on ELATEwiki went from zero to more than 150. Nearly 100 individuals registered as contributors/users, and the wiki receives more than 400 visitors a day," McHaney said.
ELATEwiki also supports classroom access to material. Not only is the material on ELATEwiki available as a student resource, it can be used as a site for developing and posting student projects that are visible to the entire world. This sense of moving a project beyond the classroom and making it a valuable artifact tends to motivate performance and encourage collaboration between student team members, peers, experts outside the classroom and teachers, according to McHaney.

"ELATEwiki has created an open atmosphere of sharing and collegial scholarship where good teachers and students can share and exchange ideas to enhance their teaching and learning," he said.

More information about ELATEwiki and the Sloan Consortium Effective Practice Award is available at http://www.elatewiki.org

More information about K-State's award-winning distance education programs is available at the K-State Division of Continuing Education Web site at http://www.dce.k-state.edu or by contacting informationdce@k-state.edu.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Melinda Sinn, 785-532-5888, sinnpio@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Jared Betts, 785-532-2529, betts290@k-state.edu

Thomas A. Wright, Kansas State University's Jon Wefald Leadership Chair in Business Administration, has been named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

To become a Fellow, individuals must have made outstanding contributions to the field of psychology and that person's work must have had national impact on the field of psychology.

In addition to the American Psychological Association, Wright is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Association for Psychological Science. He is the first K-State scholar to achieve Fellow status in each of these three prestigious professional organizations, an honor thought to belong to only about 80 people worldwide.

"It is truly an honor to be recognized by election to Fellow status in the American Psychological Association," Wright said. "One way for K-State to achieve a top 100 or even top 50 national academic ranking is to attract and retain scholars who are widely recognized by their peers. It was truly humbling to learn that many top-tier schools do not have scholars who have achieved Fellow status in all three organizations. I am very proud to bring this positive recognition to K-State."

At K-State, Wright is a professor of management and is director of the College of Business Administration's Center for Character-based Leadership.

He is best known for his innovative thinking on psychological well-being, which can affect job performance and turnover. He has been published in many of the leading business and social science journals, and has been widely cited by print, radio and television outlets including Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, New York Daily News, Science Daily, Science Week and many others. The winner of many teaching and research awards, he also has served as associate editor for two leading management journals, the Journal of Management and the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Wright joined K-State in 2007. He earned his doctorate in organizational behavior and industrial relations from the University of California at Berkeley.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Thomas A. Wright, 785-532-5672, thomaswr@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/wrightbio.html
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Kansas State University will offer a new 16-credit-hour online graduate certificate in the management of animal health-related organizations beginning this fall.

The certificate program was developed by K-State's College of Business Administration through a partnership with K-State's Beef Cattle Institute and Division of Continuing Education.

"The collaborative efforts involved in developing this program will provide education to help employees of the animal health industry become more effective, which is of great value to businesses in Kansas, the Midwest region and the world," said Yar Ebadi, dean of K-State's College of Business Administration.

The program highlights K-State's strengths in agriculture, business, continuing education and distance learning, meeting the special needs of industries in the growing Animal Health Corridor between Manhattan, Kan., and Columbia, Mo.

According to Dr. Daniel Richardson, a veterinarian and chief executive officer of the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus Inc., more than 50 related firms are situated in the Animal Health Corridor, and increases in that number are expected with the addition of the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility in Manhattan.

"The program will provide the Animal Health Corridor and allied industries with a timely, relevant and practical means to meet the demands and managerial challenges specific to the animal health industry," Richardson said.

A market research survey conducted by the Beef Cattle Institute and completed by 77 pharmaceutical and biological professionals at Animal Health Corridor companies indicated a need for online courses in business administration.

"This is another example of K-State listening to the needs of the Animal Health Corridor and delivering a solution to stimulate professional development," said Daniel Thomson, professor of clinical sciences at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Beef Cattle Institute.

The animal health certificate is expected to be well received among K-State's partners in the Animal Health Corridor, according to Lisa Freeman, associate vice president for innovation at the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus.

"It will also ensure that the region maintains a work force capable of supporting industry needs," Freeman said.

Students in the program will learn to use applied skills and attain an understanding of basic functional areas of business and how each contributes to an effective business organization in the context of the animal health industry. The certificate will educate employees by preparing them for additional responsibilities and expanding their career opportunities.

All course work can be completed online and accepted as credit toward K-State's master of business administration program or graduate certificate in business administration. Courses include topics in the managerial challenges and dynamics of the animal health industry, business functional area courses drawing on examples from a range of industries and a detailed project based on a practical need in the employing organization.

For application details or to learn more about the program, contact the K-State Division of Continuing Education at 1-800-622-2578, e-mail informationdce@k-state.edu, or visit the program Web site at:
http://www.dce.k-state.edu/business/animal-health

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: David Andrus, 785-532-6010, andrus@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Rosanna Vail, 785-532-2720, rvail@k-state.edu
[Additional info...]

Students looking to launch their own business someday can learn the latest techniques with the new academic major in entrepreneurship offered by Kansas State University's College of Business Administration.

Growing demand for programs in entrepreneurship and the desire to build an entrepreneurial culture at K-State are among the reasons for the major, said Yar M. Ebadi, dean of the College of Business Administration.

"It is the challenge of entrepreneurship educators to prepare the next generation to serve as catalysts to help sustain social and economic development," Ebadi said.

The major will teach students about the various aspects of the entrepreneurial process. They'll learn how to research and write a business plan, seek startup funding, invest in the business's future and how best to market their business.

"With the advent of the new entrepreneurship major, K-State will play a major role in turning out entrepreneurship graduates who are well-prepared, motivated and connected for success," Ebadi said.

The major is under the direction of Jeff Hornsby, the Jack Vanier Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and director of the College of Business Administration's Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship. The center is charged with encouraging entrepreneurship by developing a curriculum, university wide initiatives and community outreach programs.

"A program like this is especially important given our current economic times," Hornsby said. "It is the spirit of entrepreneurism that has brought us out of past recessions and should lead us out of our current one as well."

Hornsby said that it is important for students to understand how risky entrepreneurial ventures can be and learn strategies to minimize that risk.

"In our program, students will gain the knowledge and receive hands-on mentoring to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and create effective venture business plans," he said.

Students also will gain an understanding of the concepts of corporate entrepreneurship -- acting entrepreneurially in already existing organizations -- and social entrepreneurship -- starting a nonprofit or other venture where social good is the motive, not profit.

In addition to the new major, the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship is planning a minor in entrepreneurship with the goal of launching in fall 2010. The minor will be open to students in all colleges.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Sources: Yar Ebadi, 785-532-7227, yebadi@k-state.edu; and Jeff Hornsby, 785-532-4364, jhornsby@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Jeffrey Hornsby, director of Kansas State University's Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, has been named to the board of directors of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, a group representing nearly 300 university-based entrepreneurship centers and programs.

The consortium helps participating members collaborate and communicate on the specific issues and challenges confronting university-based entrepreneurship centers, ranging from well established and nationally ranked centers to new and emerging centers.

Hornsby, who is also the College of Business Administration's Jack Vanier Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said serving on the board will help accelerate the further development of K-State's entrepreneurial center and lead to a high quality entrepreneurship curriculum.

"The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers provides a forum for sharing best practices and a network of the leading programs in the country," Hornsby said. "It will be an honor to serve on the board and represent K-State."

K-State's Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship was launched in 2008 under Hornsby's direction, and with significant support from the office of the provost, college deans and the center's executive and internal advisory boards.

Since then, the center has initiated a speakers series, started a chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization for students, conducted its first entrepreneurship competition -- the Next Big Thing -- and had its first Celebration of Entrepreneurship awards banquet. This fall, a new bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship was launched and additional courses on topics directly related to the practice of entrepreneurship have been added to the College of Business Administration's curriculum. The center also will offer a new minor in entrepreneurship starting in fall 2010.

The center's future plans include bringing faculty and students from across disciplines together to foster entrepreneurship on campus and in communities across Kansas.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Jeffrey Hornsby, 785-532-4364, jhornsby@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

K-State College of Business Administration Faculty Member Receives National Science Foundation Grant for Travel Industry Research on Online Retail Outlet Use

George Cai, assistant professor of management at Kansas State University, is working on research involving supply chain management for the travel industry when using online retail outlets such as Priceline.com.

The project has been awarded a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. It is part of a larger grant of $450,000 that is being shared between K-State and the University of Michigan, where Cai's research partner, Xiuli Chao is a professor of industrial and operations engineering.

The grant is special for K-State's College of Business Administration because the college rarely has research projects funded by the National Science Foundation.

"We are excited to learn of Dr. Cai's research grant award through the National Science Foundation," said Yar Ebadi, dean of the College of Business Administration. "This grant will serve to help advance the college's initiative in supply chain management and increase our reputation among business schools. It is indeed unique among business scholars to receive an NSF grant. Dr. Chai and Dr. Chao are to be commended for this outstanding achievement."

The project is "Collaborative Research on Studies of Multichannel Opaque Service Enterprises." Cai and Chao are focusing on the travel industry and its distribution channels, including opaque outlets, such as Hotwire.com and Priceline.com.

Opaque means that the consumer does not have the full information about a product. For example, when using Priceline.com the consumer can bid on a four-star hotel room, but they do not know the name of the hotel or the location -- that is what makes such outlets opaque. Many consumers use opaque channels because they consistently offer lower prices for the trade-off of not knowing exactly what they are paying for.

"Because of the Internet, everybody can purchase an airline ticket or make a hotel reservation at anytime, through many channels," Cai said. "You can compare all of them very quickly and immediately from the Internet, and it makes the competition between retailers much more intense."

Cai's research is focused on building mathematical models to help suppliers and retailers determine optimal pricing, channel distribution and revenue management. Suppliers, such as American Airlines, need to decide how many tickets to allocate to channels like Priceline.com or Expedia.com, along with the tickets sold on their own Web sites. Hotels face the same types of decisions, such as how many rooms to allocate to various channels.

"It has become very difficult for suppliers and retailers to figure out what the optimal strategy is to attract consumers and, at the same time, generate the most revenue using a mix of channels."

Cai's research is not only relevant to companies but to consumers as well, he said. Almost everyone uses traveling services, and many of the suppliers and retailers are utilizing opaque channels. Online travel service alone earned more than $100 billion in 2008, and about $8 billion was through opaque purchases, according to Cai.

"We hope our research will help both companies and consumers figure out how to utilize and maximize revenue using opaque services," he said.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Sources: George Cai, 785-532-4358, gcai@k-state.edu; and Yar Ebadi, 785-532-7227, yebadi@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Nellie Ryan, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

An article co-written by Chwen Sheu, professor of management at Kansas State University, has received the Indiana University CIBER Best International Collaboration Paper Award.

"The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Global Supply Chain Management: Transaction Cost Analysis" was recognized with the top honor at the recent third International Conference on Operations and Supply Chain Management. Since 2007, the conference has brought together supply chain management researchers from around the world to discuss and share research findings related to supply chain management issues in China and other Asian countries. The conference is organized by HK Chinese and Indiana universities.

Sheu said there were around 300 attendees from across the world at this year's conference and more than 130 papers were presented. His paper, co-authored with Chenlung Yang of Chunghua University in Taiwan, was one of only two selected to receive the conference's top best paper award.

"My paper examines how manufacturing firms from the U.S., Taiwan, and China foster partnerships in order to comply with recent environmental regulations from the European Union," Sheu said. "Several guidelines are provided to enable managers to develop the needed strategies and infrastructure for developing the partnership."

Sheu, who also holds the Paul Edgerley Chair in Business Administration at K-State, teaches supply chain management, manufacturing strategy, theory of constraints, operations research and project management. He researches the green supply chain in high-tech industry, global manufacturing practices and processes, manufacturing flexibility and environment, the retailer-supplier relationship and the effect of supply chain investment.

Sheu joined K-State in 1990. He has a bachelor's from National Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan, a master's degree from Iowa State University and a doctorate from Ohio State University.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Chwen Sheu, 785-532-4363, csheu@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

ConocoPhillips, Houston, has made a philanthropic commitment to Kansas State University, which will be recognized in a ceremony at the Sept. 26 K-State football game in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. A five-year commitment is designed to support four areas at K-State, and a 2009 gift is designated for scholarships and initiatives in the Colleges of Business Administration and Engineering, as well as the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars program.

The five-year commitment will benefit the Center for Sustainable Energy faculty and student awards, the Excellence in Business Ethics program in the College of Business Administration, the Project Impact Summer Bridge Program for incoming College of Engineering and Business Administration freshmen, and technology and equipment in the new welcome center planned for K-State. The commitment totals $2.5 million.

The ConocoPhillips Center for Sustainable Energy Program Support Fund provides funds for conducting research and classes in the center. The ConocoPhillips Professor of Sustainable Energy will be awarded to a faculty member in the College of Engineering who is associated with the center. The ConocoPhillips Sustainable Energy Student Awards will be given to undergraduate or graduate students in any curriculum who are completing projects in sustainable energy.

The ConocoPhillips Excellence in Business Ethics fund will be administered by the head of the department of management for student development workshops, business ethics case competitions, lecture series and ethics forums.

The ConocoPhillips Summer Bridge Program is administered by the Office of Diversity. This program is designed to prepare students for the academic rigor of the university environment; familiarize freshmen with the K-State campus and introduce campus services; connect summer bridge participants to multicultural student leaders and student organizations; and begin the advisement process.

The ConocoPhillips Technology and Equipment Support for the Welcome Center will be used to provide new technology and equipment in the newly renovated welcome center.

The 2009 gift of $500,000 will be used for ongoing support in the Colleges of Business Administration and Engineering for deans' excellence funds, general department support, scholarships and fellowships and funds for special programs and initiatives. ConocoPhillips' annual gift to K-State also includes support for K-State's office of career and employment services, the president's office and Quest, the freshman honorary.

The gift also provides funding for the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars program, now in its third year at K-State. ConocoPhillips selected K-State as a member of its SPIRIT Scholars Program in 2007. It is one of only eight universities in the country to receive this distinction.

ConocoPhillips has a long history of support to K-State, and employs many K-State graduates in its operations around the world.

"We are excited about continuing our excellent relationship with K-State," said Rand Berney, senior vice president, Corporate Shared Services. "We firmly believe that this new level of commitment toward these programs at K-State will continue to provide ConocoPhillips with outstanding graduate employees to help drive our business success."

"We are deeply grateful to ConocoPhillips for their generous support for students, faculty and programs at K-State," said President Kirk Schulz. "It has been a pleasure to get acquainted with the ConocoPhillips executives and appreciate the true passion they have for supporting K-State as one of our most dedicated corporate partners. Several of their employees are actively involved as mentors to our SPIRIT Scholars, which is extremely beneficial to the leadership development of these students. The people of ConocoPhillips bring a lot of heart to their commitment to K-State."

Philanthropic contributions to K-State are coordinated by the Kansas State University Foundation. The foundation manages fundraising efforts with alumni, friends, corporations and foundations to secure private support for the university.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Julie Lea, juliel@found.ksu.edu, 785-532-7564

In affiliation with the Business Ethics Education Initiative (Dr. Diane Swanson, Chair) in the College of Business Administration at K-State, Drs. Tammy L. MacLean (Suffolk University) and Barrie Litzky (Penn State Great Valley) are researching MBA programs in the United States to examine the extent to which all business school students are acquiring a foundation in business ethics as part of their educational experience. As part of this project, these professors have compiled curriculum requirements related to ethics in top MBA programs in the United States as ranked by Business Week in 2004 and 2008, using each university’s own website and on-line catalog as a data source.

In their most recent study, Professors MacLean and Litzky found that in the four years between 2004 and 2008 there appears to have been a solid shift in the offerings of ethics courses within the top MBA programs sampled. In 2004, 40% of the top 30 business schools had no ethics requirement, whereas in 2008 that percentage had dropped to 30%. The percentage of the top 30 business schools that required at least one stand-alone ethics course rose from 27% in 2004 to 57% in 2008, possibly suggesting that schools responded to the business environment by focusing more attention on ethics vis-à-vis required stand-alone courses.

The complete analysis will be published in the book Assessing Business Ethics Education, co-edited by Drs. Diane Swanson and Dann Fisher who teach management and accounting respectively in the College of Business Administration at K-State. Summaries of this research can also be found on the Business Ethics Education Initiative website at http://www.cba.ksu.edu/index.aspx?NID=701.

Source: Barrie E. Litzky, Ph.D.
Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies Pennsylvania State University barrielitzky@psu.edu
Announcement prepared by Diane L. Swanson, Ph.D.
swanson@ksu.edu, 785 532-4352

Zach DeBauche, senior in Marketing and Management from Fairbury, Nebraska, has just completed a very successful summer internship with the Sherwin-Williams Company. At the end of every summer, all interns for Sherwin-Williams from across the entire Southwest United States (60 hand selected from 200+ colleges) have a conference that partially entails a business project. Out of 32 intern groups, Zach received third place. His project was so applicable and well done that the corporate Marketing Director for Sherwin-Williams is looking into the application of this to develop sales training for the entire 8+ billion dollar company. Ann Richardson, Sherwin-Williams Area Recruiter, said, "Kansas State interns continually amaze us!"

Source: Anna Richardson, 303-794-6716, anna.richardson@sherwin.com
News Release prepared by: Claudia Leeds, 785-532-6008, cleeds@ksu.edu

K-State Finance Faculty Member Receives Best Paper Award from the American Risk and Insurance Association

An article co-authored by Xuanjuan "Jane" Chen, assistant professor of finance at Kansas State University, has been named the best feature article published in the journal Risk Management and Insurance Review in 2008.

The award was presented by the journal's professional organization, the American Risk and Insurance Association, for "Intangible Assets and Firm Asset Risk Taking: An Analysis of Property and Liability Firms." The article, which appeared in the spring 2008 edition of the journal, was co-written by Chen with Tong Yu and Henry Oppenheimer, both from the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, and Bingxuan Lin, also from the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island and from the Xinhua School of Finance and Insurance at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in China.

The authors were recognized at the annual meeting of the association Aug. 4 in Providence, R.I.

Risk Management and Insurance Review publishes respected, accessible and high-quality applied research, well-reasoned opinion and discussion in the field of risk and insurance. The journal's feature articles section includes original research involving applications and applied techniques. A committee is appointed annually to select the best feature article that appeared in the journal in the previous year.

In their paper, Chen and co-authors analyzed how the incentives to protect intangible assets affect asset risk-taking behavior of property and liability insurers. Intangible assets facilitate insurers' capacity to retain existing business and attract new clients. They concluded that their results support the view that insurers' incentives to protect their intangible assets lead to an inverse relation between intangible assets and asset risk.

"Consistent with the view that highly levered firms may go for broke, asset risk of highly levered insurers is less elastic to intangible assets than that of lower-levered insurers," Chen said. "An additional notable finding of our article is that tangible factors like firm size and capitalization increase insurers' appetites for asset risk taking."

Chen is the first person from K-State to receive the best feature article honor from the American Risk and Insurance Association.

"This was surprising and encouraging news to me," she said. "I think one reason I got this award is that I have great co-authors who are devoted to research. Another reason is that the topic is an open yet fundamental issue in insurance."

While proud of the recognition, Chen said she thinks there are still issues unsolved in the award-winning paper.

"I am continuing the exploration on the franchise value effect and other interesting topics in insurance, such as insurer portfolio allocations," she said.

Chen earned her doctorate from the University of Rhode Island in 2005. She served as an assistant professor of finance at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington before joining K-State in 2007. At K-State, She has taught intermediate corporate finance and cases in finance. Her research interests include empirical asset pricing, risk management and insurance. Her work has been publication in the Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Risk and Insurance and others.

The American Risk and Insurance Association is dedicated to advancing knowledge in risk management and insurance, as well as enhancing the career development of its members.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Source: Jane Chen, 785-532-6844, jchen@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

A Kansas State University student will be getting a behind-the-scenes lesson this summer in the making of the “Rachael Ray Show,” a talk show that combines culinary skills with celebrity interviews.

Julie Shuss, 21, a K-State senior from Leawood who is majoring in marketing, will begin working this week as one of several interns for the New York City-based television show. Between now and mid-August, Shuss will be assigned a variety of tasks at the show in exchange for academic credit.

“We’re going to be kept busy,” she said. The show stars Rachael Ray, a Food Network
personality, cookbook author, talk show host, and founder and editorial director of her own lifestyle magazine — and longtime favorite of Shuss. “I’ve watched her for several years,” Shuss said, adding she also is a fan of Ray’s “30-Minute Meals” show on the Food Network.

She admires how Ray has expanded her brand from television and magazine to commercials and kitchenware. Shuss said she learned of the internship from a
high school friend who had interned with the show last summer and was later hired to join its staff. As part of the application process, Shuss had to undergo an interview this past spring.

She was notified in April she had been selected for the internship. To receive academic credit, she will write a paper about her experience and how it relates to her marketing major.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” she said.

Shuss, who will return to K-State for the fall semester, hopes her time at the “Rachael Ray Show” will pay off in the future. “I’d like to think this might open some doors in New York or at the Food Network or Discovery Channel,” she said.

Courtesy Topeka Capital Journal (cjonline.com)
By Jan Biles

Dr. Richard P. Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University, passed away at the age of 81 on May 27, 2009 after an extended illness.

Dr. Coleman earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He also earned a B.A. from the University of Tulsa in the area of international studies and a Master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Iowa. Beginning in 1957, Coleman pursued a career in motivations research and consulting, first with Social Research Inc., of Chicago (where he ultimately became a vice-president and director), then at the Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University as a Senior Research Associate. During these years, three books of his joint authorship reached publication: Workingman’s Wife, Social Status in the City, and Social Standing in America. In 1981 Dr. Coleman joined the faculty of Kansas State University as a Professor in Marketing, retiring to Emeritus status in 1997. Still active in retirement, Dr. Coleman published The Kansas City Establishment: Leadership Through Two Centuries in a Midwestern Metropolis in 2006.

Dr. Coleman was an expert on the topic of consumer purchasing behavior and especially the role of social status. Dr. Coleman’s 1983 article in the Journal of Consumer Research examining the use of social class as a segmentation variable is still cited today in most marketing textbooks that discuss this topic. During his time with Social Research Inc., Dr. Coleman created the much used Index of Urban Status.

Known as “RP” to his students, Dr. Coleman was a beloved teacher at Kansas State University where he specialized in teaching the consumer behavior course. Dr. Coleman was very active in social and community organizations in Manhattan. He was born in Great Bend, Kansas in 1927.

Source: Kevin Gwinner, (785) 532-2783, kgwinner@ksu.edu

Yar M. Ebadi, dean of the College of Business Administration, recently attended the 2009 AACSB Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL, where he was presented Certificates of Accreditation from AACSB International Executives. These certificates indicate that AACSB International extended accreditation of the business and accounting degree programs offered by the Kansas State University College of Business Administration.

AACSB International accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools, worldwide. Institutions that earn accreditation confirm their commitment to quality and continuous improvement through a rigorous and comprehensive peer review. AACSB International accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in management education. As a specialized agency, AACSB International grants accreditation for undergraduate and graduate business administration and accounting programs.

Pictured from left are Jerry E. Trapnell, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer, AACSB International; Yar M. Ebadi, dean, College of Business Administration, Kansas State University; John J. Fernandez, president and chief executive officer, AACSB International; Richard A. Cosair, chair, AACSB International, Dean Krannert Graduate School of Management and School of Management, Leeds Professor of Management, Purdue University.

Sources: Yar Ebadi, 785-532-7227, yebadi@k-state.edu; and Melanie Horton, 785-532-7227, mhorton@k-state.edu

Kansas State University's College of Business Administration has named Chelsea L'Ecuyer, senior in accounting, Washington, its spring 2009 Outstanding Senior in Business.

The Outstanding Senior in Business award is presented each semester to a graduating senior who has made notable contributions to the college.

L'Ecuyer has held a number of key leadership roles during her time at K-State. She was actively involved with Mortar Board senior honorary, serving as treasurer; has been an ambassador for the College of Business Administration since 2006; and was a K-State orientation leader. She also is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

In addition, she's received numerous academic scholarships and honors, including being named the Koch Industries Summer Intern Presentation winner. She also was a member of Quest, the freshman honorary.

"Chelsea has made a number of distinctive contributions to the college during her undergraduate career, but chief among them is her commitment to her fellow students as a mentor," said Yar Ebadi, dean of the College of Business Administration. "She has established real relationships that have enriched the lives of her peers and helped them achieve their own academic goals. I know Chelsea's outstanding abilities and willingness to invest in the lives of others will bring her great success in both her personal life and her professional career."

Following her graduation from K-State, L'Ecuyer will be a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting in Kansas City, Mo.

L'Ecuyer is the daughter of Stephanie Thompson and the granddaughter of Richard and Karon L'Ecuyer, Washington. She also is a graduate of Washington High School.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu
Sources: Yar Ebadi, 785-532-7227, yebadi@k-state.edu; and Melanie Horton, 785-532-7227, mhorton@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

The Spring 2009 commencement exercises for the Kansas State University College of Business Administration (CBA) will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 12:30 pm in Bramlage Coliseum.

The commencement speaker will be Mr. Duane L. Cantrell, K-State alumnus and managing director of Genus Consulting, LLC. In addition, Mr. Cantrell is an owner in Signum Management and Karis Management (Bank and Financial Center Formation companies), an owner in Opus Holdings (Real Estate development, construction, and brokerage) and an owner in the Prudenta Group.

The following award recognitions will be presented during commencement:

Mr. Scott Hendrix: Instructor, Department of Finance, 2009 Kansas State Bank Outstanding Advisor Award

Mr. Rodney Vogt: Instructor, Department of Accounting, 2009 Ralph E. Reitz Outstanding Teaching Award

Ms. Chelsea L’Ecuyer: Accounting major, education minor, Spring 2009 CBA Outstanding Senior Award

Mr. Careem Gladney: Finance major, leadership studies minor, Spring 2009 CBA Senior Speaker

Singing the National Anthem will be CBA junior in Finance Mr. Kyle Landau

The K-State MBA Case Competition Team won the second place award at the recent Big 12 MBA Case Competition held at Baylor University. K-State’s College of Business Administration sent a team of two second-year MBA students (Mr. Justin Dodge and Ms. Katie Matthew) and two first-year MBA students (Ms. Amy Rucker and Mr. Shaun Rucker) to the 2009 competition in Waco, Texas. Mr. Ted Bauer (first-year MBA student) served as the non-traveling student alternate. Dr. Yun-Oh Whang served as K-State’s coach.

MBA students analyzed a “live case” provided by DMX, a company offering music, image, and messaging services to businesses. After winning in the first round (over KU, MU, and Texas Tech), the K-State team went on to the final round and won the second place award. Oklahoma State University received the first place award.

In addition to the second place team award, K-State’s Katie Matthew won two individual awards: Most Valuable Player and Best Q&A. Since 2007, K-State has collected five awards during appearances at three Big-12 MBA Case Competitions, making K-State among the most decorated MBA programs of the competition.

Case competitions provide MBA students the opportunity to test their analysis, problem-solving, and presentation skills against students from peer universities. According to K-State’s Shaun Rucker, “I’m happy to be part of K-State’s best finish yet in the competition, but now I can’t wait to bring home the first place next year!” K-State’s MBA student team members are nominated by their peers to participate in the Big 12 MBA Case Competition.

Sources: Dr. Yun-Oh Whang 785-532-2879, ywhang@k-state.edu or Dr. Jeff Katz, 785-532-7190, jkatz@k-state.edu)

Entrepreneurial plans for a company that makes edible bouquets from baked goods and an organization that donates used children's books to charter schools are the top winners in Kansas State University's first Next Big Thing competition for undergraduate students.

Sponsored by K-State's Center for the Advancement for Entrepreneurship, the Next Big Thing asked K-State students to put their ideas to the test in exchange for $9,000 in prize money. Competition was divided into two categories, a product division and a service division.

Students attended six seminars on the entrepreneurial process to help develop their ideas and write their feasibility plans.

Winners, selected by a special judging panel, were announced April 24 at the inaugural Celebration of Entrepreneurship, sponsored by the Center for Advancement of Entrepreneurship. Monetary prizes were awarded in each division, with $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second, and $750 for third. The prizes and the banquet were underwritten by a gift from Phil Howe, a Manhattan entrepreneur and chief executive officer of Kansas State Bank.

Winning the product division was the plan for Flour Indulgence, a company that makes baked goods, such as cookies and brownies, into edible bouquets as a substitute for flowers. The entrepreneurial idea was submitted by Kehley Pfrang, senior in bakery science and management and milling science and management, Goff; Mary Gleason, senior in milling science and management, Halstead; Maggie Weeks, senior in bakery science and management, Manhattan; and Kelsey Fairfield, junior in bakery science and management, Atlantic, Iowa.

Winning the service division was the plan for Shelf Help, a nonprofit company that collects used children's books and distributes them to charter schools. The students behind the idea were John Goddard, sophomore in English, Ellsworth; Michael Hackerott, freshman in general engineering, Manhattan; and Daniel Hornsby, sophomore in English, Muncie, Ind.

"These students exemplify the best of K-State with integration of their academic knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. K-State students have many great ideas that, with some harvesting, may yield some very viable ventures," said Jeff Hornsby, K-State's Jack Vanier Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and director of the Center for the Advancement of Leadership.

"This first competition exceeded our expectations with more than 100 students participating and representing majors from all across campus," he said. "From what I understand, the judges also were very impressed by the finalists' communication and presentation skills, as well as their passion for their venture ideas."

Twenty-six student teams submitted feasibility plans in the competition. The plans were reviewed by a panel of screening judges, who selected the top eight teams in each division as finalists. The finalists then presented their entrepreneurial plans to a panel of judges.

Receiving second place in the product division was the idea for Prestige Worldwide, a microbrewery producing quality wheat beers and celiac-friendly beers. Third place went to Bone on the Go, a company producing meal-replacement dog bones for dog owners to feed their pets while traveling.

In the service division, the second-place idea was Cafe Solara, a full-service restaurant serving breakfast and lunch from a renovated residential property and offering cooking demonstrations and private dining in the evenings. The third-place winner was Bunchd, a Web application that provides communications efficiency software via the Internet to the Web browser desktop or mobile phone.

K-State students and their product or service placing in the competition included:

Eric Dorsey, sophomore in business administration, and Jared Krause, sophomore in mass communications and computer science, both from Emporia and both for Bunchd, third-place service; Brian Drees, junior in milling science and management, Garden City, Prestige Worldwide, second-place product; John Weis, senior in feed science and management, Highland, Prestige Worldwide, second-place product;

From Manhattan: Adam Barnard, senior in hotel and restaurant management, Cafe Solara, second-place service; Rena Fowles, senior in management, Cafe Solara, second-place service; and Johnny Wilson, senior in feed science and management, Prestige Worldwide, second-place product.

Kathleen Kraus, senior in feed science and management, Marion, Bone on the Go, third-place product; Cole Schroeder, senior in milling science and management, Moundridge, Prestige Worldwide, second-place product; Tyler Langton, senior in feed science and management, and Cassie Knudsen, senior in feed science and management, both from Perry and both for Bone on the Go, third-place product; and Kelly McGuire, senior in feed science and management, Spring Hill, Bone on the Go, third-place product.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu
Source: Jeff Hornsby, 785-532-1301, jhornsby@k-state.edu Web site: http://www.k-state.edu/entrepreneurship
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Eight students in the College of Business Administration each received a $1,000 scholarship for being the top performers in an upper level marketing management course. The scholarships were awarded to the top performing students in David Andrus’ marketing management course based upon points accumulated during the spring 2009 semester. The major focus of the course is on the creation of a detailed marketing plan for either a Kansas business or a business idea developed by a student team. The scholarships were sponsored by Gary Raetz of Benchmark Financial Services in Overland Park, Polly Stoecklein of Stoecklein Financial Services in Manhattan, and by the K-State Department of Forestry.

Pictured left to right: Rebecca Spexarth, Colwich; Courtney Sebree, Basehor; Andrew Gaschler and Johnna Jones, both of Manhattan; Gary Raetz of Benchmark Financial; Jessica Scarborough, Gorham; Alison Lukert, Delia; Amy Greenstein, Spring Hill; and Mandie Lewis, Bonner Springs.

Source: Claudia Leeds, 785-532-6008, cleeds@ksu.edu
News releasse prepared by: Claudia Leeds, 785-532-6008, cleeds@ksu.edu

K-State's Students in Free Enterprise Team Wins Regional Competition, Will Compete At National Event

The Kansas State University Students in Free Enterprise team has advanced to the 2009 national championship by winning the Students in Free Enterprise USA Regional Competition April 3 in Dallas, Texas.

The Dallas event is one of 16 regional competitions conducted across the nation by Students in Free Enterprise, also known as SIFE. The team now will seek a national championship at the 2009 SIFE USA National Exposition, May 10-12, in Philadelphia, Pa. National champion teams from each country then compete at the SIFE World Cup, Oct. 4-6, in Berlin, Germany.

Participants in the organization use business concepts to develop community outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. At Students in Free Enterprise competitions, teams present the results of their projects and are evaluated by business leaders serving as judges.

"Regional competition is always very exciting as we are among thousands of SIFE members and business leaders demonstrating how we have affected our local communities through hands-on projects by teaching market economics, success skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, environmental sustainability and ethical business practices," said Nick Gay, senior in electrical engineering, Lenexa, and president of K-State's chapter of Students in Free Enterprise.

During the school year, the K-State Students in Free Enterprise team organized 12 projects in the Manhattan community. The projects include the Global Xchange Game, where members taught market economics to sixth-graders at Bluemont Elementary.

"This is the third year we have offered the game," Gay said. "It is exciting to work with the students as they learn about imports, exports and international trade while having fun. The students were able to manufacture nationally-themed postcards to be sold as a form of their own business to other schools."

The K-State team also offered "McCain Munchies" during performances at K-State's McCain Auditorium, and conducted financial literacy seminars in local high school business classes.

"Led by Kyle Ellrich, senior in accounting from Olathe, 'McCain Munchies' was a fun project where we offered concessions at McCain Auditorium, demonstrating true entrepreneurship by effective budgeting and inventory management," Gay said. "We hope the project also will be a constant funding source for our organization.

"In addition, our financial literacy project, led by Andrew McGraw, senior in management from Salina, has had huge support from teachers at the participating high schools as well as the judges at the regional competition."

Along with Gay, Ellrich and McGraw, other K-State Students in Free Enterprise members presenting at the Dallas competition included: Nathan Whitcomb, senior in civil engineering, Elmdale; Mallory Ayers, senior in management, Mulvane; Elizabeth "Libby" Lira, junior in business administration, Paxico; and Thomas Rimmer, senior in marketing and management, Salina.

Faculty adviser to Students in Free Enterprise at K-State is Donita Whitney-Bammerlin, instructor of management and a Sam Walton Fellow for Students in Free Enterprise.

Gay said he had some extra incentive to do well at this year's competitions. He is the recipient of the 2008-2009 Jules and Gwen Knapp Students in Free Enterprise National Ambassador Scholarship, which is worth $10,000.

"Winning the scholarship for this academic year has inspired me throughout this past year to spread the word of SIFE throughout K-State and the community," he said. "Upon graduating this year, I feel, along with all of this year's current members, we have set a solid groundwork for next year and many years to come."

Founded in 1975, Students in Free Enterprise has active programs on more than 1,300 college and university campuses in more than 40 countries.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Sources: Nick Gay, ngay@k-state.edu; and Donita Whitney-Bammerlin, 785-770-0217, donitab@k-state.edu

In the Cloud Room on the 15th floor of an office building in Omaha, Neb., members of the Student Finance Association took part in a two-hour question-and-answer session with Warren Buffett last Saturday.

Buffett is the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway and was named by Forbes Magazine as the richest person in the world in early 2008, but was moved to No. 2 in 2009 after losing $25 billion last year.

During the question and answer session, Laura Liston, president of SFA and senior in finance and accounting, said Buffett answered very specific finance questions as well as general questions about life lessons, imparting his wisdom on the future field-of-finance students.

Greg Foote, bond funds chairman of SFA and senior in agricultural economics, said communication was one of the most important issues Buffett discussed.

“He told all of us we are great students and have learned all this information ... [but you] have to communicate what you think to other individuals,” he said.

Matt Hewitt, vice president of special events for SFA and senior in finance and accounting, described Bufett as funny, witty and down-to-earth and said the funniest comment Buffett made was that “strategic planning is a waste of time.” He said this was because, as Buffett explained, any acquisition or merger should be a wise decision, so it would obviously be strategic.

The SFA group presented Buffett with a personalized K-State football jersey and a football signed by Coach Bill Snyder after the event.

“After lunch, he kept a smile on his face and took a picture with every single person who wanted to take a picture,” Hewitt said.

Foote said in order to allow the group the opportunity to visit, he sent Buffett a written letter last fall and was told there was a two to three year waiting list for visits. Foote then got a hold of Buffett’s secretary’s e-mail address and began flooding her inbox with requests.

His persistence worked, and when a group canceled early this year, SFA was able to attend in its place. The K-State members made up just 27 of the event’s 100-plus attendees, Foote said.
Hewitt said four other schools were also in attendance, including students from Australia, and the SFA students were the only undergraduate group.

Along with the question and answer session, the group visited Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim’s, a jewelry store, and had lunch at a steakhouse, which Buffett paid for, Liston said. Both Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim’s are subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway.

Foote said the trip will help the K-State SFA in the future and has also promoted K-State and the College of Business.

Hewitt said group members “hope we made a good impression for the future.”

Courtesy of the Kansas State Collegian, Tuesday, March 31, 2009, Ann Conrad

While research presents opportunities for personal discovery, Kyoungmi Lee has used her own perceptions of brand marketing to create more understanding of consumers' marketing savvy.

Lee, assistant professor of marketing, first came to the U.S. from Seoul, South Korea, to pursue her doctoral degree.

Lee's inspiration to obtain a Ph.D. partially stemmed from the motion picture "Twister." The movie featured a dedicated scientist, played by Helen Hunt, who endlessly followed tornados as an essential part of her research.

"She was so passionate and she was the expert in that area," Lee said. "I was blown away by that."

Lee decided to achieve the same level of mastery in her chosen field.

"I was fascinated with an idea of being an expert and then pursuing that interest in a life-long experience," she said.

While the movie was set in Oklahoma, Lee completed her doctorate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The university offered a competitive interdisciplinary program, which perfectly matched Lee's research interest in consumer psychology, an interdisciplinary area of study incorporating marketing and social psychology.

Teaching at K-State became Lee's first job after completing her Ph.D. She teaches courses on integrating and marketing communication and retailing.

Lee is also actively engaged in research on consumer psychology.

"Every research is like a solo autobiography," Lee said. "In my case, I observe my surroundings and catch what I am interested in."

Lee saw Morgan Spurlock's movie "Supersize Me" and became interested in issues of brand identity from a marketer's point of view. She said she wanted to know how companies should encourage customers to retain new information about a brand.

"Many researches believe that it is very important to have a strong brand identity," she said. "Brand is an asset for a company."

However, such solid brand understanding prohibits companies from easily moving consumers to change their perceptions. Lee picked McDonald's as one of the brands for her investigation.

Lee said that even though McDonald's put significant effort into changing its image, consumers are still likely to view it as only a fattening fast-food restaurant.

Because of such strong brand identity, "consumers tune out new information about McDonald's," she said.

Lee conducted an experiment in which she asked students to fill out a survey about McDonald's. While some participants received a legible survey, others had to fill out a survey typed in blurry print.

Since the blurry type was difficult to read, it caused consumers to question their understanding of the brand.

Lee said that catching customers' attention and helping them realize that they might not have a perfect understanding of the brand was key in encouraging them to accept changes in a brand's identity.

"Anything can affect consumers' perception about the brand," she said.

Lee said that it is important to make consumers doubt the solidity of their understanding. Thus, companies should influence consumers' meta-cognitive understanding, or simply, their understanding of their own understanding.

Lee is now striving to determine how consumers base their evaluation of a service provider based on whether they expect to be stereotyped.

"I was interested in stereotyping because I am female," she said.

Throughout many experiments, Lee found that female consumers, when expecting to be stereotyped, always chose a female financial provider.

In one experiment, Lee imbedded mathematical equations as background of advertisements for a financial company. Lee said seeing such commercials activated the myth of stereotyping. Female customers who had seen the advertisements showed negative attitude toward a male financial provider.

Lee, who recently presented her research at the Society for Consumer Psychology conference, continues to paint her own autobiography. She persistently incorporates her identities as a female, a consumer and an Asian-American to gain expertise in the area of consumers psychology.

"I have different identities, and I have research projects associated with different identities," Lee said.

Courtesy of the Kansas State Collegian, Wednesday, February 25, 2009, Elizaveta Zheganina

Kansas State University's Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship is sponsoring two presentations by Donald F. Kuratko, a prominent scholar and leader in the field of entrepreneurship.

Kuratko is the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship, professor of entrepreneurship and the executive director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Under his leadership, Indiana's entrepreneurship program has been ranked the No. 1 graduate business school and the No.
1 undergraduate business school for entrepreneurship among public institutions by U.S. News and World Report.

K-State students, faculty, staff and community members contemplating entrepreneurial action are invited to attend Kuratko's presentations, which are both free.

The first presentation will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room. Kuratko will discuss "Creating the Entrepreneurial Campus for the 21st Century," sharing his experiences and insights about what it takes for creating an entrepreneurial university. He will illustrate paths for integrating entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking across the university.

His second presentation, at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 9, in the K-State Student Union's Big 12 Room, will be "The Entrepreneurial Imperative."
Kuratko will discuss why today's rough economic times necessitate entrepreneurial thinking and action.

Before coming to Indiana University, Kuratko was the Stoops Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and founding director of the entrepreneurship program at Ball State University. The program continually earns national rankings from Business Week, Success magazine, the Journal of Management and others.

Kuratko has published more than 160 articles and 24 books on aspects of entrepreneurship, new venture development and corporate innovation. In addition, he has been a consultant on corporate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial strategies to a number of major corporations.

K-State's Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship works to bring faculty and students from across disciplines together to foster entrepreneurship on campus and in communities across Kansas.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Jeff Hornsby, 785-532-1301, jhornsby@k-state.edu Web site: http://www.k-state.edu/entrepreneurship
News release prepared by: Tresa Landis, 785-532-3917, tlandis@k-state.edu

Web 2.0 Technologies are finding acceptance in mainstream business practices, says Dr. Roger McHaney, University Distinguished Teaching Scholar and Professor of Management Information Systems in K-State’s College of Business Administration. For example, Kansas State University has recently implemented a wiki to enable geographically dispersed distance education teachers to better connect with on-campus colleagues.

ELATEwiki is the Electronic Learning And Teaching Exchange created and edited by those interested in advancing the use of technology in teaching. This site is intended to host a wealth of freely available information categorized and organized into E-Learning and Teaching topics useful to teachers, scholars, students, and administrators seeking to understand the dynamic and changing higher education landscape during this critical time of transformation.

The concept for ELATEwiki emerged during a series of conversations among members of K-State’s Distance Education Leadership group who were seeking to find better ways to support e-learning faculty members. Although several on-campus teaching exchanges already existed, it was apparent additional resources were needed, particularly for those in geographically dispersed locations. For nearly a year, the leadership group explored wiki technologies and conducted research into existing applications that might be used to support those engaged in e-learning both on and away from the K-State campus. The advantages of wiki technology---with its technological affordances of wide access and dissemination, digital content archival, collaboration, adaptability, dynamic updating capability, and the reversibility of postings---became clear. By the beginning of 2009, a small team began work in earnest to plan, create, and launch a publically accessible e-learning wiki available to anyone with an interest in higher education. A web presence for the site was established on January 23, 2009 and is now open for public use.

Join the ELATEwiki Community of Users
Currently, ELATEwiki has over fifty topics created by its users and the numbers keep increasing every day. Several examples entries from www.ELATEwiki.org are:

• Prepping for Live Virtual Events
• Self Publishing Online to Visualize Manuscripts
• The Ecologies of Virtual Work
• Virtual Office Hours
• Screen Captures for Various Digital Uses
• Screencasting
• Second Life
• Telepresence

Retrieved from "http://www.elatewiki.org/index.php/Category:Instructors"

You are invited to join the growing community of users at ELATEwiki to either learn from the existing topics or contribute as an author and share your expertise. If you wish to become a contributor, visit www.ELATEwiki.org where you will notice a heading called: Create Pages. You can click a link here to contribute a page related to the general areas such as Course Issues, Instructors, Students, or Tools. A template will appear for your addition. After your initial entry (as founding author for a topic) others will continue to build upon and develop your material. We hope to create an open atmosphere of sharing and collegial scholarship that results in better teaching and learning for everyone. All materials in this wiki will be released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. Please visit ELATEWiki today and join in our efforts! Any questions or comments can be addressed to Roger McHaney (mchaney@k-state.edu).

Source: Dr. Roger McHaney, 785-532-7479, mchaney@ksu.edu

[Additional info...]

A Kansas State University researcher has found a link between physical and mental well-being that employees and employers may be able to capitalize on to improve both the health, and potentially the wealth, of their organization in these turbulent economic times.

Thomas A. Wright, Jon Wefald Leadership Chair in Business Administration and professor of management at K-State, published his findings on the relationship between employee psychological well-being and cardiovascular health in the February issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Wright said both physical and psychological well-being should be considered in terms of efficiency. One's psychological well-being is best considered in terms of an efficiency ratio – the relative presence of positive emotions and the relative absence of negative emotions – where the most psychologically well individuals are those who optimally balance their negative feelings with more positive feelings.

Likewise, Wright's research reintroduces an efficiency-based measure of cardiovascular health that challenges the traditional approach of focusing individually on systolic blood pressure, which measures the heart at work, and diastolic blood pressure, which measures the heart during the resting phase between heartbeats. The composite cardiovascular measure, pulse product, is defined in terms of an efficiency-based ratio -- the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure, multiplied by the pulse rate and divided by 100. In general, and within a normal range, lower pulse product readings are considered to be more efficient.

Using a sample of supervisory-level personnel, Wright and colleagues found that while systolic and diastolic blood pressure measures were not individually related to psychological well-being, pulse product was. Those employees with higher, or more efficient, levels of psychological well-being also were more likely to have lower, or more efficient, pulse product scores.

"In our study, we found that even after controlling for employee age, gender, employee smoking behavior, education level, ethnicity, weight, job satisfaction and anxiety – all widely proposed as correlates of blood pressure – employee well-being was still a significant predictor of one's cardiovascular health as measured by pulse product," Wright said.

The preliminary findings indicate that those with pulse product scores in the mid-40s and higher may have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and should consider consulting with their physician.
Additionally, the research emphasizes the importance of considering cardiovascular health from an efficiency perspective, especially as one ages.

"Typically, much attention is devoted to the monitoring of diastolic blood pressure in the determination of cardiovascular health," Wright said. "However, as employees grow older, diastolic blood pressure tends to fall, or at least stabilize, while for many systolic blood pressure will often rise. This narrow focus on diastolic readings may result in a masking of the potential risk of cardiovascular disease for employees, especially for those over 50 years of age."

Wright said this is a concern because birth rates are declining and many baby boomers are delaying retirement due to the current economic situation, which means a rapidly aging work force.

Employees' cardiovascular health has costly effects for both individuals and organizations. For a disease that affects about one in three Americans, Wright said recent statistics from the American Heart Association show that the cost of cardiovascular disease and strokes in the United States for 2007 was $432 billion. He broke that down to about 60 percent, or $259 billion, in direct medical costs and 40 percent, or $173 billion, in lost productivity.

Wright said organizations should monitor their employees' cardiovascular health by considering the simultaneous role of pulse product and psychological well-being, though there are limitations.

"From past experiences, I know many potentially at-risk employees will refuse to have a company nurse or skilled medical technician take their blood pressure for fear that the information will be used against them," Wright said. "When all is said and done, it is the employees themselves who must shoulder the first line of responsibility for their health, and anyone with the ability to take their blood pressure and pulse rate can determine their pulse product."

Organizations can implement periodic health awareness campaigns and provide employees with the opportunity to anonymously access blood pressure monitoring machines at work, Wright said. Additionally, another significant finding from incorporating this efficiency-based approach to cardiovascular health is the pronounced negative consequence of smoking, which corporations can address through reduced employee insurance premiums for smoking cessation.

Wright's colleagues for the project were Russell Cropanzano, Brian Lesk Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Arizona; Douglas G. Bonett, professor of statistics and psychology at Iowa State University; and W. John Diamond, chief medical officer at InteMedica LLC in Reno, Nevada.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Thomas Wright, 785-532-5672, thomaswr@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/wrightbio.html
News release prepared by: Kristin Hodges, 785-532-6415, khodges2@k-state.edu

Lawrence Kendall, a Kansas State University graduate and author of "Ninja Selling," will deliver the College of Business Administration's Distinguished Lecture at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 24, in the K-State Student Union's Forum Hall. The lecture is sponsored by Commerce Bank and the William T. Kemper Foundation. It is free and open to the public.

"Larry Kendall is one of the college’s most distinguished alumni," said Yar Ebadi, dean of K-State's College of Business Administration. "He has been in the real estate business in Colorado for 35 years and was named the 2006 Colorado Realtor of the Year. His 'Ninja Selling' sales training system has earned him national recognition for its impact on real estate education. Mr. Kendall's insights and experiences will greatly enhance our students’ academic experience this semester."

Kendall is a founder of The GROUP, Inc., which is a real estate firm owned equally by its sales associates and staff. Currently, the firm has 200 sales associates in six offices throughout northern Colorado.
Realtor Magazine named The GROUP, Inc., "The Most Productive Real Estate Company in the United States" in transactions closed per associate among the top 100 real estate companies in the country."

Kendall holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in business administration from K-State. In addition, he was the college's 2007 Alumni Fellow, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northern Colorado Business Report, is a member of the Colorado State University Everitt Real Estate Center Hall of Fame, and was recognized as Business Leader of the Year by the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper. Kendall received the prestigious "Collins Award" in 1997 for his leadership and service to the Fort Collins community. In 2001, Kendall and his wife, Dr. Pat Kendall, an alumna of K-State's College of Human Ecology, were recognized for their service to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society with the "Hope Award."

Over the years, Kendall has been a great contributor to higher education demonstrated through his teaching a number of courses in business and real estate at Colorado State University and his active support of K-State academic programs. In 2008, the Kendalls established The Kendall Scholarship for Overseas Experience to provide business students with financial assistance to study abroad.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Yar Ebadi, 785-532-7227, yebadi@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/ebadibio.html
News release prepared by: Melanie Horton, 785-532-7227, mhorton@k-state.edu

Thomas Wright, Kansas State University's Jon Wefald Leadership Chair in Business Administration, has been named a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

This makes Wright the first K-State faculty member to have been named a Fellow of both the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Association for Psychological Science. He received the latter honor in 2007.

"We are so pleased that Dr. Thomas Wright has been elected to Fellow status by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology,"
said Yar Ebadi, dean of K-State's College of Business Administration.
"This is a prestigious honor of which he is most deserving, and it is an outstanding recognition of the significant contributions he has made to his discipline."

Society Fellows are distinguished industrial and organizational psychologists who have made unusual and outstanding contributions to the field.

Wright is a professor of management and an internationally acclaimed expert on organizational behavior. He also is director of the College of Business Administration's Center for Character-based Leadership.

Wright is best known for his research on psychological well-being and its impact on job satisfaction relative to both job performance and turnover. He also has published widely on business ethics and research methodology. His work has been published in many of the leading business and social science journals, and has been widely cited by print, radio and television outlets including Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has served as associate editor for two leading management journals, the Journal of Management and the Journal of Organizational Behavior. He is the recipient of several awards for his teaching and he has consulted extensively with various firms.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Thomas Wright, 785-532-5672, thomaswr@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/wrightbio.html
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Courtesy of the Kansas State Collegian, Wednesday, March 4, 2009, Ashley Denney

During the next five to 10 years, online shopping will change drastically.

Esther Swilley, assistant professor of marketing, is researching how retailers will take advantage of the opportunities offered by online communities like Second Life.

"What we think we can do with marketing is see what avatars do - what they pick up, what they buy," Swilley said. "It gives businesses a better indicator of the shopping experience."

Though Second Life users often prefer to deal with the "moms and pops" of Second Life stores, some large businesses have had success in Second Life.

"Toyota tried to test the way a car would look in Second Life," Swilly said. "Another company put the prototype of a hotel and built it in Second Life so they could ask users what they thought before the hotel was actually built."

The use of Second Life has caught on in tourism as well. The city of Dublin, Ireland maintains a Web site called Dublin in SL - http://www.dublinsl.com/index.php - which links visitors to Second Life. This allows potential travelers to become familiar with Dublin before they visit the city in real life.

In the future, more businesses will start to use 3-D as a marketing tool, Swilly said.

"We're used to the internet as 2-D," she said. "Second Life is more 3-D. An avatar can walk into a store and pick up something. As the use of 3-D spreads beyond Second Life, businesses may change the way their online stores look."

She said in the future, online shoppers will be directed to Web pages that look less like a catalogue and more like an actual store, giving them a "real-life shopping experience."

The Internet also is already changing the way businesses go about marketing.

"Black Friday has always been the retail barometer, but now we have Cyber Monday," Swilley said, referring to the Monday after Thanksgiving. "Stores are now having sales online on Monday to get people to buy things they didn't buy on Friday."

Though Swilley said she believes the trend of online shopping will continue and businesses will increasingly capitalize on three-dimensional technologies. She said the transition will take a while.

"Before stores can change, they have to know it's available," Swilley said.

Some businesses, like Toyota, have already caught on, but it is facing technical difficulties, like older computers and coding that must done, which she said might make it difficult for both consumers and producers to adopt the Second Life model.

But for now, Swilley said her research is "looking at what virtual worlds have to offer and what we can understand about consumers."

Three key financial benchmarks may prove helpful to investors who have pulled out of the roller-coaster stock market but are seeking signs of when it could be time to return, according to a Kansas State University investment expert.

Eric Higgins, associate professor, Gates Capital Management Faculty Fellow and head of K-State's department of finance, said the markets are nervous right now and this is creating a situation where stock valuations are no longer based on fundamentals but on fear.

"That is why you see so much volatility and so many good companies trading at relatively low prices," he said. "When will this irrationality change? To determine when markets are returning to fundamentals, it is important to look at benchmarks that measure the level of fear in the market."

These benchmarks are the VIX, the TED spread and the default spread, he said.

The VIX is a stock market volatility index that trades on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

"The VIX provides a basic measure of investors' expectations regarding expected volatility in the market," Higgins said. "It also gives a gauge of the level of 'fear' in the market. The higher the VIX index, the more 'fear' in the market."

Higgins said the VIX index typically trades around a value of 20-25.
During the height of the market crisis, the VIX traded as high as 80; right now, it is trading around 45.

"This is still high relative to historic values of the VIX," Higgins said. "As this continues to fall, we should begin to see markets returning to fundamental values."

The second benchmark is the TED spread, which refers to the difference between U.S. Treasury interest rates and the LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate. The LIBOR rate, Higgins said, is the interest rate at which large banks lend to each other.

"Typically, the TED spread is less than one-half percent," he said. "In a normal market, there is usually very little difference between the risk of a large bank and the U.S. Treasury. Thus, the low spread between the Treasury rate and LIBOR. At the peak of the economic crisis, however, the TED spread went as high as 4.5 percent. This means that banks were not lending to each other and this helped fuel the 'liquidity crisis' that we observed in the credit markets."

The TED spread is currently close to 1 percent. "This is a good sign for markets as it indicates the money is beginning to flow in the credit markets," Higgins said.

The third benchmark is the default spread, the difference between long-term AAA bond yield and long-term treasury yields.

"The higher this difference, the more perception of risk in the corporate sector," Higgins said. "Federal Reserve officials look at this measure when trying to define what they call a 'flight to quality.' As the default spread increases, this indicates that more and more investors are moving money into government bonds."

When this happens, Higgins said, investors have basically lost their trust in corporations or in the ability of ratings agencies to assess risk.

"During the peak of the economic crisis, the default spread peaked at more than 2.5 percent -- higher than the default spread observed immediately after Sept. 11," Higgins said. "This also is interesting because over the recent period the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to near zero. However, AAA bond rates were going up. This again shows the fear that was in the marketplace at the peak of the economic crisis. Currently, the default spread has fallen and people are once again returning to AAA-rated bonds."

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, http://www.k-state.edu/media

Source: Eric Higgins, 785-532-6892, ehiggins@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Figuring out how and where to invest your money has become more of a challenge in light of the nation's current economic struggles, according to a Kansas State University investment expert.

But Eric Higgins, associate professor, Gates Capital Management Faculty Fellow and head of K-State's department of finance, says it is important for investors to consider their investment time horizon before committing or reallocating their investment assets.

"If an individual is planning on retiring in a few years or needs funds to pay for a college education, then preservation of capital is important," Higgins said. "Thus, those investors that have short investment time horizons should consider safer investments like certificates of deposits or money-market mutual funds."

If your investment time horizon is broader, Higgins said the stock market should be considered.

"Historically, the returns that can be earned in the stock market exceed the returns that can be earned in the fixed-income market. In the long run, it is likely that stocks will outperform bonds," he said.

"In addition, for investors that are making regular contributions into retirement accounts, now is the time to take advantage of dollar cost averaging," he said. "Dollar cost averaging refers to the fact that individuals that make fixed investments in their retirement accounts on a regular basis are always buying more assets when prices are lower, and fewer assets when prices are higher. Right now, prices are low."

For investors who are too nervous to be in today's roller-coaster stock market, Higgins said there are safer investments to consider.

"During economic times like these, investors are likely to turn to fixed-income investments like bonds, especially government bonds," he said. "But now is not really the time to buying be bonds for the long term. Bonds are trading at all-time highs, especially government bonds.
The peak time to buy corporate bonds was probably in November."

Higgins said yields on AAA-rated corporate bonds have decreased and prices have risen such that they are now more reasonably valued relative to government bonds.

"Right now, if investors are looking to stay out of the stock market, I would stay reasonably liquid," he said. "Invest in shorter-term certificates of deposit and money market mutual funds so that you can have more rapid access to your money reasonably. This will give you the flexibility to re-enter the market when things have calmed down and will protect your principal."

Higgins' areas of research include market efficiency, corporate finance and financial institutions. His research has been published in several journals including the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Financial Review, the Journal of Financial Research and the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. His work also has been presented at the prestigious Bank Structure Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and at conferences hosted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. His research also crosses different disciplines. He has co-authored a publication in the journal Business and Society, which is regarded as a top-level publication in the management area.

Higgins graduated magna cum laude from K-State, where he earned his bachelor's in finance. He earned a doctorate in finance from Florida State University.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations, http://www.k-state.edu/media

Source: Eric Higgins, 785-532-6892, ehiggins@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Members of the Kansas State University Student Finance Association are heading to Omaha, Neb., March 27 to meet with Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest and most successful investors.

Buffett, chief executive officer and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, will be hosting the K-State organization along with a handful of student groups from other schools. The meeting will include a two-hour question-and-answer session with the students at Berkshire Hathaway's headquarters, followed by a two-hour lunch at one of Buffett's favorite restaurants. The visit also will include tours and sessions with top executives at two Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries: Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim's, a jewelry store.

Greg Foote, senior in agricultural economics, Bucyrus, and the fixed income manager of the K-State Student Finance Association, wrote a letter to Buffett's personal secretary asking for the meeting with the well-known financier and philanthropist. The association was initially told that it could be put on a waiting list for a visit next year.

Association leaders responded that that would be great, but pointed out that they were also only three hours away and could be ready to fill in should another school cancel. Foote also made regular contact with Buffett's assistant, which paid off.

"We are humbled that we were selected to meet Mr. Buffett," Foote said.
"We're going to go up to Omaha and show him what K-State is all about."

Laura Liston, senior in accounting and finance, Shawnee, and president of the Student Finance Association, and said that the trip's purpose is not only to learn all they can from such a successful and well-respected businessman, but to become one of a handful of schools invited back annually.

"I hope this visit will become a mainstay in the Student Finance Association's schedule of events," Liston said. "Only high-caliber students have the chance to meet with Mr. Buffett. This trip will provide a wealth of knowledge."

Other schools scheduled to visit with Buffett this year include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, New York University, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Duke University.

The K-State Student Finance Association is a student-run organization for finance majors, but is open to any K-State students with an interest in the financial industry. Group activities include an annual trip to New York to visit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to meet with a wide range of professionals on Wall Street. They also regularly interact with finance professionals in Kansas City, Chicago, Boston and Denver to bolster their classroom education in finance.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Sources: Greg Foote, 913-636-4517, gfoote@k-state.edu; and Laura Liston, 913-908-7479, lliston@k-state.edu Web site: http://sfa.cba.k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

For all of the conveniences of online shopping -- no crowds, easy parking, seemingly endless choices -- it can't always compete with the real thing. At least not yet.

A Kansas State University marketing professor said consumers can expect that some of the disadvantages of online shopping will disappear as retailers adapt models from Second Life.

Esther Swilley is a K-State assistant professor of marketing who studies e-commerce and mobile marketing trends. Her research has included exploring the role of trust in choosing which Web sites to shop, seeing what types of consumers are more likely to accept marketing on mobile devices like cell phones, as well as understanding how cell phone companies can keep young adults as customers.

Swilley said experts expect that the future of online shopping will borrow from Second Life, meaning that a shopper could send his or her avatar to a virtual store, a Web site with a three-dimensional feel.

"Your avatar could move through the store and pick up items," Swilley said. "You could even have it put on a shirt and look at it in the mirror before ordering it. Retailers like this because they could see how well items do in their virtual stores. Do people pick it up? Do they like it? This can guide what they stock in their real stores."

Swilley said shopping with an avatar could even take on a social function.

"You're at your computer and your friend is at hers, and you can shop together," she said. "The technology is crude now, but look back at the Internet when it started."

In research published in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Swilley found data to back up the assumption that people shop Web sites with names and brands they trust. However, Swilley said that when well known, trusted retailers have tried selling products in Second Life, they haven't fared as well.

"People in Second Life didn't like it," Swilley said. "If you're a person using Second Life, you're more likely to purchase products from another avatar rather than an outside retailer. It's almost like participants think, 'This is our world. Stay out of it.'"

Swilley said that cell phones and other handheld devices are another world where people have been reluctant to let in retailers and marketers.

"People don't want to be sent text message advertisements," Swilley said. "That's why marketers are looking at other ways of doing it. They are looking at models where if you want ads on your phone, you could pay less for your phone service. For instance, while your phone is dialing, the background could be an ad."

People might find some ads helpful, like one that lets you know that you're about block away from a coffee shop. Swilley said that customers might even be able to text a drink order and have it waiting for them when they get there.

"Mobile ticket are sales supposed to be the next big thing, and auctions also do well on cell phones," Swilley said. "On the Internet, people are more money-conscious. They want things for free. On a cell phone, they're time-conscious. They want things conveniently."

One convenience that Swilley doesn't see catching on is wallet phones.
Paying with credit or debit cards through a cell phone or other mobile device may save time and space in your pocket or purse. Yet even technology-savvy Asians and Europeans are hesitant to embrace wallet phones, she said.

"People say, 'I lose my cell phone all the time,'" Swilley said. "What would you do if your cell phone was your wallet? Would people change their behavior in how they use the cell phone?"

Before shopping with a cell phone or mobile device becomes as common as shopping online -- maybe someday with an avatar -- Swilley said there are money issues that need to be resolved.

"A difference between cell phones and the Internet is that with a cell phone, you have to go through telecom companies, and they're looking for money from everybody," she said. "Should the telephone company get a cut from purchases? Would products have to be sold for more to make up for it? I'm not sure how well it will play with cell phones because it costs so much just to have the phone and service in the first place."

Instead, Swilley and colleagues found that the cell phone features that attract and keep young customers are extras like gaming, chat and other applications that let them interact with friends. This research will appear in The Services Industries Journal in April.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Esther Swilley, 785-532-6135, esthers@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Julie L. Davis has been selected to serve as the 2009 College of Business Administration (CBA) Alumni Fellow, the first woman alumna to receive this prestigious honor. As a part of her Alumni Fellow activities, Davis will make a presentation as an installment of the Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the K-State Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship.

Davis is a Principal at Davis & Hosfield Consulting LLC where she has been providing audit and financial consulting services to attorneys and corporate clients since 1978. During that time she has led the national intellectual property practices of two of the world’s largest accounting and consulting firms.

Ms. Davis has worked on several hundred intellectual property cases during her career, conducting complex studies of damages and testifying in courts around the country. In addition to intellectual property disputes, Ms. Davis has assisted companies in developing intellectual property strategies and managing their intellectual property portfolios.

In announcing Ms. Davis as the CBA Alumni Fellow, Yar M. Ebadi, dean of the CBA stated, “Julie Davis is an exceptionally bright, creative and entrepreneurial business leader. She excelled as an accounting professional and has drawn from that background to develop an outstanding consulting practice of national repute. As a top consultant in her field, Julie has earned the respect, praise and admiration of executives around the country for her astute analysis skills. It is an honor to welcome Julie Davis to the ranks of the college’s most prestigious alumni as our 2009 Alumni Fellow.”

Ms. Davis has authored numerous articles and speaks frequently on the topic of intellectual property. She is the co-author of “Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from their Intellectual Assets.” The book has been widely praised by numerous Fortune 500 executives charged with implementing best practices in the area of IP management.

She graduated in 1978, summa cum laude, from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration majoring in Accounting. Ms. Davis is licensed as a CPA in four states.

The Alumni Fellow Program is sponsored by the Dean’s Council, the President’s Office and the Alumni Fellows Association. It was implemented in 1983 to recognize alumni who have distinguished themselves in their respective careers. The purpose of the program is to bring prominent and outstanding alumni – leaders in their field – back to campus to share their experiences with student’s faculty and administration of the colleges. The Alumni Fellow Program is an annual event organized by the Kansas State University Alumni Association.

Diane Swanson could easily say, "I told you so."

Swanson, the chair of the Business Ethics Education Initiative at Kansas State University, has long called for government oversight of executive pay, and now Washington is agreeing. President Barack Obama announced a $500,000 pay cap for some senior executives in businesses that received government bailouts.

"Back in 2006 I was saying that paying excessive executive salaries is a bad habit that needs to be broken," Swanson said. "I've long said that it is one of those areas where government oversight is desirable because self-regulation by business alone hasn't worked to resolve the issue."

Swanson said that the argument that executive pay is justified by superior performance has long been in doubt. Now, with taxpayer dollars at stake in cases where failed businesses seek to bailed out, she said it is all too clear that bad management is not the only problem.

"Instead, greed, lack of accountability and failure to grasp the degree of social misery caused by bad decision-making seems apparent," Swanson said. "In short, many richly-rewarded executives are out of touch with their proper role in society."

Not that Swanson thinks regulation is a cure-all. She said that regulation can have unintended, undesirable consequences that need to be monitored. Still, she said that the recent pay scandals gave government officials little choice but to step in.

"After all, taxes are not meant for subsidizing bonuses in the private sector," she said. "With the country in economic distress, I can think of much better ways to spend public money; soup kitchens for the homeless come to mind."

Swanson's research in business ethics includes a study showing a correlation between executives' values and how much they want in pay.
Working with Mark Orlitzky, now of Penn State University Altoona, Swanson found that executives who downplay ethics in their decision-making are the same ones who state a preference for unusually high salaries.

Swanson and Orlitzky also found that executives who were short on ethical values and were long on pay preferred salaries that were many times higher than those earned by their lowest-paid employees. Swanson said that although pay for the lowest-earning workers decreased between 1960 and 1990, compensation for top managers increased greatly, regardless of the companies' performance records.

But what sent up a red flag for Swanson were results showing that these income-rich, values-poor executives also were likely to have had more business education.

"I saw this as yet more evidence that business education was teaching greed and self-centeredness instead of service to community," Swanson said. "Business students should learn that business people not only serve themselves but society as well. The point is that senior managers need to have some kind of community-mindedness or more harmful effects of corporate scandals will be inflicted on society in the future."

That's why Swanson has spearheaded a campaign to emphasize the importance of requiring at least one ethics course of all business graduates, a policy that many -- if not most -- business schools still resist strongly.

At K-State, students earning a master's in business administration take a capstone ethics course. K-State also offers an elective in professional ethics, and faculty cover the subject in other business classes.

"I'm proud to say that K-State's model of ethics education has been recognized internationally," Swanson said. "As educators, we have a duty to society to arm future managers with knowledge of ethics and corporate social responsibility."

Courtesy K-State Media Relations
Source: Diane Swanson, 785-532-4352, swanson@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/swansonbio.html
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

One's happiness might seem like a personal subject, but a Kansas State University researcher says employers should be concerned about the well-being of their employees because it could be the underlying factor to success.

Thomas Wright, Jon Wefald Leadership Chair in Business Administration and professor of management at K-State, has found that when employees have high levels of psychological well-being and job satisfaction, they perform better and are less likely to leave their job -- making happiness a valuable tool for maximizing organizational outcomes.

"The benefits of a psychologically well work force are quite consequential to employers, especially so in our highly troubled economic environment," Wright said. "Simply put, psychologically well employees are better performers. Since higher employee performance is inextricably tied to an organization's bottom line, employee well-being can play a key role in establishing a competitive advantage."

Happiness is a broad and subjective word, but a person's well-being includes the presence of positive emotions, like joy and interest, and the absence of negative emotions, like apathy and sadness, Wright said.

An excessive negative focus in the workplace could be harmful, such as in performance evaluations where negatives like what an employee failed to do are the focus of concentration, he said. When properly implemented in the workplace environment, positive emotions can enhance employee perceptions of finding meaning in their work.

In addition, studies have shown that being psychologically well has many benefits for the individual, Wright said. Employees with high well-being tend to be superior decision makers, demonstrate better interpersonal behaviors and receive higher pay, he said. His recent research also indicates that psychologically well individuals are more likely to demonstrate better cardiovascular health.

Wright said happiness is not only a responsibility to ourselves, but also to our co-workers, who often rely on us to be steadfast and supportive. In addition, Employee well-being affects the organization overall. Studies have shown that after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, job tenure and educational attainment level, psychological well-being still is significantly related to job performance, according to Wright.

Wright said psychologically well employees consistently exhibit higher job performance, with significant correlations in the 0.30 to 0.50 range. Not only are these findings statistically significant, they are practically relevant as well, he said. A correlation of 0.30 between well-being and performance indicates that roughly 10 percent of the variance in job performance is associated with differences in well-being, while a correlation of 0.50 points to a substantial 25 percent of the variance.

In some of Wright's academic and consulting work, he has used a form of utility analysis to determine the level of actual savings tied to employee well-being. For example, in a sample of management personnel with average salaries in the $65,000 range, he found that being psychologically distressed could cost the organization roughly $75 a week per person in lost productivity. With 10 employees that translates to $750 per week in performance variance; for 100 employees the numbers are $7,500 per week or $390,000 per year.

When employees have low levels of well-being and job satisfaction, they are more likely to quit their job. Wright said employee turnover could be extremely costly for an organization losing a disproportionate share of its better employees. In one study, Wright found that the possibility of turnover was 0.57 times smaller for any one-unit increase in well-being. As with job performance, the knowledge of an employee's well-being can be highly useful in helping human resource personnel determine cost-effective employee retention strategies, he said.

Well-being has shown to be stable over time, though it can be influenced by situational circumstances through psychological-based interventions, Wright said. Methods to improve well-being include assisting workers so they fit their jobs more closely, providing social support to help reduce the negative impact of stressful jobs, and teaching optimism to emphasize positive thought patterns.

Wright said one controversial approach to improving well-being in the workplace is by seeking and hiring employees who have high levels of well-being.

Wright's findings on psychological well-being and job satisfaction have appeared in several publications, including the Journal of Management, Organizational Dynamics, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Courtesy K-State Media Relations

Source: Thomas Wright, 785-532-5672, thomaswr@k-state.edu http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/wrightbio.html
News release prepared by: Kristin Hodges, 785-532-6415, khodges2@k-state.edu