Business Analytics
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SPRING 2017 Business Analytics Meeting the need for talent. PAGE 4 VIRGINIA TECH BUSINESS is published twice a year by: RANKINGS Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech No. 2 1030 Pamplin Hall (0209) U.S. 880 West Campus Drive Blacksburg, VA 24061 540-231-6601 No. 2 No. 7 No. 6 World www.pamplin.vt.edu Master of Evening Hospitality and Address changes: [email protected] Information Technology MBA Tourism Management Editorial inquiries and story suggestions: [email protected] U.S. News & World Report QS Top Universities In this magazine, alumni, with some exceptions, are DONNIE GRAY identified by degree and the year it was received. VIRGINIA TECH’S EVENING MBA ranking in U.S. News & World Report has improved DEAN to No. 7 among the nation’s part-time Robert T. Sumichrast MBA programs, according to the 2018 EDITOR survey released in March. It was ranked Sookhan Ho No. 16 for the previous two years. Offered DESIGN by the Pamplin College of Business, the Uncork-it, Inc. Evening MBA program serves aspiring FEATURE WRITERS business leaders in the Washington, D.C., Sookhan Ho, Dan Radmacher area with classes taught at the Northern PHOTOGRAPHERS Virginia Center, and has seen significant STUDENTS such as Mala Lal balance work, Christina O’Connor, Jim Stroup, Logan Wallace, growth in recent years. study, and family in the highly ranked Evening Oliver Meredith MBA program. ALUMNI INFORMATION Gina French, Bonnie Gilbert DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Jodi Jennings Charles Schwab Financial Planning Suite ABOUT enhances learning for business students Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked Pamplin College of JIM STROUP Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and market- ing. Pamplin emphasizes technology and analysis that improve business, entrepreneurship that leads to innovation and innovative companies, international op- portunities for learning and research, and an inclusive, collaborative community. It is named in honor of two alumni: the late Robert B. Pamplin, retired chairman of Georgia-Pacific, and businessman, author, and philan- thropist Robert B. Pamplin Jr. You can support the Pamplin College of Business through your estate, through your retirement account, or with a gift that produces lifetime income for you. To learn more, please call Alex Fritz at ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR 800-533-1144 or email [email protected]. OF PRACTICE Derek Klock teaches a class in the new WEB MAGAZINE Charles Schwab Financial Get the full version of any story, plus content Planning Suite. available only in the web magazine, at: www.magazine.pamplin.vt.edu THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE for students in Virginia Tech’s financial planning program Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, got even better last fall, with the opening of the Charles Schwab Financial Planning students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disabil- ity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national Suite. origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orienta- Comprising classroom and meeting spaces, the suite was created with a $200,000 tion, genetic information, or veteran status; or otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who gift from the Charles Schwab Foundation. inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or Located at 302 Hutcheson Hall, the suite features a state-of-the-art audiovisual sys- the compensation of other employees, or applicants; or any other basis protected by law. For inquiries regarding tem and web-conferencing tools. Users can connect their smartphone, tablet, or laptop non-discrimination policies, contact the Office of Equity to the high-resolution projector and sound system. and Access at 540-231-2010 or Virginia Tech, North End Center, Suite 2300 (0318), 300 Turner St. NW, Blacksburg, VA 24061. SEE MORE AT: www.magazine.pamplin.vt.edu OLIVER MEREDITH NOTABLES Pamplin Society Launched, provides more alumni opportunites THE COLLEGE HAS ESTABLISHED the Pamplin Society to provide alumni more opportunities to promote, support, and improve the college, and to ROBERT SUMICHRAST recognize those who have served it through participation on the Pamplin Advisory Council or departmental advisory boards, philanthropy, or outstanding profes- sional or community achievements. Dean’s Message The Pamplin Society currently has seven officers, led by president Marvin Boyd (MSCI ’00, STUDENT INPUT is critical in shaping Pamplin’s MGT ’01). It succeeds the R.B. Pamplin Society, O’CONNOR CHRISTINA programs and services. This semester, I met with an honorary group of former members of the members of a new organization, the Dean’s Student Pamplin Advisory Council. Advisory Council. This was another step in develop- “The new organization is open to alumni of ing ways to solicit student input — some formal and all ages and career levels who want to partici- some informal. Existing mechanisms have already pate actively in the Pamplin community,” Boyd led to big improvements, and we will announce ad- said, “and are willing to make a nominal annual ditional changes in the coming months. contribution.” JEROME FOWLKES One longstanding formal mechanism for Pamplin Society members, Boyd said, (FIN ’88) participates student input is an annual survey about career suc- will engage in a variety of initiatives, including in a Pamplin Advisory cess. The majority of our students provide us with fundraising, student enrichment, and business Council meeting. information about their job offers or other plans, and community outreach. They will be invited to such as continuing education or working as an en- college events and have opportunities for networking and mentoring. trepreneur in a startup company. This information has helped us expand Pamplin’s career services ef- LEARN MORE: www.pamplin.vt.edu/pamplin-society fectively and also has documented that about 9 out of 10 students have job offers by graduation. I’ve had spontaneous conversations with students that made me suspect that our academic Lifelong Career Services advising could be improved. We followed up with surveys, focus groups, and additional conversa- now helps alumni, employers tions. The end result is that, two years ago, we changed to a more centralized system relying on PAMPLIN HAS LAUNCHED a Lifelong Career Services program to help its well-trained professional advisors. This improved alumni with their career search and employers with their hiring needs. The student satisfaction from 50 percent to 80 percent. service is free to alumni. For each graduate they recruit through the service, We called the change “Advising 2.0.” Now, we are participating employers make a contribution toward a freshman scholarship ready to move to “Advising 3.0,” where the staff will created by the firm. have a much more personal relationship with indi- The alumni hired are eligible to mentor students in the Pamplin Un- vidual students. The advisors will better integrate dergraduate Mentoring Program and are matched up with the recipients of course schedules with career plans and will ensure their firms’ scholarship that students are connected with other Pamplin for mentoring. services — particularly our career services. “For years, firms We are also using the suggestions of our former have asked us to help students to add alumni services. Since the start of them recruit our alumni. this year, we have been helping alumni who want Simultaneously, alums LEARN MORE: https://pamplin.careers to change companies or careers with Pamplin’s life- ask for help finding their long career services. Hokies are loyal for a lifetime second or third job out of college,” says Stuart Mease, Pamplin’s executive — and Pamplin wants to return that loyalty with director for student advancement and career services. this new service. Introduced in January, the program has already attracted 18 firms as participating employers. The program can strengthen the college’s relation- [email protected] ship with its alumni and employers, and help Pamplin differentiate itself Twitter @Sumichrast with prospective students, he adds. SPRING 2017 | 3 COVER STORY inding his niche in neuroscience near the end of his sophomore Fyear dispatched the indecision Business and turmoil Jonathan Briganti had felt — “every path seemed to call to me” — and gave him an academic goal at Virginia Tech. When he discovered business Analytics analytics while competing in a campus hackathon, he acquired a career focus. Meeting the need for talent Briganti expects to graduate this spring and join Pamplin’s master’s pro- HELEN ZHANG gram in business analytics in the fall. Business analytics is the process of using scientific techniques and tech- nologies to extract useful information from raw data to make business deci- sions. Pamplin’s program would make him more proficient in both data analyt- ics and business subjects, says Briganti, who became CEO of a healthcare tech startup he and others launched in the wake of the hackathon. DAVID FRANUSICH DAVID “Corporations... lack analytics talent with the ability to use the data to build a business case.” - Linda Oldham, CBIA Executive Director 4 | VIRGINIA TECH BUSINESS “This is how our The degree, he adds, will also position him well to pursue other passions that might master’s program emerge through the course of a career and HELEN ZHANG lifetime. is dramatically Also starting the program this fall is Angelica Melvin (PSYC ’13), who is seek- different from ing knowledge and skills