The students in Joe McGarrity’s Intermediate Microeconomics class competed in an Opinion / Editorial (Op-Ed) contest as part of their assignments for this class. The students generated their own ideas and each wrote a 500 – 800 word editorial. Dr. McGarrity structured the assignment so that students got feedback from each other and the UCA Writing Center, as well as receiving several rounds of feedback from Dr. McGarrity.

This writing program proved to be a huge success. The students competed for a study abroad scholarship funded by a grant. Three retired faculty members from UCA’s College of Business picked the winner. Eric Selvidge won the contest and the prize enabled him to study the Economics of Art in Florence, Italy this summer. The contest made Eric realize that international experiences could be a part of his education and he has decided to study for a semester in Thailand. Eric says that he never would have considered studying abroad if the contest had not confronted him with this possibility.

The competition for the study abroad scholarship encouraged the students to put a tremendous amount of effort into writing the Op-Eds. Thirteen students in this class of 26 wrote articles that were so good that they were published in the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper. These students, while not winning the contest, have an impressive addition to their resumes. While the Op-Ed contest has only been held once, Joe McGarrity hopes to secure permanent funding for the study abroad scholarship prize that may even one day make second and third prize study abroad scholarships available.

At our annual College of Business Scholarship and Awards Banquet, C.H. Robinson Worldwide awarded their inaugural scholarship to one of our Logistics and Supply Chain students, Sammy Jolly. Sammy is currently an intern at the Little Rock office of C.H. Robinson. Sammy and Phil Cognito (General Manager, C.H. Robinson Little Rock office) are pictured above.

C.H. Robinson established the first endowed scholarship for Logistics and Supply Chain Management students with a gift of $25,000. The LSCM program begins its full launch of a four-year degree program in Fall 2017. This program has established strong partnerships with a broad network of logistics and supply chain companies, which has resulted in support for the program, internships and full-time jobs for students, and research opportunities for faculty. However, C.H. Robinson is the first to establish an endowed scholarship for students. “We have a great working relationship with Dr. Voss and the program as it stands now, but this opportunity was a way to get even more involved in the LSCM program. This shows our commitment to the program as well as our appreciation for the current students and future employees that the UCA College of Business provides our Little Rock office and company,” Cognito added. Dean of the College of Business, Dr. Michael Hargis added, “We are very appreciative of C.H. Robinson’s financial support of our students as well as their active involvement in the LSCM program and the College of Business.” Dr. Doug Voss, Scott E. Bennett Arkansas Highway Commission Endowed Chair also added, “C.H. Robinson has allowed us to shadow their day-to-day operations in Little Rock so our students can have the experiential learning experience and they have brought it to the classroom. That’s something unique that our students get here and not at other places.”

Eryka Williams is a senior Management Information Systems student at UCA. She most recently has been honored as the National Intern of the Year through the Cooperative Education and Internship Association. This very prestigious and distinguished award speaks volumes to both Eryka and our College of Business.

She grew up in Cabot and chose UCA due to its proximately to home. “I wanted to be close to home and UCA was the closest school to Cabot,” she said. The rest is history.

Outside of juggling working full-time and being a full-time student, Eryka has an interest in robotics. She actually leads a group teaching high school students about robotics and design as a part of the FIRST Robotics Competition. She enjoys giving back and investing in younger students who are interested in the Information Technology and Systems field.

She attributes part of her success as a student to one her classes instructed by Parker Woodroof. This class in particular was a marketing class in which she was prompted to think outside the box. “He taught in a way that no other teacher presented the material. He really challenged me personally as a student, as well as the class. His course impacted my thinking and provided me with concepts that I still use today,” Williams said. She also credited Dr. Bartczak and her Systems Analysis and Design course for preparing her to excel in her job each day. “It was great to get to see things in the classroom that I could apply to my everyday work,” she said.

She began interning at Ingen Software in Cabot, and later ended up at then Hewlett Packard Enterprises via a connection at the UCA Career Fair. “UCA does a great job of promoting internship opportunities and programming in the Career Services office. We have a lot of companies that are on our campus very frequently which is great for networking for future positions,” Williams said. “Without the Career Fair, this connection would have been significantly more difficult to make. The internship I received at HPE has now developed into a full-time position that I have accepted and plan to begin, at now DXC Technology, immediately following graduation.”

With Eryka’s honor as National Intern of the Year, she recently attended the Cooperative Education and Internship Association conference in Denver, Colorado. During this experience, Eryka got to serve on panels with fellow students as well as career service professionals from all across the nation. She admittedly received her highest compliment at the conference following one of her panels. “I had an individual come up to me and compliment me on my poise and participation in the previous panel and informed me that I am future CEO material. My career goal is to serve in leadership in a company and that was a very encouraging moment for me,” she said.

 

Eight students from Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) recently competed in business-related events at the PBL Spring Leadership Conference in Little Rock and proudly represented the UCA College of Business with all eight winning awards. They competed against college/university students from all over Arkansas. The winners and awards are:

Jessica Slay: 1st Place — Organizational Behavior (objective test)

Jordan Rivera: 2nd Place — Organizational Behavior and 4th Place — Management Concepts (both objective tests)

Madeline West: 4th Place — Retail Management (objective test)

Team: Glen Stambaugh, Caleb Glann & Miranda Wilson: 2nd Place — Business Decision Making (objective test and team performance presentation)

Team: Asher Emmanuel & Abigail Bormann: 2nd Place — Hospitality Management and 5th Place — Human Resource Management (objective tests and team performance presentations)

Six of the winners are eligible to compete against students from across the nation at the PBL National Leadership Conference in June in Anaheim, California.

PBL is the collegiate extension of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) which was chartered in 1942. FLBA-PBL is a global organization and the largest business career student organization in the world with a quarter million students preparing for careers in business and business-related fields.

Mr. Terry Pillow was born in Poplar Bluff, Mo., because there was no hospital in Corning. He grew up in Corning, Ark. and followed his older sister, Dianne, to Conway to attend the State College of Arkansas, renamed the University of Central Arkansas in 1975.

While at UCA, Pillow was an active member of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity and class officer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing in 1976. He worked full time at Browning and White, a Conway men’s clothing store. Following graduation, he traveled to Dallas, made a wrong turn, and met Mr. Stanley Marcus who then selected him for a position at Neiman Marcus in their executive training program.

Pillow has achieved outstanding success in business. He has worked his way up through the ranks in the clothing industry to his most recent position as Chief Executive Officer of Tommy Bahama Group, Inc., which has more than 4,000 employees and approximately $600 million in sales revenue. He served as CEO of Tommy Bahama Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Oxford Industries Inc. from 2008 to 2016. Terry has recently celebrated retirement as CEO and advises for Oxford Industries.

Prior to that, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ralph Lauren Footwear Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Reebok International Ltd. He also served as the President of Collection Clothing Corp., Senior Vice President of Reebok International Ltd. and the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Rockport Company.

Prior to joining Reebok International Ltd., he served as the President of the apparel division of Coach Leatherware, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Pillow served as the President of A/X Armani Exchange, New York. He also began his tenure as the CEO of Chaps Ralph Lauren at the age of 29.

Pillow also has been very generous and supportive of the College of Business, establishing an endowment to support the College of Business in honor of his late parents, Homer and Regina Pillow. “I’m often reminded of how influential my time at UCA has been in my life and career. UCA is built on a reputation of excellence, and I’m proud to be an alumnus and to support UCA’s long tradition of commitment to educating students,” Pillow said. “UCA provided me with the foundation to be successful and truly go anywhere and accomplish anything. I want to encourage those students who are looking for a college to consider UCA. I was a young man in Corning, Arkansas and my time at UCA helped me realize that you can truly go anywhere with an education from UCA,” Pillow added. He enjoys speaking to classes and students at UCA and hopes to remain a familiar face on campus and in the College of Business.

The 2017 College of Business Student Honors Banquet was held on Thursday, April 6 in the McCastlain Ballroom.

This was a night to celebrate the achievements of College of Business majors in the areas of awarded scholarships, service, and academic performance.

Scholarships: Tonight we celebrate awarding over $70,000 in
scholarship dollars to undergraduate and graduate students in the
College of Business. The faculty, students, and staff are grateful for the generous donations and support from individuals, businesses, and
professional organizations.

Service: The College of Business has 9 student led organizations that provide opportunities for students to develop leadership skills, network with business and community leaders, and participate in regional and national competitions. The service awards are designed to recognize our student’s time, effort, and leadership.

Academics: The UCA College of Business has outstanding students in every academic area. The academic awards celebrate the one student (per major) who stood out this year. The students recognized this
evening took advantage of their education and combined exemplary
academic performance with internships, professional development and experiential education, volunteerism, participation in clubs and
activities, and other important experiences.

Click the link to see the recipients with their awards, 2017 COB Student Honors Banquet.

Maverick Transportation hosted a group of twenty-one UCA students at their headquarters in North Little Rock, AR on March 28, 2017.  Maverick is one of America’s largest trucking companies and has hired more UCA Logistics and Supply Chain students than any other single employer.

Students were guided on the tour by UCA alumni Erik Neville and Callie Heathscott, both of whom work in Maverick’s Human Resources Department.  Students not only toured Maverick’s offices but also sat in a new Freightliner and viewed Maverick’s training center where employees are able to utilize simulators to improve their driving skills.  Following the tour, students heard from Maverick executives John Culp (President), Doug Richey (Executive VP and COO), Kim Williams (VP of Sustainability), and Kevin Williams (VP of Logistics) who discussed the company’s history, culture, and operations.  A question and answer session followed with lively discussion.

The Beta Gamma Sigma International Honors Society Induction Ceremony for 2016-2017 was held on March 31, 2017 in the COB Foyer.  The swearing in of new members was led by the Dean of the College of Business.  New members with their parents and loved ones were congratulated by members of the UCA College of Business and subsequently invited to light refreshments.

Members of this society  represent the top 10 percentile of AACSB accredited national and international business schools.  Members to this society are recruited by invitation based upon their excellent academic achievements.  This year the UCA College of Business inducted 7 members from the MBA program, 9 members from the Seniors class and 10 members from the junior class.

MBA Inductees: Brittany Hart, Ericka Guiterrez Fonseca, Patrick Hum, Justin Lee, Justin McCarty, Erica Rials and Robinson Tamara.

Senior Inductees: James Allen, Ahi Charles, Megan Cook, Colton Johnson, Ellen Huckabay, Andrew McFarlane, Matthew Montgomery, Roberto Rojo and Alvinn-Emmanuel Etranny Yao.

Junior Inductees: Anne Atahi, Angel Breaux, Fatim Coulibaly, Savannah Covington, Christina Cunningham, Rachel Durler, Thomas Moore, Justin Pham, Ashley Smith and Tianhu Wu.

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its last meeting of the school year on Tuesday, April 4th.  The event, which will be held in the College of Business Auditorium (Rooms 107/208) during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus.  Cole Powell, a current graduate student in the UCA College of Business, will be the featured speaker.  Cole works at the Walmart Corporate Offices in Bentonville as an Associate Buyer for Wireless phones, in Merchandising in the Entertainment division.  His area consists primarily of exclusive brands such as Straight Talk and Family Mobile, but they also work with nationwide carriers like AT&T and Verizon.  Cole received his BSBA in Management from the University of Arkansas in 2013, with a concentration in leadership.   The BIT Club will also conduct Officer Elections for next year, as well as discuss our upcoming field trip to the Acxiom Data Center in Conway on Thursday, April 13th.  Refreshments will be served (PIZZA!) and door prizes will be awarded.  All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.