The Theta Lambda chapter of Beta Alpha Psi chapter at the University of Central Arkansas earned two first place awards at the organization’s Southwest Regional meeting in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, February 25, 2017.

Anastasiya Klimiankova of Belarus, Obed Onyemakonor of Nigeria, and Nathan Scheuter of Conway (all undergraduate accounting majors) competed in the Strategic Planning category of Best Practices using their project, “Building on the Past and Preparing for the Future.” The students competed against nine other regional teams and won the competition.

Emelyn-Doriane Djoké of Côte d’Ivorie (undergraduate accounting major) and Tuan Nguyen of Vietnam (post-baccalaureate accounting major) competed in the Community Outreach category of Best Practices using their project, “Diversity in the Accounting Profession.” The students competed against three other regional teams and won the competition.

The students who participated in the competitions earned the right to compete at the national meeting this August in Anaheim, California. Other UCA accounting students attending the conference were Jean Piere Leon Chavez of El Dorado, Kylie Garrett of Heber Springs, Jacob Hoelzeman of Conway, Johnathan Long of Bauxite, and Alyman Ouattara of Côte d’Ivorie (all undergraduates) and Sultan Faretdinov of Kazakhstan (graduate student). During the conference, students attended sessions on professional development, ethical behavior, leadership skills, service, and professional networking.

The UCA Department of Accounting received contributions from BKD, LLP which allows the students to travel to the southwest and annual conferences. [Read more…]

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its second meeting on Tuesday, February 14th. 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. Candice Offonry, UCA College of Business Graduate (2010) and currently a University Recruiter at Acxiom, will be the featured speaker. There will be a panel discussion with four current MIS majors who are doing internships at Acxiom: Brandy Bryant – Delivery Analyst; Noah Heffron – Tester Intern; Emma K. Lybrand – Applications Developer Intern; and Jhade McConnell – Entry Solutions Developer. Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be awarded. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

The College of Business and the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics are co-hosting a Student Research and Project Presentation Day in the College of Business on March 28th.

Prizes up to $500 will be awarded for freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors who present original research or projects related to their College of Business courses. To learn more, please visit the event page at uca.edu/acre.

The UCA College of Business
Cordially Invites You to Attend the
Spring 2017 Davis Family Lecture Series featuring: 

Millie Ward
Co-Founder and President
Stone War

War Stories and Observational Advice
from an Old Ad Girl

Thursday, February 9, 1:40 pm
COB Auditorium (107)

A reception will follow the lecture in the COB lobby.

Dr. Mark McMurtrey recently agreed to serve as the MBA Director for the College of Business!

In addition to being the MBA director, Mark is an associate professor of MIS. Dr. McMurtrey received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He has consulting experience with Fortune-500 firms (as well as regional healthcare) and has served on the faculties of the University of South Carolina and the University of Idaho, among others. Besides his lengthy service and participation at various national conferences, he has published articles in journals such as Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology Education, Interacting With Computers, Journal of Information Systems Education, Industrial Management and Data Systems, and others. Currently he is the Program Chair for the 48th Annual Meeting of the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute (SWDSI), to be held at the Marriott Little Rock and Statehouse Convention Center March 8-11, 2017. His research interests include systems development processes, career and personnel issues of IS employees, and the matching of employer skill set requirements with recent college graduates.

Mark is a long-standing member of the COB team and we very excited that he has agreed to serve the College in this important leadership role.

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its Spring Welcome Meeting and Kick-Off on Tuesday, January 24th. 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. Whitney Davis, Programmer/Analyst on the IT Payroll Team at Dillard’s, will be our featured speaker. Whitney is a recent MIS graduate from UCA and we are delighted to welcome her back to campus. Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be awarded. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

On November 1st, EPIC Residential College students and faculty gathered for a $20 Business Bear Challenge. EPIC@Bear teams started a business with only an Andrew Jackson and a month to discover, build and market their ideas. Why only $20 and a month?

According to Dr. Dan Fisher, Associate Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the EPIC@Bear faculty mentor for this event, this model “forces people to make their ideas tangible and take them to market so they can quickly and cheaply learn about what works and what doesn’t.”

Teams completing the challenge were Kallie’s Kards, led by Kallie Benedict and Purple Pride Photography, led by Zachary Hull. Both teams were composed primarily of freshman and sophomore students, greatly impressing the judges with their poise and professionalism. “The transformation in just one month was incredible to watch,” says Fisher.

Dr. Ron Duggins (Assistant Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship), Mr. Bill Doshier (Marketing & Management Executive-in-Residence) and College of Business Dean Michael Hargis served as judges for the event. The Norris Taylor Residential College Fund provided cash awards to the businesses based on research, presentation, and potential.

Picture L to R: Bill Doshier, Kaleb Posey, Zachary Hull, Ron Duggins, Abbey Fletcher, Dan Fisher & Michael Hargis. Team member not pictured is Valentin Sawadogo

Dr. Joe McGarrity’s Intermediate Microeconomics class has 13 students that will have Op-Ed articles published in the Log Cabin Democrat. Here’s the 1st one: How Nuclear Weapons Can Help the Poor in Arkansas by Delano Rolle.