March was a busy and productive month for the E. J. Ourso College of Business. We proudly inducted William Balhoff, Toni Stephenson, and Robert Stuart Jr. into our Hall of Distinction. It was the first time we used the new Business Education Complex for the gala dinner event and, with Chef Don Bergeron's gourmet fare, The Rotunda became, at least for one night, the best restaurant in Baton Rouge. Our Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) also had its spring meeting. Again, thanks to the DAC members for their service; the college could not function without their time, talent, and treasure. Welcome to our newest DAC members—Greg Hamer of B&G Food Enterprises Inc., Dal Miller of Inspection Oilfield Services, and Darryl Pope of ExxonMobil.
As you have no doubt heard, the LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the appointment of F. King Alexander as president of the LSU System and as chancellor of LSU. These positions will be combined under the title of President of LSU upon compliance with accreditation standards. We are excited with Dr. Alexander’s appointment and look forward to building an excellent relationship with him. He is a seasoned college president and a noted authority on higher education policy. His knowledge of academia and his ability to work with alumni and elected officials is greatly welcomed and should serve LSU well.
Last month, we shared with you news of the LSU Flores MBA Program’s tremendous jump of 20 spots overall in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” ranking for 2014. Late in March, we received word that the college’s undergraduate ranking improved in Bloomberg Businessweek, now ranking the college 59th among public institutions and 118th overall. We are in the top 100 in terms of the employer survey conducted for this ranking and in the top 100 as an MBA feeder school. Companies are investing in us because of our students.
Among many noteworthy events, Professor Rudy Hirschheim of the Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences received LSU's Rainmaker Award, one of the university's highest honors for research and scholarly achievement. Also, the journal Geographical Analysis last month announced that Kelley Pace, director of the LSU Real Estate Research Institute, has the fourth most cited article by other researchers in the journal’s 40-year history in the Geographical Information Science category. The article, “Quick Computation of Spatial Autoregressive Estimators,” was published in 1997. Several guest speakers gave presentations last month, including Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden, Raising Cane’s CEO Todd Graves, Plains Exploration Vice President Hance Myers, and Practical Futurist Michael Rogers.
The initial offering of the online LSU PMBA is ongoing and running smoothly. Also, the Department of Finance received a donation of 50 licenses of financial planning software last month from Zywave Inc. Zywave is a software company that provides software as a service product for financial planners and insurance brokers. That donation is valued at $100,000.
Keep in touch, and Geaux Tigers!
Dick White
Dean and Ourso Distinguished Professor
LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business