2017 Commencement Recap
On May 5–6, 1,070 Broad College undergraduates and 382 advanced degree candidates became newly minted Spartan alumni. Broad alumnus guest speaker Todd Penegor, president and CEO of Wendy’s, reflected on his time as an undergraduate and MBA student, and leadership lessons he learned at Broad that he practices every day. Student speaker Aiden Wang (BA Accounting ’17) discussed the importance of staying balanced as his classmates prepare to enter the working world, and to remember who got them where they are now.
Read a full recap of 2017 commencement.
Read background articles to learn more about Todd Penegor and Aiden Wang.
Developments
On Thursday, April 13, MSU’s Board of Trustees approved the Broad College’s plans to begin construction on the Business Pavilion. Construction can begin with the approval of MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and with the Broad College reaching half of the project’s budget cost. Get an inside look at the Business Pavilion, narrated by Dean Sanjay Gupta, by watching a walkthrough of the planned building.
Get more details with an overview of the Board of Trustees’ decision.
Palmers
A $2 million gift from alumnus Russell “Russ” Palmer (BA Accounting ’56) and his wife Wendy will support the construction of the Business Pavilion, ensuring business students have the resources to pursue their dream careers. The college will name the future home for its career management teams the Russell Palmer Career Management Center in honor of Palmers’ gift.
Learn more about the innovative Russell Palmer Career Management Center.
Estons
Scott and Patricia Eston (both BA Business ’78) made a strategic investment in Broad’s effort to “go green” by establishing the Scott and Pat Eston Fund for Sustainability. This gift to the Pavilion will outfit the building with energy-saving technologies and modernized facilities that will allow the college to achieve the highest LEED status.
Read more on the Pavilion’s “Go Green!” movement.
Student Philanthropy
In a unified effort to support the pavilion – while also tapping their competitive mindset – the undergraduate class of 2017 created a cross-department, real-time competition to support pavilion construction. Using an online platform, students, faculty, alumni, and friends could support their chosen department.
Learn more about student philanthropy.
Lear Corp.
Following an awareness campaign from Lear Corp. employees and MSU alumni Jason Cardew and Ray Scott, the Michigan-based corporation and its employees gave more than $1.5 million to the pavilion. The announcement came after Lear, through the Lear Corp. Charitable Foundation, pledged a 5-to-1 match for every dollar any Lear employee gave to the building project. More than 100 employees have made contributions to date.
Read the full story on Lear’s gift.
Faculty Spotlights
The Fate of United & Uber in a World of Social Media Activism
Anjana Susarla, associate professor of accounting and information systems, published insight in The Conversation on the impact social media activism plays in the world of today’s most high-profile brands in crisis.
Read “How Social Media Turned United’s PR Flub into a Firestorm.”
Faculty Spotlight: Jason Miller
When it comes to supply chain management and logistics innovation, Broad’s Jason Miller, assistant professor, is blazing the trail for new, creative approaches to researching trends in the industry. The college’s emerging thought-leaders are at the forefront of higher education’s movement in inventive research, making an impact on how the public understands the industry that is, quite literally, the thread running through our economy.
Jason Miller earned a faculty spotlight and was awarded a Faculty Achievement Award by Broad’s Class of 2017.
Faculty Spotlight: Financial Front-Runner
Hao Jiang, assistant professor of finance, is among the world’s top financial experts who provide the public with insight on trends in stock market funds and real estate, and what they mean for the global economy. His research garnered him the Standard & Poor’s Dow Jones SPIVA Award First Prize, and he serves as a reviewer for national and global financial journals.
Read Jiang’s faculty spotlight to learn more about his experiences and what’s coming next.
Hospitals Put Patient Data at Risk
Associate Professor of Accounting John (Xuefeng) Jiang’s team of scholars released research on hospital data breaches, which unveiled startling findings: nearly 1,800 occurrences of large data breaches in patient information over a seven-year period. The research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, was picked up by Forbes, Yahoo! Science, and Consumer Reports.
Learn more by reading Research: Hospitals Put Data at Risk.
Rankings Highlights
