MTSU Spring Alumni Weekend

MTSU Alumni Spring Weekend is April 19-21! [agenda]

Management and Marketing BEST Career Fair

Students with an interest in management and marketing positions will have the chance to meet with employers through speed networking at the Business Exchange for Student Talent on March 27 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Student Union ballroom. The event is sponsored by Management and Marketing faculty. 

For more information on the event, participating employers, and how to prepare for networking: http://www.mtsu.edu/career/best.php

Chair of Insurance Golf Tournament

Title sponsor BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announces:

29th Annual Tommy T. Martin Chair of Insurance 

Invitational Scramble Golf Tournament

• Tuesday, April 16
• Champions Run Golf Course
• 14262 Mount Pleasant Road, Rockvale, TN

The sole purpose of this tournament is to raise money to fund scholarships for students enrolled in the MTSU insurance program. Students are selected on the basis of scholastic achievement, leadership potential, and dedication to the insurance business. We hope you’ll join us for a great day on the course to support this important educational effort.

• Golf Tournament Brochure (pdf)
• Participation Form (pdf)
• Player Registration Form (pdf)

[Martin Chair of Insurance]

Bloomberg Career Assessment for Students

Bloomberg is coming to campus Friday, March 29, to run a career assessment for students who may be thinking about a future in business or finance. The Bloomberg Assessment Test (BAT) is an opportunity to further your professional development. All students and majors are welcome, provided you have an interest in connecting to firms who are looking for great individuals. 

The goal of the BAT is to match student strengths with employer needs, so you do not need to be an expert in all sections of the test. Bloomberg has relationships with over 20,000 global companies that are actively using the test score data to fill full-time and internship opportunities. 

• What: Bloomberg Assessment (screens students for careers in finance, economics, or business) 
• When: Friday, March 29, 9 a.m. or 1 p.m.
• Cost: free for undergraduate and graduate students
• Register: https://talentsearch.bloomberginstitute.com/

The BAT consists of 11 sections measuring finance aptitude and career skills with topics ranging from economics, analytical reasoning, and math to investment management and verbal skills. The BAT assesses your strengths and weaknesses for a career in business or finance. After taking it, your scores are anonymously entered in the Bloomberg Talent Search, which is used by employers to source top talent. All results are anonymous, and you maintain control over which employers can see your information. 

The BAT can also be leveraged to enhance your resume and social media profiles. Highlighting your participation in the BAT will differentiate you from thousands of other candidates by demonstrating and reinforcing your abilities in front of employers.

Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honors

MTSU accounting students co-hosted the regional meeting in Nashville of national honor organization Beta Alpha Psi Feb. 22-23 for over 300 attendees from colleges and universities throughout the Southeast. Congratulations to our competition team members Chris Hanvy, Emily Haynes, and Brooke Lamb for winning first place in the innovation category and earning the right to compete at the national meeting.

Meet the Departments

Meet your Jones College of Business faculty, and learn everything you wanted to know about our business majors and minors.

• March 19, 4 - 6 p.m.
• BAS South 2nd floor atrium and classrooms

Choose up to three information sessions: 4:20, 4:50, and 5:20 p.m.

Refreshments will be served.

Accounting | Business Communication and Entrepreneurship | Communication Information Systems | Economics and Finance | Management and Marketing

Business and Economic Research Center News

www.mtsu.edu/berc 

Tennessee Housing Market 4th Quarter
The housing market continues to improve, especially single-family homes. [more]

Expectations for Nashville Economy
David Penn's presentation to Nashville Risk Management Association Feb. 14
[presentation pdf]

Tennessee Economic Indicators

• Seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance in TN increased in Jan. following a large decline in Dec. The less volatile trend continues to show improvement, however. 
• Permits issued for single-family home construction in TN fell again in Dec, the 2nd monthly decline following a large increase in Oct. The trend continues to show improvement. 
• Tennessee unemployment rate remained at 7.6% in Dec., down from 8.5% a year ago. 
• Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment for TN gained 3,000 jobs in Dec. from the previous month. Over the year, nonfarm employment has gained 36,400 jobs, up 1.4%.
  
• State sales tax collections up 5.1% in Dec. over the year (seasonally adjusted), the largest rise since June 2012. 

Graphs: Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery | MSA | County

Economics Guest Speakers

On Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in the Business and Aerospace Building's State Farm Room (BAS S102), Dennis Coates of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will speak on sports economics and public financing of sports stadiums. Dennis Coates will be hosted by the Department of Economics and Finance and the Economics Club.

On Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. in the State Farm Room (BAS S102), Matthew Yglesias, an economics blogger and journalist for Slate.com, will speak about housing regulation, rent control, zoning laws, and his latest book, The Rent is Too Damn High. Matthew Yglesias will be co-hosted by the School of Journalism, the Distinguished Lecture Fund, and Economics Club.

On Monday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in the State Farm Room (BAS S102), Don Boudreaux of George Mason University (and cafehayek.com) will speak about the life and contributions of Nobel Prize winner and MTSU alumnus James M. Buchanan, who passed away January 9, 2013. Boudreaux will be hosted by the Department of Economics and Finance, the Economics Club, and the Honors College. The Honors College awards the James Buchanan Fellowship to 20 undergraduate applicants each year in his honor.  [See Boudreaux's tribute to Buchanan from the Wall Street Journal.]

All of these events are open to the public. Each lecture will be an hour long, with a 15-minute question-and-answer session afterward.

For information, contact Michael Hammock [Michael.Hammock@mtsu.edu].

Tatum Speaks at Entrepreneur Event

Doug Tatum, Wright Travel Chair in Entrepreneurship

"Frazier & Deeter and the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs sponsored an entrepreneur event on January 25 in Nashville. Speakers included Bo Burlingham, Cliff Oxford, and Doug Tatum. Tatum is the holder of the Wright Travel Chair in Entrepreneurship. He is a recognized expert on capital markets and entrepreneurial growth businesses, having testified before Congress on more than one occasion concerning the financing issues faced by growing companies. He was the founder and Chairman of the nation’s largest executive services firm, Tatum, LLC. Tatum is also the Chairman of Newport Board Group and its affiliated private equity firm, Evolution Capital partners. Tatum’s ideas concerning growth companies, private equity and the capital markets have been cited by leading media including Inc. Magazine, The Financial Times, New York Times and MSNBC." [Read more] 

[photo slide show]

Midstate Consumers More Upbeat about Economy

http://mtsunews.com/consumer-survey-results-jan-2013/ 

Local consumers have become more optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, according to MTSU's Office of Consumer Research [Tim Graeff, director, Management and Marketing]. [more]

Deloitte Accounting Professorship

MTSU’s Zeta Gamma Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP), international accounting honorary organization for accounting students, held a special meeting on January 22. The chapter had invited the accounting faculty to attend to introduce themselves, and candidates for membership from fall 2012 were initiated. The highlight of the meeting was the announcement by Deloitte, one of the “Big 4” CPA firms in the United States, of its new Deloitte Foundation Professorship at MTSU. In attendance were five partners and directors from the firm’s Nashville office:

• Jim Biagini, a director with the Deloitte Tennessee audit practice, who has more than 22 years of experience in accounting and auditing. He received his accounting education from MTSU, and he is a BAP chapter past president.
• Donald Fields, an advisory director with the Deloitte Tennessee advisory practice, specializing in risk controls and consulting. He holds an MBA degree from the MTSU Jones College of Business.
• Kevin Moore, a partner with Deloitte and the professional practice director of the Deloitte Tennessee audit practice. He has nearly 30 years of experience in accounting and auditing and is a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
• Tom Walker, an audit partner in the Nashville practice. He is an MTSU graduate and has been a partner for almost 20 years. He is a past member of the MTSU Accounting Advisory Board.
• Lisa Nix, a managing director with Deloitte’s national Life Sciences & Health Care mergers and acquisitions transactions services practice. She has over 20 years of public accounting experience and over 10 years of experience leading the health care services teams for strategic and financial buyers. She is an MTSU graduate and past president of the BAP chapter. A member and past chair of the Accounting Advisory Board, she heads its Board Development Committee.

Deloitte's Lisa Nix, right, recognizes

Terry Ward, past holder of the

Deloitte Foundation Professorship.

Nix introduced Paula Thomas as the new holder of the Deloitte Foundation Professorship. Thomas has taught at MTSU for more than 25 years and is past chair of the Department of Accounting. She is from Fayetteville, Tennessee, and earned her D.B.A. from Mississippi State University in 1988.

Nix also recognized the past holder of the Deloitte Foundation Professorship, Terry Ward, who has taught at MTSU for over 18 years. From Blackberry Creek, Kentucky, Ward received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1991. He held the professorship from its creation in 2006 to 2012.

Paul Thomas, left, named holder of the Deloitte Foundation Professorship, 

talks to Deloitte's Jim Biagini, center, and Tom Walker.

Career Tuesday

The first in a new series called Career Tuesday will be held on Tuesday, February 5, from 4:30-6 p.m. in the SunTrust Room (in lobby area of BAS North). Refreshments will be served.

The company taking part in our first event is Nissan. Tim Fallon, an MTSU alum, will be representing the company. Topics of discussion will include:
• Nissan’s culture
• The hiring process
• Typical career paths
• Expectations for high performing employees

Drop by as you can - hope to see you there!

Planning in Middle Tennessee

Tennessee's Business

http://capone.mtsu.edu/berc/tennbusiness.html 

Tennessee's Business magazine on planning in middle Tennessee features articles on Cheatham, Davidson, Robertson, and Williamson counties as well as the city of Columbia. Cumberland Region Tomorrow articles explain collaborative planning efforts in the region.

[table of contents]

Earnings Widen between College and High School–Only Grads

"In Tennessee, for example, the median income for a worker with a bachelor's degree ($43,804) is 71 percent higher than for a worker with only a high school diploma ($25,540)."

— Nashville Business Journal [read more]

A New Philosophy of Leadership

From the Economist:

"In this humility-driven vision of leadership, business schools need to shift their centre of gravity away from economics, finance and dreams of individual fortune. We need to teach future leaders to reflect and critique—that there are alternatives to theories that they accept, without question, because they speak to their self-interest.

The main challenge is how to reflect this in the MBA. Two strategies are possible...." [see article]

Updated Employment Data from BERC

http://mtsu.edu/berc

Employment Indicators

• Tennessee unemployment rate fell to 7.6% in Nov., down from 8.2% in Oct. and 8.7% a year ago. Rising employment pushed the unemployment rate lower.
• Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment for Tennessee rose again in Nov. to the highest level this year and is 1.0% higher over the year, up by 25,800 jobs. All but 3 metro areas are gaining jobs over the year, led by Clarksville and Jackson MSAs. 
• See graphs at Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery.

Employment Growth by Industry

Heat tables and summary tables

• Chattanooga MSA
• Clarksville MSA
• Cleveland MSA
• Jackson MSA
• Johnson City MSA
• Kingsport-Bristol MSA
• Knoxville MSA
• Memphis MSA
• Morristown MSA
• Nashville MSA
• Tennessee

[http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/tennesseejobs.html]

Hiring MTSU Students

The MTSU Office of Development is currently hiring 20 MTSU undergraduate and graduate student leaders for our Phonathon calling program. Primary responsibilities include contacting MTSU alumni, friends, and graduating seniors for donations to the MTSU Annual Fund Campaign. If you know of any students who will be interested in this position, please forward along this information. Students can follow this Lightning Job Source link MTSU Phonathon Position for more details. The application deadline is January 7^th, 2013. 

For more information, please contact Meredith Kerr, Associate Director of Annual Giving for the MTSU Office of Development at 898-2728 or Meredith.Kerr@mtsu.edu.

Survey: Consumer Confidence Drops Sharply

http://goo.gl/iJr9a 

Following a yearlong period of steady increases in consumer confidence, the overall consumer outlook index for midstate residents dropped sharply to 106 from 178 in September, according to MTSU's Office of Consumer Research [Tim Graeff, director, Management and Marketing].

[Murfreesboro Post article]

Best-Paying College Majors for Women

Information Sciences and Business Economics make Forbes Top 10 List:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/11/28/the-10-best-paying-college-majors-for-women/

Talk to MTSU's departments of Computer Information Systems or Economics and Finance for more information. Jones College advisors can assist you.

Global Commerce Newsletter

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/globalcommerce.html 

In the new Global Commerce newsletter from the Business and Economic Research Center, Dr. Steven Livingston examines trends and changes in Tennessee's county-level export activity. Mexico became the first country other than Canada to import more than $1 billion in Tennessee products in one quarter. [more]