| California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us, even in these unusual times. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events to our communities in Southern California and beyond.
If you want to stay current on what is going on at the School of Management, please follow our Showcase page on LinkedIn. |
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Our Programs Continue to Excel
This week it was announced that the California Lutheran University Financial Planning Program has been ranked number 7 in the top 10 for best online CFP programs! Competing against ten other programs, the California Lutheran University program is one of the oldest programs along with the College of Financial Planning who ranked number 1. California Lutheran University’s place in the list came before other well-known universities including the University of Florida, University of Missouri, and Rice University. The Financial Planning Program prepares its students for their CFP® certification while earning an MBA, it is the only business school on the list of the top 10. Its USDLA award-winning program consists of eight courses and a capstone project taking an average of 18 months to complete. If you are interested in earning an MBA or MS in Financial Planningplease visit our website to learn more. |
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Entrepreneurship is Alive and Well at Cal Lutheran
Recently we held the inaugural meeting of the Advisory Council for the Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Under the leadership of Mike Panesis (Steven Dorfman Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship), a group of senior leaders from the startup community along the West Coast of the United States will support the Center’s work with their time, expertise, and networks. They will assist us with building out the future for entrepreneurship at Cal Lutheran. View the list of new SDCIE council members. We offer a minor in entrepreneurship and an MBA with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. And Hub101 is our co-working space where we offer a variety of creative work environments and a community of thinkers, creatives, and doers. It’s where our incredible community of students, mentors, investors, and business leaders come together and collaborate to solve problems, drive change, and support each other. We encourage you to plan a visit to Hub101. |
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Preparing our Students for Diversity in the Workplace
In April, we held our second event in the Diversity in the Workplace Series – “Preparing for Racial Disparity” lead by our Director of Global Engagement and Diversity, Dr. Mary Jo Shane. More than 50 guests listened to panelists Viktor Fakrogha (MBA ’05), Thembi Moyo (’00), and Nighat Shah, masterfully guided by moderator Jeannette Pugh, a member of the School of Management Advisory Council. What connected all of our panelists was not only their affiliation with California Lutheran University but the fact that they were all born outside of the United States. They all offered valuable insight on their personal stories and provided helpful tips for workplace issues related to race and culture to an engaged audience. Watch here. More events in the series are being planned for the upcoming academic year. |
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Alumnus Engaged as Guests in Speaker Series
Our MS in Information Technology (MSIT) program’s TechTalk Series welcomed MBA alumnus Eric Odero (left) back to the university as the featured speaker. Eric, who has had a diverse career ranging from medical operations in the US Army to leadership positions in the healthcare industry, spoke on how a wide range of applications ranging from databases to data analytics to artificial intelligence and robotics will continue to make healthcare informatics a field with continued demand for qualified graduates for many years to come. Watch here. In our Forward Together Webinar Series, MBA alumnus Mike Poutre (right) addressed more than 150 guests – students, alumni, professors, and community members from near and far. Mike, currently CEO of the hedge fund TerrarForm and former co-founder and CEO of the Crypto Company, spoke on the topic of cryptocurrency and the story behind The Crypto Company. The recording of the webinar is available on our YouTube channel. |
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Engagement from All Around the World
What draws 17,055 votes from 41 U.S. states and 61 countries on 6 continents? Our annual School of Management signature events, New Venture Fair (NVF), and PRiME Competition. A total of 63 projects by teams of students competed for over $17,500 in prize money between the two competitions. After one week of public voting and professional judging by our volunteer judges, awards were announced including Grand Prize, Best Booth, Best Executive Summary, Best Startups for Good, Judges Choice, and People’s Choice. Two of the NVF winning projects advanced to the annual USC Venturing Summit where they will compete with startups from USC, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, and other universities in Southern California. As in previous years, we held a special NVF competition for Oaks Christian High School students. PRiME Competition projects are focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. View project submissions on the NVF and PRiME Competition websites. |
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Recognizing Women in Business
Dean’s Executive Council member Pam Kessler was among the Top 50 Women in Business recently honored by the Pacific Coast Business Times. The Times featured her profile in a special supplement to its most recent edition as the top female in Banking, Finance, and Investments. Pam is CFO and Co-President of LTC Properties, a public REIT with investments in more than 180 senior housing and skilled nursing properties. She is an engaged member of our Dean’s Council, has been guest-speaking in our courses, and repeatedly hired interns and employees for LTC. Another School of Management Advisory Council member Andrea Trujillo, Director of Brand and Marketing at L’Attitude, spoke in our Forward Together webinar series. Andrea (featured on Forbes and Hispanic Executive) not only presented hugely insightful data about the purchasing power and consumer behavior of the Latino cohort in the U.S. to the audience, but she also told a fascinating story about how she was able to leverage her own life’s story to continuously improve her job skills and develop her career. Watch here. We are grateful to have both women as part of the School of Management team. |
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- Ran Lu-Andrews’ (Program Director, UG Business Administration) research paper “Examining Omitted Variable Bias in Anchoring Premium Estimates: Evidence-Based on Assessed Value”, coauthored with John Clapp and Tingyu Zhou, has been accepted by Real Estate Economics, one of the highest-ranked journals globally in real estate research.
- Dan Vo (Entrepreneurship) published the article “Angels and venture capitalists: substitutes or complements?” in the highly ranked Journal of Financial Economics.
- Matthew Fienup (together with S. Heard, and E.J. Remson) published “Groundwater Markets: The importance of good design.” in the Global Water Forum. May 5, 2021.
- Gerhard Apfelthaler published the chapter “Oesterreich in der Internationalen Wirtschaft” (“Austria’s Position in the Global Economy”) in the book “Business Location Austria“, published by Armin Kammel and Barbara Kolm.
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| Our SOM events are beginning to return to a new normal, some continuing as virtual while others are hybrid or in-person. No matter the delivery, we are still providing great topics, speakers, and educational offerings to our greater SOM community! |
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