Curing U.S. Health Care

As part of the Gerald S. Lippes Speaker Series, more than 200 guests gained insights from experts who visited the University at Buffalo to discuss U.S. health care reform on Oct. 29. 

“U.S. Health Care: In Search of a Cure” was the topic of the panel discussion, which was held at UB’s Center for the Arts.  The panel featured Michael W. Cropp, MD, president and CEO of Independent Health; Ann F. Monroe, president of the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York; and Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, senior associate dean for medical education and clinical professor in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and immediate past president of the American Medical Association (AMA).
Earlier in the day, the panel spoke before a small group of MBA and law students.  The discussion can be viewed via streaming server at: Health care panel

The evening panel discussion was moderated by Annemarie Franczyk, who covered health care for Business First for nearly 20 years before joining the faculty of Buffalo State College in 2008.  In regards to health care reform, all of the panelists agreed that there is an opportunity to do better.  They also advised that we can impact the quality of our long term health by making better lifestyle choices.  The formal discussion was followed by a spirited question-and-answer session with the audience.

Meghan Wood

Assistant Director of Admissions

No Pain, No Gain?

Our first year MBAs have just come through what I am hearing was a rough week, with mid-term exams and projects due.  They’re getting well into the heart of the semester and understanding the rigor of our program.  Some may be questioning what-in-the-world they decided to put themselves through.  Well, the good news is that the UB MBA is recognized as a quality degree (and remember the ROI factor mentioned elsewhere in our sites.)

The proof of the product is in external testimonials.  We think we have a good program, and are constantly striving to make it better.  We are currently reviewing the MBA core, concentrations, and developing LeaderCORE, a groundbreaking program to certify graduates in the soft skills that companies are demanding today.

I recently heard two ringing endorsements of our graduates from external parties.  Saturday mornings I play basketball with some of the guys at my church.  A passing conversation this last weekend clued me into the fact that one of the other guys works for Rich Products Company, a well-known Buffalo company with global operations.  I mentioned that we have a number of UB MBA grads working at Rich and the Rich’s manager responded that of all the MBAs they hire, the UB MBAs are flat-out the best prepared.

I related that conversation in senior staff meeting this morning and Courtney Walsh, our executive education director, mentioned that she was at a presentation last week where the president of Rich’s was the keynote.  Someone in the audience raised the question of talent acquisition – how does Rich’s ensure they have the management talent they need in their pipeline.  The president reportedly said “well, to tell you the truth, we hire graduates from the University at Buffalo.”

Those are the kind of comments I like to hear about our UB MBAs!  Kudos to Rich’s and to all our grads contributing to the success of the company.

Dave Frasier, Assistant Dean

Princeton Review Names University at Buffalo Among Top 301 MBA Programs

Don’t ask me why The Princeton Review settled at 301 – but we’re happy to be on the list – which is unranked.  This is further confirmation that the UB MBA is a great program and when you look at our price you’ll realize that we are a great VALUE – as confirmed by our rankings in BusinessWeek and Forbes.  According to the Graduate Management Admissions Council (purveyors of the GMAT) there are approximately 4,500 graduate management programs in more than 1,900 business schools around the world.  So, to make Princeton Review’s list is impressive.  We think you’ll find that the quality and value of the program lives up to, and probably surpasses, the reputation.  Give us a look, give us a visit, and I know you’ll like what you see.

Dave Frasier, Assistant Dean

UB Ranks 48 in Forbes Magazine!

Forbes magazine has once again ranked the UB School of Management as one of the best business schools in the world based on the “return on investment” it provides MBA graduates. The ranking  is a function of salary progression over 5 years vs. the cost of tuition and forgone salary places the School of Management at No. 48, putting us solidly in the top 10 percent of the more than 500 accredited business programs.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/05/best-business-schools-09-leadership-careers_land.html

Tips on finding a good deal!

Lately the economy has really started to take a toll on my spending capacity!  As most of my family knows, I am an avid shopper and I love to spend.  So since I have to be a little more thrifty with my money, I thought that I would highlight some really great bargains  that I have found over the last few weeks of saving money!

Airlines: Many of you are looking to book your international flights to Buffalo.  The airlines are now finding new and creative ways to charge you money for things that should be FREE!!!  I’ve located a great website to help off-set those travel costs that you can use when traveling to Buffalo:

www.sidestep.com

The website will get you the best possible deal on airline and hotel.  It gives you the prices of almost EVERY airline out there (excluding a few private carriers).  This might save you some upfront costs.

Technology: If you are looking for a great deal on a hands free headset or a GPS (to find your way in your new city!) check this site out: http://wireless.1saleaday.com/ A $200.00 GPS is running for only $49.99!!!  A $80.00 handsfree headset is running for only $4.99.

Food: There are a few different websites that will offer 1/2 off dining deals in Buffalo.  Most of the radio stations will announce these 1/2 of deals, but if you can’t wait for your favorite restaurant to go on sale check out this website:

http://www.halfoffdeals.com/search-deals-results.php

Lodging: Many of you are coming to Buffalo for the first time!  I thought I would send this link to you:

www.cwsbuffaloamherst.com

The Candlewood Suites is a brand new hotel that will cater to families and long term stay.  If you are having issues finding housing and need a place to stay for a week, this is the place to be!  It is located just minutes from UB (actually walking distance to north campus).  They offer full equipped kitchens, with microwaves, refrigerators and dishwashers among other great ammenities.

I hope that some of these tips will save you money in the coming months!!

Happy Shopping!!

Jen
Assistant Director of Admissions

Buffalo and MUSIC!

Buffalo has a long tradition as a great music scene – going back into the 19th century as I recall, with some great jazz and other traditions.  Ani DiFranco, the GooGoo Dolls and others have roots here, Ani having restored a downtown church, turning it into her Babeville studio and an art and performance venue. The Buffalo Philharmonic, on another end of the musical scale, is a prominent part of the Buffalo culture and provides outstanding performances throughout the year. 

The musical scene in the Buffalo region is probably at its height during the summer months when there is an incredible number of free concerts in addition to the paid admissions scenes.  Last week my wife and I, and one of the largest venue crowds in Artpark’s history, enjoyed an great concert by the Guess Who.  This week we had to choose between Chubby Checker at the Hamburg Fairgrounds and Grand Funk Railroad at Artpark – Chubby Checker won that contest.

I haven’t actually sat down and mapped it out but I suspect that among regular scenes like the Fairgrounds and Artpark, a host of festivals and town concert series, Thursday at the Square and the like, a person could attend a free concert every day of the week from mid-June through the end of August.  Check out an extensive list of free concerts that someone took the time to compile.

Buffalo rocks!

Dave Frasier, Assistant Dean

Bake sale brings community together

Just recently I received and email from Amy Matikosh, International Admissions Advisor, and friend.   The goal of the email was to engage various offices on campus to help with a bake sale.  The goal was to use  ProjectConnect as a tool to connect the incoming international students to each other, UB and to their home communities (wherever in the world that may be), and to inspire a service mentality in the incoming students.  The students and staff  held a bake sale, with the goal of raising $1500 to then donate to Share our Strength, a non-profit organization that helps curb childhood hunger in America.  I of course offered to bake something, but then realized I don’t bake,  so I graciously donated money to the  cause.

Two weeks went by and I received the following email:

Hello Friends!

I am pleased to announce that our ProjectConnect Bake Sale to help end childhood hunger was a great success!  Thanks to your contributions of time, energy, baked goods, online donations and moral support, we have EXCEEDED our fundraising goal of $1,500 and raised $1,579.70 thus far for the national non-profit organization Share Our Strength!

I want to thank all of you for your support in making our project a success.  I especially would like to thank our office staff, who gave of their time and energy planning for the event, providing baked goods and working at the bake sale we held at the North Tonawanda Farmers Market last Saturday (in the rain!).  Thank you Marie, Sherene, Ellen, Carolyn, Jess, Suet Ling, Moon, Gordon, Beth and Joe for all of your hard work!  Also thanks to Jennifer Gammell from IA, Kathy Curtis, Keith Otto and Katie Sam of ELI, Diane Hardy of ISSS, Katie Beczak of Graduate Enrollment Management, Phyllis Floro of the Intercultural & Diversity Center, and Cathy Engelhardt-Ellis of Student Medical Insurance for donating baked goods.  Thank you to UBelong Club faculty contributor, Dr. Gregory Beehler, who helped in planning, donated baked goods and worked at the bake sale.  And we can’t forget Hilda Loucks, Store Manager of Starbucks in the UB Commons, who donated more than 750 cups of freshly brewed coffee (and supplies) that we were able to offer free to our bake sale customers when they donated to our cause!  Thank you, Hilda!

As I write this, our incoming students are to be engaged in community service projects of their choosing all over the world during this ProjectConnect Week.  In planning this program and our own ProjectConnect Bake Sale, I’ve experienced first-hand the generosity of my colleagues and friends, and I feel so lucky to know each of you and to have witnessed that generosity in action.  I think we all believe that our incoming students are joining a community of great people when they join UB, and I know it for sure!

THANK YOU!-Signed Amy Matikosh

As I was reading this I thought ‘Wow’ even in these tough economic times, a simple thing as a bake sale brought together so many people and organizations for a great cause!  I was also thrilled to learn that Gordon Tan, one of our second year MBA students who works in the International Admissions Office was personally thanked for his efforts.

I  have to echo Amy’s thoughts in saying that I believe that UB and Buffalo are great places to be!   I look forward to working with all our new students in the coming weeks on hopefully their own student run community service projects!

Project Connect Bake Sale

Respectfully submitted,

Jen Tsutsui
Assistant Director of Admission

MBA Students Help Develop “Entrepreneurial Pipeline” in Western New York

There are so many facets to the School of Management at the University at Buffalo that it is sometimes hard to capture all of what is going on and the breadth of opportunity for student involvement.  I received the email below from the director of our Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.  I thought readers would find this an interesting example that says a lot about our involvement with local development efforts and collaborative work across the university.

David:

Seven MBA students participated in the Pre-Seed Workshop at the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences on June 8, 9, and 16.  The Pre-Seed Workshop is part of the grant that we worked on jointly with the COE and is vital piece of “the entrepreneurial pipeline” that we are trying to build in WNY.  Each student was a member of a team that consisted of idea champions, technical champions, tech transfer representatives, legal experts, business advisors, MBA students, and a coach.  The spent approx. 20 hours in sessions with these teams and gave their input on advancing the “idea champions” to their next level of business development.  Many of them spent additional time working on the projects outside of the classroom setting for several more hours than the 20 mentioned.  They were all very helpful and the feedback on their participation was outstanding.  They contributed greatly to the teams and added value to the entire event.  Thank you for loaning us some of your students.  I’m hoping that this “real world” experience will be helpful in their professional development going forward.

“Idea Champions” were:

Dr. Khushi Matta – Roswell Park

Dr. Ashwani Sood – Roswell Park

MMC Lipid Bioservices – Niagara University

Terra Specter – 2009 second place Panasci team

Universal Coherence Imaging – UB Technology

Dr. Julian Ambrus – UB

NanoAxis – 2008 first place Panasci team

Si-Revolution Solar Ltd – UB Technology

Dr. Ranjit – UB Technology

Participating students were:

Ali Zeeshan

Matt Bertrand

Christopher Bodkin

Swapnil Kachare

Amy Monin

Manish Sabnis

Javier Sullivan

Many thanks!

Tom

Thomas R. Ulbrich

Executive Director

University at Buffalo

School of Management

Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

672 Delaware Avenue

Buffalo, NY 14209

Tel: (716) 885-5715    Fax: (716)885-5718

E-mail: tulbrich@buffalo.edu

Website: http://mgt.buffalo.edu/entrepreneurship/cel

Where in the world is Buffalo…and how do I get there?!

When I travel to various vacation spots around the country (and around the world) I usually always receive this common question-Where are you from? and Where is Buffalo?  My usual response is, Upstate NY, or near Niagara Fall Canada, or One hour South of Toronto.  Well for many of you reading this you already know where Buffalo is, I don’t have to tell you that…but you might not know how to get here.  So I’ve pulled some resources off the University’s International Student Services website to help you get here safely in the August! 

How to get to the University at Buffalo by air:
Fly into the Buffalo Niagara International Airport:  http://www.buffaloairport.com/ located in Cheektowaga NY.  

After you retrieve your luggage on the bottom level, look for the Airport Taxi Service (Tel. 716-633-8294) outside the airport terminal. You can take the taxi to campus.  This is going to cost you approximately $20.00 USD, so be prepared with cash upon arrival. 

Buffalo Niagara International Airport is about 10 km away from the University at Buffalo’s North and South Campuses.  It should take from 15-20 minutes to reach UB from the airport.  If you are planning on checking into a hotel there are three located within walking distance of the classroom buildings.  They are:

Hotel Indigo:  www.hotelindigo.com
Buffalo Marriott:  http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bufny-buffalo-marriott-niagara/
Red Roof Inn: http://www.redroof.com/reservations/property-detail.aspx?pid=104

Once you have settled in, it will be time to explore what the city has to offer. While many people associate Buffalo with lots of snow(and don’t worry you will see it!!), it offers a rich cultural scene and wide array of activities. There is so much to experience in Buffalo: museums, theater, music, festivals, food, sporting events, shopping, etc. It is also a great location for many sports activities, including skiing, ice-skating, snow tubing, hiking, golf, boating and many more.  Here is a great link to some activities when you get here: http://www.iloveny.com/home.aspx

So GOOD LUCK! We will see you in August!

MBAs get ‘Smart’

David Schembri, president and CEO of Smart USA, joined about 20 Smart Car owners at UB on Monday to hear some creative strategies from UB MBA students for marketing the Smart Car.

Several other executives from Smart USA, faculty, staff and MBA students also were at the event, which was hosted by the School of Management and Smart USA as the culmination of a semester-long project for the school’s MBA marketing management course.

At the beginning of the semester, Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research, charged 18 teams of first-year MBAs with developing a hypothetical marketing plan for the U.S. launch of the Smart Car.

To prepare them for their research, Jain hosted a Smart Car visit in January where students test drove the Smart Car on the North Campus and learned about its creative customization options, outstanding safety ratings and other features that differentiate it from other vehicles.

Smart Car representatives were impressed with the initiative, and Schembri offered to visit at the end of the semester, combining the MBA event with the company’s annual celebration for Smart Car owners.

Monday’s activities began with a rally in a UB parking lot where Smart Car owners parked their micro-compact vehicles in a row and joined MBA students and Smart Car executives in creating a “smart art” poster with painted handprints to honor the collaboration with a “lend a hand” theme.

After a buffet dinner, two of the MBA teams presented their marketing proposals. Both teams conducted an in-depth analysis of the micro-car market and customer base to develop their strategies for how they would launch the Smart Car in the U.S.

One team’s campaign focused on making the Smart Car a “member of the family.” Present at vacations, parties and milestone events, the Smart Car was as ubiquitous as a beloved pet.

Another team’s strategy emphasized how the Smart Car could adapt to any personality. Attractive photographs of the cars with their owners were accompanied by catchy phrases such as “Be Smart, Be Sporty,” “Be Smart, Be Romantic,” and “Be Smart, Be Sleek.” The team highlighted the customizable features of the vehicle and even suggested a few that haven’t been invented yet.

The proposals were well received by the audience, getting favorable reviews from Smart owners and executives alike.

“I was impressed with the caliber of students and their presentations,” said Smart Car owner Alice Spies.

“They were just amazing,” added Brooke Arber, brand manager of Smart Center Buffalo, who was instrumental in making the Smart Car collaboration with the School of Management a success.

The highlight of the evening was a talk by Schembri, who shared with the audience how Smart Car came to the U.S. and why it has been so wildly successful. He also lauded the student presentations, saying that Smart Car came to many of the same conclusions in its real plan.

“Your analysis was well thought out, well presented and you really captured the essence of our brand,” Schembri told the student teams. “And your recommendations were ‘spot on.’”

He also said the teams had a few ideas that Smart Car might use down the road. “Don’t worry, though; we’ll be sure to work with you if we do,” he assured the teams.

David Frasier, assistant dean and director of the MBA program, said that ultra-low emissions, high fuel efficiency and the high priority that Smart Car gives environmental friendliness gave this event a nice tie-in with UB’s green mission.

“And our MBA students gained an understanding of the sustainability issues that managers face today,” said Frasier.

Jain teaches marketing theory by grounding it with real-world practices. MBA students were immersed in a number of activities, including a visit to Fisher-Price in February to learn about new product marketing, presentations in March from executives at Merck and Kimberly Clark about their product marketing strategies and a trip in April to an advertising agency.

“Real-world contact with these high profile companies and executives gives students exposure to the depth and breadth of what it takes to create a comprehensive marketing strategy, Jain said. “This is not the kind of information you can get from a textbook.”

The Wall Street Journal has ranked the UB School of Management No. 9 in the nation among schools with strong regional recruiting bases. In addition, BusinessWeek has ranked the school as one of the country’s top 5 business schools for the fastest return on MBA investment, and Forbes cited it as one of the best business schools in the U.S. for the return on investment it provides MBA graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system that is its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Release date
Apr-28-2009

Contact
Jacqueline Ghosen
716-645-2833
ghosen@buffalo.edu