Yale SOM scores $50 million
Edward Evans, former CEO of the Macmillan publishing house, is donating $50 million to Yale University for construction of a building at the Yale School of Management”™s planned campus.
Yale said it was the largest gift ever received by the business school.
The new four-acre campus will be situated at the northern gateway to the Yale campus in New Haven. Foster + Partners is the architect.
Post U. to launch new school of business
Post University in Waterbury is reorganizing into four schools, naming as dean of the new school of business Donald Mroz, who has been director of the school”™s online MBA program.
Only in late October, Ronald Ogrodnik assumed the position of president of Post University, having previously held the post of interim president for DeVry University.
In addition to the undergraduate Post College, the university is also creating schools of education and public service. Jane Bailey was named dean of the school of education; at deadline, Post had yet to fill the dean positions for the school of public service and Post College.
McQuillan out as education commissioner
Mark McQuillan resigned abruptly as Connecticut commissioner of education, and at deadline Gov.-elect Dan Malloy had yet to tab his successor at the Connecticut State Department of Education.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell appointed McQuillan commissioner in April 2007; previously he was president of the Education Collaborative of Greater Boston. During his tenure, Connecticut maintained its status as having among the top-performing public school systems in the nation, but the state also was shut out of federal funding in the Obama administration”™s “Race to the Top” program that rewarded states for innovative strategies for improving schools.
Education jobs down
Connecticut”™s education sector dropped an estimated 500 jobs in November, a 0.8 percent decline, but remains up 1.6 percent from a year ago according to estimates by the Connecticut Department of Labor.
Bill Cibes, chancellor emeritus of the state university system and former head of the state Office of Policy and Management, last month urged state officials to avoid cutting education budgets, arguing the state risks jeopardizing its future economic prospects.
UB business plan tops
University of Bridgeport MBA students won the $1,000 first-place prize at the Connecticut Business Plan Competition, beating out teams from the Coast Guard Academy, Quinnipiac University, the University of Hartford, and the University of Connecticut.
Prasad Bhavsar, Niketa Kansara, Minal Patel, and Avinash Yelamarti won the “best ventures” division for their invention, a golf-ball tracking system. Professor Arthur McAdams advised the team.
The Connecticut Business Plan Competition is held biannually to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, with the next competition scheduled for April.
UB students take 1st, 3rd in stock contest
A team of MBA students from the University of Bridgeport won the Regional Stock Market Game, in which competitors invest a hypothetical $100,000 over 10 weeks and strive to outperform both each other and the overall stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor”™s 500 Index.
Business school students Yiding Feng, Wen Shi, and Chenlei Shi finished with $114,327, beating the S&P 500 by 7.6 percent. Professor Steven Rashba advised the winning team.
SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education sponsors the competition each fall and spring.
The competition drew 28 teams from schools including Trinity College and the University of New Haven. A second team from the University of Bridgeport took third place, one of just three teams to beat the S&P 500; the school has placed in the top three spots of the competition since 2004.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Alexander Soule
