Anne Kennedy

Anne Kennedy ’83 was the first speaker in CBA’s Executive Luncheon Series this past February. Kennedy, who is managing director of Institutional Investment Services at Munder Capital Management in Birmingham, Mich., spoke about the investment business, opportunities available at Munder, and her own career progression.

The College plans to continue the Executive Luncheon Series periodically beginning in the fall semester of 2008. For more information, please contact Ken Kuna at 313-993-1232 or kunakj@udmercy.edu.

Professor of Business Administration Mike Bernacchi's annual Super Bowl Ad Nauseum program has been greatly expanded to include high schools around the country with an entire online curriculum on the economy, advertising and marketing.  The project is called The Marketing High School.  (See the project's web site.)

Working with the Oakland County intermediate school district and online learning environment providers Immersive Engineering, Bernacchi has made video lectures, newsletters, and teacher and student materials available online. The curriculum culminates in the annual Ad Nauseum event, when students all over the country connect online to rate Super Bowl ads.

Bernacchi also contributed his marketing expertise to the 2008 Automation Alley Global Trade Mission program, held in March. The program poses an international business challenge to teams of high school students who must respond with marketing, product and financial plans. Bernacchi volunteered to evaluate and provide feedback on Oakland Schools students' marketing strategies.

The College is proud to announce the graduation of Cohort III and the arrival of Cohort IV of Global Entrepreneur Master of Business Administration (GEMBA) students from Taiwan. GEMBA, a joint program of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan and UDM, began in 2004. Since then, it has attracted some of Taiwan's top students including CEOs and high-level government officials.

Fu Jen Cohort III with Associate Professor of Marketing Mary Higby (far left), Graduate Advisor Jacqui Bell (center), and Professor of Operations Management and Systems Organization Shahram Taj. 

GEMBA students take courses at both Fu Jen and UDM. Courses are taught by both business faculties; UDM faculty members deliver four courses at each institution. Each cohort begins its first year in September and arrives at UDM in February for two courses, after which they return to Taiwan until the following April, when they complete another two courses at UDM and participate in commencement. GEMBA graduates receive degrees from both UDM and Fu Jen.

Following the Jesuit tradition of reaching out and giving back, UDM MBA students, faculty, staff and friends participated in the second annual Jesuit MBA Cares Service Day on April 12. These volunteers spruced up the exterior of Gesu Parish school and playground, right across the street from McNichols Campus.

Pictured at right, Christopher Kolon, a member of the College of Business Administration's EMBA Cohort IV, works in the playground and garden area of Gesu Parish. McNichols Campus is in the background.

Faculty bookshelf
The following works were published by CBA faculty in the last calendar year:

• Bacon, Frank, Shin, Tai S., Kim, Suk H., and Garg, Ramesh, Financial Management. Copley Custom Textbooks, 2007.
• Biberman, Jerry, and  Whitty, Michael D., At Work: Spirituality Matters. University of Scranton Press, 2007. [Catalog Link]
• Kim, Suk, and Chang, Semoon, Economic Sanctions Against a Nuclear North Korea: An Analysis of United Nations Actions Since 1950. McFarland & Company, Inc, 2007.
• Mascarenhas, S.J., Oswald, Responsible Marketing: Concepts, Theories, Models, Strategies and Cases. Roval Publishing Co., 2007.

In April, the College mourned the passing of former Accounting professor Charlton Schoeffler. He was a member of the CBA faculty from 1946 to 1992 and was known for his dedication to teaching, integrity and sense of humor.  For more on Schoeffler, see the Spring 2006 Current article.