Rice Starts MBA Program for School Principals
The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University is partnering with Teach For America and Houston A+ Challenge, an educational organization, in a new program designed to equip principals in K–12 schools with leadership and business skills. Supported by a $7.2 million grant from the Houston Endowment, Rice has created the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Programs, three innovative academic tracks that include a graduate management degree, the Rice MBA for Professionals for Educational Entrepreneurs.

Hill & Knowlton Study Sheds Light on MBA Student Opinions
Perhaps suggesting some strategies in the global war for talent, Hill & Knowlton’s eighth annual Corporate Reputation Watch study finds that the reputations of key emerging markets (Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and South Asia) discourage the best talent from working there. The same applies for companies involved with alcohol, chemicals, and tobacco; more than twice as many MBA students are not interested in working in those industries compared with those who are, the survey found. Nearly
three-quarters of the respondents (73 percent) said corporate reputation plays an extremely or very important role when considering where to work. The results also show significant international mobility among business’s most sought-after talent, with over three-quarters (76 percent) of those surveyed stating they are looking to change either industries or firms following graduation. Only one-fifth (19 percent) said they are intending to return to the firm that they worked for prior to their MBA. A fifth (20 percent) of students surveyed want to move to another country.

Duke Program Will Help Church Leaders Develop Business Skills
The Duke University Divinity School has received a $14 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish an initiative that will help Christian leaders combine theological insight with wise business practices to meet real-world challenges. When fully developed, the initiative will provide teaching, coaching, and provide resources for leaders ranging from bishops and executive directors of denominations to senior leaders of seminaries and other organizations that serve congregations. The Fuqua School of Business at Duke will also be a partner in the program.

Rensselaer Grads Win Oxford Sustainability Competition
Ecovative Design LLC, a company started by two recent graduates of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently awarded £10,000 (approximately US$20,500) as a winner of the 21st Century Challenge Competition. Hosted by the Oxford University Saïd Business School, the international business plan competition challenged participants to develop innovative, sustainable new business ventures that will help solve the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st century. Now located in the Rensselaer Incubator Center, Ecovative Design was formed by Eben Bayer ’07 and Gavin McIntyre ’07. The company won the competition’s “Tomorrow’s Planet” category for its development of environmentally friendly organic insulation. Made from waste agricultural materials, water, and mushrooms, the organic insulation could replace the traditional foam insulation in homes, which requires petroleum for production and is not biodegradable.

Biz Briefs

• A student team from the Sports Business Institute at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California has been selected to study the economic impact and demographics of the 2008 Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade. The team will conduct the analysis with the guidance of Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young.
• According to researchers at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology, if a person is told he or she is tasting two different wines—and that one costs $5 and the other $45, although they are, in fact, the same wine—the part of the brain that experiences pleasure will become more active when the drinker thinks he or she is enjoying the more expensive vintage.
• Regents at Minnesota’s Concordia College in Moorhead have approved plans to create the Concordia College School of Business. Concordia already has 460 declared majors in the business, accounting and economics department. The Concordia College School of Business will focus on experiential, global, and ethical learning, which the college believes is an essential foundation for business leadership in the 21st century.

From the Philanthropy Desk
California State University, Fullerton has received $30 million for its College of Business and Economics from alumnus Steven G. Mihaylo, for whom the school will be named, pending approval by the California State University Board of Trustees . . . The Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington will name the first of its two new buildings in recognition of an $18 million gift from PACCAR and the Pigott family. PACCAR is a Fortune 150 global technology, financial services, and information technology company . . . At the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, funds totaling some $3 million from various sources have enabled the school to endow the Norman R. Bobins Professorship, named for a retired banker who is also a GSB alumnus . . . The Florida State University College of Business has received $2 million from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to establish the Gene Taylor/Bank of America Center for Banking and Financial Studies. Housed in the college’s finance department, the center will fund research and service activities related to banking and finance . . . The School of Business at the College of the Bahamas has received $1 million from the RBC Royal Bank of Canada for a new graduate business center.

New Programs
The University of Oxford has established the Oxford University India Business Centre, and a new Chair in Indian Business Studies, to address major business issues affecting India and foster collaborative research between academics in Oxford, India, and elsewhere. The center was started with a $14.5 million donation from Ajit Gulabchand, chair of the Hindustan Construction Company. Announcing the initiative, Oxford Vice Chancellor John Hood said: “The primary objective of this research centre is to learn from India’s business success. A clear understanding of the issues faced by India and their innovative solutions, as India transitions from poverty to prosperity, will form a guide to future generations of countries attempting similar transitions” . . . The University of Queensland has started a new 12-month MBA, focused around the school’s Leadership Capability Framework, a tool designed to help students assess their leadership skills while in the program and after graduation . . . The Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University has expanded its MBA options to include a new full-time MBA program and a new Professional MBA for managers and high-level professionals . . . At Pepperdine University the Graziadio School of Business and Management has announced new full-time master’s degree programs in applied finance and global business, targeted to nonbusiness undergraduate majors, and a new part-time MS degree in management and leadership, designed for experienced business professionals . . . At Indiana University the Kelley School of Business has signed a partnership agreement with Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. Students from the global business undergraduate program at SKKU will take 75 credits, including the undergraduate business core, at SKKU and finish at the Kelley School with 45 credits. They will receive degrees from both universities . . . Georgetown University and ESADE Business School in Barcelona have partnered to create the Georgetown-ESADE Global Executive MBA. To be offered at the McDonough School of Business and Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and the ESADE Business School, the program will be delivered in six 11-day modules on four continents.