Jindal School Strengthens Its Standings in Flurry of 2021 Rankings
Over the past several months, the Naveen Jindal School of Management made strong showings in multiple rankings. The productivity of the Jindal School’s research faculty earned a No. 3 ranking in the UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™, both worldwide and in North America. Two other placements come in the wake of the school’s transition of its Global MBA program to a fully online format. Read more about each of the rankings here:
- UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings (MANAGEMENT magazine, page 12)
- Online MBA Rankings, QS and Fortune (Inside Jindal School)
- Financial Times Global MBA rankings (Inside Jindal School and UT Dallas News Center)
Jindal School Inaugurates Undergraduate Deans Conference
More than 100 associate and assistant deans from 84 universities attended the inaugural Undergraduate Deans Conference on March 1-2. Attendees of the colloquium, presented virtually by the Jindal School, learned from one another about developing and managing undergraduate business school programs that benefit students. The conference is slated to be an annual event.
Read about the conference on Inside Jindal School.
Dallas 500 List of Influencers Includes Jindal School Dean
Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and dean of the Naveen Jindal School of Management, was named to the 2021 edition of the Dallas 500, a list of “the most powerful business leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth” compiled by D CEO magazine and presented in a special issue.
Pirkul’s mini bio in the issue notes he has been dean since 1996, spearheaded the building of the Jindal School’s two buildings, one in 2003 and one in 2013, and has watched enrollments triple during his tenure.
Pirkul was featured in the Education and Nonprofits section of the publication, along with Dr. Richard C. Benson, UT Dallas President and Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership.
Read about the list on Inside Jindal School.
Faculty News and Achievements
Jindal School Researchers Win Best Paper Award for Ideas That Can Save Lives of Hospital Patients
Three researchers from the Naveen Jindal School of Management have figured out a way to reduce sepsis-related patient mortality — and have won a best paper award for doing so.
Dr. Özalp Özer, George and Fonsa Brody Professor in Management and a professor in the Operations Management Area; Dr. Mehmet Ayvaci, an associate professor in the Information Systems Area; and Zahra Mobini, a PhD candidate, took first place in the 2021 College of Healthcare Operations Management’s Best Paper Competition. Their paper, “To Catch A Killer: A Data-Driven Personalized and Compliance-Aware Sepsis Alert System,” prevailed among 54 submissions.
CHOM is the healthcare subsidiary of the Production and Operations Management Society, an international professional organization for academicians and practitioners in the production, operations management and supply chain fields.
Read about the research on Inside Jindal School.
Award-Winning Study by JSOM Researcher Shows Green-Patent Results Don’t Square for Energy Industry
The electricity, gas, water and other utility crises set off by frigid weather across the United State in February renewed interest in energy innovation. In an award-winning paper, Jindal School researcher Dr. Umit Gurun has found traditional energy producers have plenty of new ideas to offer but are meeting resistance from socially responsible investors.
In a working paper, “The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting,” Gurun, an Ashbel Smith Professor of Accounting and of Finance and Managerial Economics in the Jindal School, and his co-authors uncovered a paradox. They found traditional oil, gas and other energy-producing companies are leading creators of environmentally sound innovations in the United States. But because these companies have previously received low environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores from funds and investors interested in social change as well as financial returns, they often are barred from ESG — socially responsible — portfolios.
Gurun and his research colleagues won a first-place prize for their work in the Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award Competition. Their paper was discussed, and the prize presented March 16 at the University of Delaware Weinberg Center/ECGI Corporate Governance Symposium.
Read about the award on Inside Jindal School.
Jindal School Faculty Member Named a Best 40-Under-40 Professor by Poets & Quants
Business school news site Poets & Quants has named Dr. Naim Bugra Ozel, an associate professor of accounting at the Jindal School, one of the Best 40-Under-40 Professors. The recognition takes into account the research productivity of faculty over the last five years as well as their teaching prowess.
Ozel has recently returned to the Jindal School after spending two years as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he received the school’s 2020 teaching excellence award for his financial and managerial accounting class. Ozel said he is excited about returning after gaining new perspectives on research, teaching and school culture.
“At Jindal, I am among a bright and enthusiastic group of people, several of whom have earned some of the highest recognitions for their research in their fields,” he said. “The high quality of teaching is a reflection of this research productivity.”
Read about Ozel on Inside Jindal School.
Information Systems Professor Receives AIS Award
The Association for Information Systems (AIS) honored Dr. Dawn Owens, clinical associate professor of information systems and director of the information technology and systems undergraduate program in the Jindal School, with a Sandra Slaughter Service Award at its 2020 International Conference on Information Systems in December.
A member of AIS since 2010, Owens serves on its Member Conduct Committee as well as its Student Chapter Advisory Board. She was instrumental in establishing the UT Dallas Association for Information Systems student chapter, which promotes the professional development of undergraduate information systems students through workshops, networking, guest speakers and case competitions.
Read about Owens on the UT Dallas News Center.
Student News
Jindal School Grad Student Wins International Capsim Foundation Competition
Dr. Larry Chasteen’s business-simulation teaching has scored another win with the first-place finish of a Naveen Jindal School of Management student in the Spring 2021 Capsim Foundation Challenge.
Double-degree seeker Timothy Shiveley, a student in the Professional MBA Evening Cohort and MS in Business Analytics programs, scored 820 of 1,000 possible points in the online international business simulation competition.
Capsim, the Chicago-based simulation and assessment company that sponsors and runs the twice-yearly competitions based on two of its simulations, reported that Shiveley outperformed hundreds of students from 10 countries across five continents.
Read about the victory on Inside Jindal School.
Sales Students Score Top Wins at Annual Competition
Students on the Jindal School’s sales team made a strong showing at the 2020 International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC), winning the sales-management case competition and earning enough points overall to place second in the World Cup of Sales.
In 2019, the Jindal School team won the world cup at the inaugural competition hosted by Florida State University in Orlando. In 2020, the cup went to Ohio University, a frequent rival.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 event was held entirely online, from Nov. 11-14, and included 80 universities.
Read about the world cup on Inside Jindal School.
PhD Video Competition Helps Budding Researchers Better Reach General Audiences
Students enrolled in the Jindal School’s PhD Programs and nearing graduation are required to compete in the annual Three-Minute Dissertation Competition. This opportunity is designed to hone the students’ communications skills and make the complex research they do more accessible to prospective employers and general audiences. Inki Sul, who is pursuing a PhD in Management Science with an Operations Management Concentration, was the 2020 first-place winner.
Modeled in part on the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, the competition challenges scholars to think about ways to distill years of research in such a way as to make it readily understood by a general audience.
For PhD candidates “to be able to get into the minds of the people who they want to impress, they need to be able to communicate the essence of their research in the classic elevator speech,” said Dr. Sumit Sarkar, Charles and Nancy Davidson Chair, a professor in the Information Systems Area at the Jindal School and director of the school’s PhD programs. An elevator speech — or pitch — distills a message into a clear, concise summary that is easily understood and quickly delivered.
Read about the dissertation competition on Inside Jindal School.
New JSOM Online Support System Improves Student Experience, Streamlines Operations
Last fall, the Jindal School launched an online student support system called the JSOM Question Desk. The new system was put in place to improve the student experience and streamline operations, which had undergone a seismic shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Monica Powell, senior associate dean and graduate dean, says the pandemic had forced Jindal School staff and faculty to move beyond their usual thinking about what their respective jobs entailed.
That perspective helps improve the quality of students’ educational experiences and will continue to do so after the pandemic has ended, says Corina Cantua, JSOM advising office director. “When a student is lost, they might not even know where to start,” she said. “The JSOM Question Desk provides that place where the student is free to say, ‘I have no idea who to contact. I can’t figure it out.’ ”
Read about the JSOM Question Desk in MANAGEMENT magazine, pages 5-6.
Alumni News
Alum Recognized for Highest Score on Certification Exam
Naveen Jindal School of Management alumnus Joshua Castille, MS’18, was honored at The Institute of Internal Auditors International Conference last November for earning the highest score of any student who took the Certified Internal Auditor exam in 2019. Castille received the Dr. Glenn E. Sumners Student Highest Achievement Award in recognition of his feat.
Read about the highest score on Inside Jindal School.
Endowed Scholarship Helps Grow Jindal Young Scholars Program
Alumni and longtime Jindal School supporters Nancy Gundy Davidson, BS’80, and Charles (Chuck) Davidson, MS’80, have made a $500,000 gift to endow the Charles and Nancy Davidson Scholarship for the Jindal Young Scholars Program (JYSP).
Now in its third year, JYSP is a critical pillar of UT Dallas’ community outreach initiatives. In partnership with five Dallas Independent School District high schools, the program provides a variety of resources that help broaden opportunities for local students after high school.
“We’re trying to make students aware of what it takes to transition from high school to their postsecondary lives,” said Billy Schewee, director of JYSP. “Whether that’s a traditional four-year college, two-year college, vocational schools or whatever that looks like for them. Anything we can offer that increases what is available to students after high school is a win for us.”
Read about the scholarship in UT Dallas Momentum.
