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Jindal School Earns Top Scores in Bloomberg Rankings
Positive feedback from recent UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management graduates, alumni from years past and employers who have recruited them propelled the school forward four places — to No. 32 among U.S. schools — in the 2021-2022 Bloomberg Businessweek Best B-Schools MBA rankings.
Among public university programs represented in the new rankings, “the Jindal School placed at No. 11,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Jindal School dean and Caruth Chair. “We can all take pride in this, because it speaks to our continued growth as one of the leading public business schools in the nation.”
Read about this accomplishment on Inside Jindal School.
New Undergraduate Business Analytics Program Builds Data-Driven Expertise
A newly launched program at the Jindal School — the Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics — equips students to answer the demand for qualified people who can help companies make sense of all the data now available to them. As its STEM designation denotes, the program focuses on science, technology, engineering and math while teaching business fundamentals and quantitative tools.
“The way we differentiate ourselves from similar programs at most universities is that the other schools require between 18 to 21 credit hours of technical or analytical coursework,” said Dr. Dawn Owens, program director. “Our programs require 39 credit hours devoted to information technology or analytics coursework. That, along with our senior capstone project, required internship and the community-service requirement gives students the knowledge and experience they need to succeed in this data-driven world.”
Read more about this program on Inside Jindal School.
Research News
Jindal School Faculty Members Win Awards
A study by Dr. Amit Mehra — “Competitive Strategies for Brick-and-Mortar Stores to Counter ‘Showrooming’” — won the 2021 “best paper” award from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences at its Conference on Information Systems and Technology. Mehra, a professor of information systems at the Jindal School, also won in 2013.
Dr. Soraya (Nadia) Fatehi, an assistant professor of operations management, at the Jindal School, won the Urban Transportation Outstanding Paper Award from the INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics (TSL) Society for “Crowdsourcing Last-Mile Deliveries” — a paper she co-authored.
Study Examines How Governments Inform Public About Pandemics
Governments that prioritize the economy over public health are more likely to downplay, rather than exaggerate, the severity of a pandemic, and vice versa, according to a recent study from The University of Texas at Dallas.
Dr. Shouqiang Wang, associate professor of operations management in the Jindal School, and fellow co-authors used a game-theory model to study how a theoretical information provider can influence individual behavior through the way information is presented.
The findings suggest ways that policymakers might efficiently inform the public about the dangers of an epidemic.
The study, published online Aug. 12 and in the October print issue of the INFORMS journal Management Science, uncovers important mechanisms to consider when attempting to induce individual compliance with public-health measures.
Read more about this study on UTD News Center.
Study: Ignoring Black Peers Leads Whites to Poor Decisions
A study by Dr. Sheen S. Levine, assistant professor of organizations, strategy and international management at the Jindal School, identifies a pattern of racial attention deficit, shedding light on why diversity efforts in organizations often fail. The paper — “Racial Attention Deficit” — was published Sept. 17 in the journal Science Advances. The findings also suggest a remedy: When white workers can witness the accomplishments of Black peers — rather than being told about them — the attentional gap subsides.
Read more about this study on UTD News Center.
Study Examines How Vital New Air Routes Are for Organ Transplants
In a recent study published online July 9 in the INFORMS journal Management Science, a Jindal School researcher investigated how introducing new airline routes impacts the sharing of cadaveric kidneys.
“This mismatch between supply and demand of donor organs and the time-sensitive nature of kidney transplantation made us wonder whether better airline logistics infrastructure could help match that supply and demand,” said Dr. Guihua Wang, assistant professor of operations management at the Jindal School and the study’s lead author.
Wang said the findings suggest the introduction of new airline routes facilitates the sharing of organs across different regions and, therefore, helps match supply and demand.
Read more about this study on UTD News Center.
Faculty News and Achievements
Jindal School Dean and Longtime Professor Honored by Academic Society
Naveen Jindal School of Management Dean and Caruth Chair, Dr. Hasan Pirkul, and longtime JSOM faculty member, Dr. Sumit Sarkar, are the inaugural recipients of the President’s Service Award from the Information Systems Society (ISS) of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) for their lifetime contributions and services to the organization.
Both Pirkul and Sarkar were nominated “for their contribution towards the Information Systems Society,” according to Dr. Jason Chan, vice president of ISS and ex officio member of the awards committee.
The winners were announced during the 2021 Conference on Information Systems Technology (CIST), held Oct. 24-25 in Newport Beach, California, and virtually.
Read more about these honors on Inside Jindal.
Jindal School Dean and Longtime Professor Honored by Academic Society
The DFW Alliance of Technology and Women presented Dr. Diane McNulty with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its 2021 Women in Tech Summit on Sept. 28.
In more than three decades of service to The University of Texas at Dallas, McNulty began and has built the communications and development departments in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, where she is associate dean of external relations, communications and corporate development. The achievement award recognized those efforts as well as her longtime dedication to empowering women and her service to the alliance.
In her thank-you remarks, McNulty joked that when she told JSOM Dean Hasan Pirkul about the award, he had remarked, “I guess you know what that means: It’s probably time for you to go.”
But McNulty said she responded, “Not yet. I’m not done.”
Read more about this award on Inside Jindal.
Program, Center and Conference News
New Jindal School Center Embraces Digital Transformation in Retail
A new center at the Jindal School is poised to become a hub of engagement between retail industry leaders, and students and faculty at The University of Texas at Dallas.
The first job for the Center for Retail Innovation and Strategy Excellence (RISE) may be to shift consumer perceptions.
“For many people, the first thing that comes to mind when they think of retail is a brick-and-mortar giant like Walmart or, for e-commerce, Amazon,” said Charles Haseman, professor of practice in marketing and director of RISE. “For me, it’s the customer experience.”
Haseman said his goal for RISE is to be “the back office” of retail to help the industry implement best practices that will help improve those experiences.
“All our strengths at this university — data management and analysis, computer science and the latest technologies such as cryptocurrency — all of that is very real in retail,” he said.
Read more about this new Jindal School center of excellence on UTD News Center.
Jindal School Conference Prepares Board Members To Expect the Unexpected
After a nearly two-year drought of on-campus events necessitated by safety measures to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the Naveen Jindal School of Management presented one of the first formal events, the 19th Annual Corporate Governance Conference. The theme of the Sept. 22 event was “Homecoming,” and presentations centered on pandemic-related and other disruptions common today.
Freeman Company leaders Carrie Freeman Parsons, who is chair, and Bob Priest-Heck, CEO, had a fireside chat, Governance Lessons from the Pandemic, during which they discussed how they kept the trade-show logistics and technology company afloat during the pandemic when virtually all convention centers were padlocked.
Read more about this conference on Inside Jindal.
Student News
Undergrad Marketing Students Win Corporate Social Responsibility Award
Marketing students from the Jindal School won the 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Marketing Award from the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the American Marketing Association. In all, 263 students gave a total of 16,690 hours of their time in assisting numerous nonprofits at the outset and during some of the most trying days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their work donation was worth $476,333.
Dr. Julie Haworth, BS in Marketing director, submitted the award nomination on behalf of the students and the undergraduate faculty members who helped them. She cited work students did to assist a variety of nonprofits, ranging from Mosaic Family Services, an organization that aids immigrants and refugees in crisis, and the Richardson Animal Shelter, to the Pleasant Grove Food Pantry, and the Army Scholarship Foundation, which provides college scholarships to the sons and daughters of those who have served honorably in the United States Army as well as to spouses of enlisted soldiers.
Read more about these student volunteers on Inside Jindal.
Jindal School Undergraduate Wins Collegiate Marketer of the Year Award
Jindal School junior Jasmine Nguyen earned the Collegiate Marketer of the Year Award from the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the American Marketing Association at its annual gala, held virtually Oct. 7.
A double major in marketing and global business, Nguyen won for work she did on the 4th Annual PLG Cares Charity Golf Tournament while working as an intern at the Patel Law Group in Irving, Texas.
Read more about this student’s achievements on Inside Jindal.
Jindal School Graduate Student Wins One of Two UT Dallas-slotted Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholar Awards
Building new-venture experience through a food startup is a common denominator shared by UTD’s two 2021 Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation Scholar Award recipients.
Mercedes Johnson, a Naveen Jindal School of Management MBA student, dreamed up Food Magnet, an app that helps customers find food trucks and food trucks find business.
Read more about this student scholar on Inside Jindal.
Alumni News
Two JSOM Alums Recognized for Professional and Community Excellence
Two Jindal School alumni have been recognized for excellence in their organizations and communities with the Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award. Rebecca (Webb) Buell, MS’11, chief financial officer of National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc., and Dan Bowman, MBA’09, executive director/CEO of Allen Economic Development Corp., joined other 2021 award recipients at a July 20 virtual event hosted by the DBJ. They also were profiled in a special 40 Under 40 publication.
Read more about these JSOM alumni on Inside Jindal.
Distinguished Alumnus Gains Perspective: A Nearly 40-Year View on Helping UTD
Some people may be born leaders, but for most, leadership is a skill acquired and honed over time. The best time to begin learning, says Ron Nash, MS’79, is early in your career. His new book, The Making of a Business Leader: My Path to Leadership in the Information Technology Industry (Meadville, Pa.: Christian Faith Publishing Inc., 2021), aims to teach those valuable lessons. Nash, CEO and chairman of Texas-based IT company Pivot3 for more than five years, is an active and ongoing supporter of UT Dallas and the Jindal School.
Nash’s support of UT Dallas and the Jindal School dates almost from his 1979 graduation as a master’s-degree management and administrative sciences major.
“When I was a graduate student at UT Dallas, I was only interested in the education I was getting,” he once said. “After I graduated, I stepped back and gained some perspective.”
That perspective has sustained a nearly four-decade commitment to the University and the school, including currently co-chairing the University’s second major campaign, New Dimensions: The Campaign for UT Dallas, which has a $750 million fundraising goal.
Read more about this alumnus’s commitment to UT Dallas and the Jindal School in Management magazine.
