Erin L.C. Nickelsburg, director of admissions and recruitment for the full-time MBA program of the Wisconsin School of Business, was featured in a web-based chat session on BusinessWeek. She answered prospective students’ questions about applying to the program and explained Wisconsin’s model, which is based on highly focused career specializations.

Transcripts of the live chat session are available here.

CNN's Ali Velshi conducts a town hall discussion with students in front of Grainger Hall. Photo by University Communications

CNN taped a segment with representatives of the full-time Wisconsin MBA program on Friday, Sept. 4. The segment aired on CNN’s “Your $$$$,” co-hosted by CNN Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi and Christine Romans, Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6.

Interviewed for the segment were Michael Knetter, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business; Kenneth Kavajecz, associate dean of the MBA program; Assistant Dean Blair Sanford, who directs career services; and two Wisconsin MBA students, Luis Otero and Kemllen Lee.

Asked how the economic crisis had affected how business was taught in the MBA program, Kavajecz said that the past 15 months “have been an extraordinary learning experience for anyone in finance or anyone in business, for that matter. 

Frankly, in my class last year, I had to set aside 20 minutes of every class to talk about who ailed in the last two weeks or two days and what that means for the economy. What are we going to do about it? Do the solutions that people are talking about  make sense? So, we have adapted some of the curriculum to handle the environment we are watching unfold. But the foundation of what we talk about and the principles don’t change at all.” 

 

It was the second day in a row that a CNN Express team taped on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. On Thursday, Velshi conducted a town-hall meeting with Wisconsin students in Grainger Hall’s courtyard on how the economy is affecting their lives.

Read coverage of CNN’s visit.

Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter recently contributed to a statewide primetime special on the economy, featuring Dennis Winters of Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development and Bill Testa of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

During the special, Dean Knetter provides an analysis of the current national and state economy, and describes key indicators to watch as we await an economic recovery.

Click to watch.

Senior Marketing Lecturer Deborah Mitchell responds to Chris Anderson’s new book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” as part of NPR’s first in a three-part series on how the concept of “free” is changing how companies do business.

Mitchell says we’ve come to expect things for free in the digital world, including music, other kinds of content, and news. “You know, the so-called ‘Google generation,’ or people under the age of 30, certainly under the age of 20, have grown up just having all kinds of access to things online that didn’t cost anything,” she tells NPR’s Wendy Kaufman.

For a full version of the story, click here.

Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin School of Business, thinks Baby Boomers’ experience can put them in a better position than most to succeed. Olszewski shared his insights in an article on the U.S. News and World Report Web site that outlined steps for the 50-plus entrepreneur.

 “Many of the most successful businesses are when the entrepreneur knows something about the industry and they are able to leverage that knowledge in some way and come up with a better solution,” Olszewski says in the article, which quotes several Madison-area entrepreneurs on their experiences.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Executive Education was named the “Best School for Continuing Education” by  Corporate Report Wisconsin magazine in its “Best of Wisconsin Business” competition. More than 2,600 subscribers cast ballots online.

Associate Professor Charles A. Krueger, who directs Financial Management offerings and is chair of Wisconsin Executive Education, accepted the award on behalf of the Wisconsin School of Business at a luncheon held June 12 at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells. The top three finishers in 30 categories were honored.

Wisconsin Executive Education offers more than 200 open-enrollment courses on more than 80 business topics and 10 certificate series. It also offers custom programs designed for businesses and other organizations.

Corporate Report Wisconsin is a statewide magazine with readership largely composed of owners, presidents, CEOs, and board members.

Three alumni of  the Wisconsin MBA’s Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship have placed in the prestigious Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition. Directed by the Wisconsin Technology Council for the past six years, the competition encourages entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin.

This year, a record 326 entries from 287 individuals in 106 different locales around the state competed for a total of more than $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. On June 9, a Grand Prize of $50,000 in cash and services was awarded to Hartland, Wis.-based Eso- Technologies, a start-up company that has developed a monitoring device to reduce the risk of heart attacks for people undergoing surgery. In addition, several category winners were announced for plans contributing to Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.

The following Weinert Center graduates were among those selected as category winners for 2009:

NxtMile Custom Running Shoes, a plan presented by Michael Miller (MBA 2008), took top prize in the Advanced Manufacturing category. Miller’s shoes utilize proprietary pressure-mapping technology and are engineered and custom assembled to address the specific biomechanical and orthopedic needs of over-40 and experienced runners, helping them to prevent injury.

Placing second in the category of Business Services was software-intensive firm Sandbox International LLC, founded by Scott Daigger (BBA 2002, MBA 2007) and Todd Wendrick (MBA 2007). Sandbox has developed a proprietary web application to help market researchers identify creative individuals to participate in consumer co-creation initiatives.

Kyle Montgomery, a 2006 graduate of the Weinert Center, came in third in the Life Sciences category for his AquaMost plan. AquaMost wants to commercialize a novel, advanced water treatment technology called photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, which efficiently and economically destroys water-borne pathogens and pollutants.

Click here for more information on the 2009 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition and conference.

Deborah Mitchell, a senior lecturer of marketing and associate dean for Enterprise MBA programs at the Wisconsin School of Business, tells the Associated Press what GM should focus on when marketing cars during bankruptcy.

Mitchell argued that GM should not “dwell on the negative” or anything that will help consumers “remember that GM is hurting.”

“‘When you buy one of these cars, you’re buying a Chevrolet. You’re not buying a GM,’” said Mitchell. “‘In terms of consumer memory, where the positive associations lie are primarily with the brands.’”

Companies have begun to sell products promising to help homeowners hedge against declines in the value of their home.  The Wall Street Journal recently ran an online article examining the pros and cons of home equity protection plans.

Mark Browne, a professor of actuarial science, risk management  and insurance  at the Wisconsin School of Business, was one of the experts quoted in the article. He urged consumers to take a careful look at these new products. 

Morris Davis, an assistant professor of real estate at the Wisconsin School of Business, was quoted recently in a front-page article in the New York Times on how job losses are pushing safer mortgages into foreclosure.

Davis, along with two other real estate professors from Wisconsin, Stephen Malpezzi and François Ortalo-Magné, have developed a proposal aimed at preventing homeowners nationally from defaulting on their mortgages. Dubbed the “Wisconsin Foreclosure and Unemployment Relief Plan” (WI-FUR), it would expand and combine two established programs—unemployment insurance and housing vouchers—to provide immediate relief and prevent a new wave of foreclosures of recently unemployed workers. 

Read more about the Wisconsin Foreclosure and Unemployment Relief Plan.