This year is already off to a great start. We recently held 2015’s first meeting of the Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) in Palo Alto, welcoming 11 new members from firms including Apple, Google, Nest, Oracle, Cisco, Ernst & Young and KPMG. These individuals provide an ongoing relationship with the major employers of our graduates and bring a ton of energy and perspective to our group. While we are now close to our goal of 40-45 DAC members, we are beginning to enforce term limits and will have a number of members term-out in June. We plan to add another group of new members from Southern California in the fall.

Our DAC meeting also hosted presentations from consulting firms that have completed their market studies and recommendations for new programs in real estate and business analytics. While the council had many questions and suggestions, they are enthusiastic about proceeding. Another firm is helping us assess our potential for packaging value chain curriculum. Look for proposals for these programs in the near future. I’m eager to see the benefits of this off-campus work come to fruition in our classrooms.

About this time of year, memories of fall term are still fresh, but spring commencement is just around the corner. I’m always amazed by how quickly the academic year flies by, especially on a four quarter system. Yet in this short amount of time, we accomplish so much, as evidenced by the myriad of accolades, collaborations and innovations listed in the pages of this newsletter. Thanks for all of the great work you do for our students!

Sincerely,

Scott

Orfalea College of Business

T H E L O O PMARCH 2015

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Pictured: Careers in Accounting Day

IN THE NEWS

GRADUATE PROGRAMS LAUNCHES PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business is accepting applications for its proposed Business Analytics Certificate Program, a five-course interdisciplinary degree aimed at business leaders who use data to analyze and solve fundamental business problems. Cal Poly plans to offer the program in June. The certificate program’s curriculum will include classes related to statistics, data mining, data management, econometrics, and marketing analytics taken over two quarters. For details, visit http://grad.calpoly.edu/programs/analytics.html.

CAREER READINESS FORUMS DEBUT In January, the Orfalea College of Business hosted its first Career Readiness Forum with alumni, business leaders and students. Alumni with extensive experience in finance, accounting, entertainment, marketing and entrepreneurship came together to discuss the college-to-career transition and what truly makes a graduate prepared to contribute on day one of their first jobs. A second career panel is planned for April 11. To involve your current students or a successful alumnus, contact Jenna Gollands in the Dean’s Office at jlgollan@calpoly.edu.

ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS FACULTY LEAD STUDY ABROAD TRIPS TO INDIATwo Orfalea College of Business faculty members will lead study abroad trips to India this summer. Beena Khurana will lead “Management and Culture in India,” a program cohosted by the Indian School of Business featuring study in Hyderabad in the south and Chandigarh/Mohali in the north. Jay Sing will lead “Packaging in India: Technology, Trends & Practices,” featuring excursions in Mumbai, Pune and Goa. The trip will explore Indian history and culture, provide collaborations with Indian institutes, and visit packaging manufacturing plants. Visit http://goo.gl/yFIESq.

PUBLIC COMPANIES ACCOUNTING OVERSIGHT BOARD VISITS CAL POLYBusiness students were treated to a visit from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in January. David Knibbs, inspections specialist with PCAOB, made a presentation to students before a roundtable with faculty. The special visit resulted from the efforts of accounting professor Li Dang.

STARTUP MOVES TO CENTRAL COAST FOR CAL POLY BUSINESS STUDENTS

Specright, a packaging specification management startup, recently opened a new office in San Luis Obispo to be close to Cal Poly’s Industrial Technology & Packaging students. The company has hired 15 Orfalea College of Business students as part time packaging engineers who will reverse engineer a client’s corrugated box to create a set of reliable, consistent specifications for manufacturing. Learn more about how the relationship with Cal Poly and Specright will grow in the future by visiting http://goo.gl/GJ8Bnb.

STUDENT SUCCESS

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY & PACKAGING AREA NAME DEBUTS Starting in spring 2015, the Industrial Technology area will be known as the Industrial Technology & Packaging area. The new name shines light on the dynamic nature of the operations, packaging, logistics and supply chain curriculum within the area. Faculty are working toward establishing two concentrations in Industrial Technology and Packaging to bolster existing courses.

BUILDING RENOVATIONS ON THE HORIZONThis fall, Orfalea College of Business students, staff and faculty began working with ZGF Architects to make plans for renovating the business building’s interior spaces. After employees discussed the challenges of the current space and shared their ideas for improvement, ZGF returned to campus recently to present new renderings to faculty, staff and students. As the architects continue to refine their design, the Orfalea College of Business advancement team will soon share these developments with our alumni and donors to gather the necessary support.

CAL POLY AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION CHAPTER TO PRESENT AT CONFERENCECal Poly’s AMA chapter has been selected to present during the Chapter Leadership Session of the 2015 American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans March 19-21.

PACKAGING STUDENTS TAKE SECOND AT THE INTERNATIONAL CORRUGATED PACKAGING FOUNDATION COMPETITION Packaging students Emily Mallet, Andrew Morey and Patrick Salibi took second place at the ICPF’s 16th annual Careers in Corrugated Packaging & Display Competition. Cal Poly competed against 15 other university packaging programs, including Michigan State and Clemson. The students were tasked with creating a promotional video and presenting their concept design called “SLO Skyline” during a live teleconference. The team’s design was entered into the contest after taking second at the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters contest in the fall.

THE EXECUTIVE PARTNERS PROGRAM CONTINUES TO MENTOR STUDENTSThe Orfalea College of Business’ Executive Partners Program strives to inspire students and support career readiness through mentoring relationships with business professionals. Active mentors include many alumni and leaders of Talley Vineyards, eBay, Boeing, Charles Schwab and Volkswagen, who often speak in business clubs and classes. The group’s student committee also arranges events, including workshops and local business tours with companies like Sierra Vista Medical Center and The Tribune. In February, local CFO Sandy Davis spoke to students on campus during a quarterly forum (pictured). For more details on the program, visit www.cob.calpoly.edu/executive-partners/.

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY & PACKAGING

LITC SAVES TAXPAYERS NEARLY $1.2 MILLIONCal Poly’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic has released a report summarizing its impact on students, clients and the Central Coast community over the last five years. Among other metrics, the LITC has saved its clients $1,188,000 since 2010. More than 160 student accountants worked with 2,880 clients through direct consultations and outreach. The IRS also recently granted the LITC $78,000 for controversy work and $10,000 for outreach to those who speak English as a second language. IRS funding has nearly doubled since the clinic’s inception. The full report is available at www.cob.calpoly.edu/litc.

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDENT TEAM TAKES SECOND AT CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT COMPETITION Finance seniors Chris Bet and Anna Costa were part of an interdisciplinary team of students who captured second place at the recent 2015 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Residential Construction Management Competition in Las Vegas. The team, which also included architecture and construction management students, created a land acquisition proposal including market research and sales strategy, product and site design, green building initiatives, land development, estimates, schedules, and a financial analysis. Students worked with construction management Professor Scott Kelting and finance Professor Pratish Patel to prepare for the contest. Read more at http://goo.gl/RWId7P.

PACKAGING STUDENTS TACKLE THE 48 HOUR RE-PACKBusiness students Rebecca Kisch, Janel Takeda, Sally Yingst, Sarah Deffner and Caitlin Khamasta recently represented Cal Poly in the 48 Hour Re-Pack Student Packaging Design Competition. Over the course of one weekend, students concepted a new packaging design for a flour product, developed graphics for the packaging line, and produced a video promoting the product. View the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1NlzBQJls8.

FINANCE STUDENTS WIN LOCAL CFA INSTITUTE RESEARCH CHALLENGECal Poly students won the Local CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute Research Challenge for the second consecutive year. Erin Averill, Robert Ricci, Divyan Waland, Aaron Hay and Nate Fisher represented Cal Poly at the event in Los Angeles. Finance area Chair Cyrus Ramezani, San Luis Obispo financial advisor Phillip Cohl, and finance alumnus Scott B. Kirk advised the students. David Larsen, 2014 information systems alumnus and captain of last year’s winning team, also advised the group. The Cal Poly students competed against teams from the College of the Canyons, Claremont Graduate University, UC Santa Barbara and USC. The team advances to the national competition in Atlanta in April. For details, visit http://goo.gl/hYoo6G.

STUDENT SUCCESS (CONT.)

OUR TEAM

JAVIER DE LA FUENTE TO SPEAK AT MEDICAL DEVICE CONFERENCEPackaging Professor Javier de la Fuente will serve as the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Medical Device Packaging: Innovations in Design And Testing Conference in Arlington, VA in April. Javier will present insights on adding value to medical device packaging without increasing cost.

DEAN’S OFFICE ANNOUNCES NEW ROLES AND TEAM MEMBERSRecently, McKenzie Cox joined the Orfalea College of Business as our personnel analyst. She completed her undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara and earned her MBA at Sacramento State. Also, Jennifer Boncich will soon transition to the role of advancement coordinator for the college. There will soon be a recruitment to fill the role of a class scheduler in the Dean’s Office.

THREE FACULTY AWARDED CAREER READINESS RESEARCH GRANTSThe Business Research Grant Program Initiative on Career Readiness is founded upon our college’s belief that career readiness is an essential component of a student’s education at Cal Poly. Seven research proposals were developed and submitted by business faculty. The Professional Leave and Research Committee reviewed the proposals, interviewed some of the faculty, and provided a recommendation. Following further consultation, the following two proposals were funded: “Smart Internship Database System” by Mahdi Rastad and “Evaluation of Career Readiness in an Industrial Technology & Packaging Program Using a Dynamic Approach”, by Ahmed Deif and Eric Olsen.

LISA SPEROW PUBLISHES, PLANS TO ATTEND JUDICIAL CONFERENCELecturer and LITC Executive Director Lisa Sperow has co-authored a chapter published in the American Bar Association’s section on taxation in Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS. Her chapter is entitled “Spotting Statue of Limitations in Assessment Matters.” She will also participate in United States Tax Court’s 2015 Tax Court Judicial Conference being held at the Duke University Law Center for Judicial Justice in May. For more information on the conference, visit https://law.duke.edu/judicialstudies/conferences/may2015/.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS STUDENTS VET NETAPP CERTIFICATIONS

During winter quarter, 10 information systems students partnered with NetApp to test resources for its Certified Storage Associate certification, a foundational storage certification that is offered to colleges and universities worldwide. The students thoroughly vetted materials through hours of reading and tutorials before giving detailed feedback to NetApp’s developers. Their feedback and comments were used by NetApp’s Technical Content Developers’ quality assurance process to finalize the new guides, which went live in early March.

OUR TEAM (CONT.)

2014 SUMMER SUPPORT GRANTS PUBLISHEDThe Orfalea College of Business initiated the Mini Summer Support Research Grant Program to maintain our high standards and sustain our AACSB accreditation. Last summer, 40 faculty research project proposals were considered by the Professional Leave & Research Committee and the Dean’s Office. After careful review, 32 faculty research projects were selected and funded. Eight of the funded projects resulted in papers that were accepted for publication or published, three papers are currently under journal review, two papers were presented at conferences, and 18 papers are in the stage of preparations for journal submission. For a list of those projects, visit http://goo.gl/miQjvq.

ECONOMICS FACULTY LEAD CSU ENROLLMENT BOTTLENECK SOLUTIONS INITIATIVESProject leads Solina Lindahl and Clare Battista have collaborated with Kathryn Marshall and Katherine Ericksson to innovate economics curriculum through technology, supporting a grant from the CSU system to alleviate “bottlenecks” in graduation progress. The instructors have used new combinations of online resources, video, hybrid methods and supplemental instruction models in the “Promising Practice” phase of the program in the past year to show measurable results in their classrooms. Solina, now considered a CSU Faculty Lead in the program, will travel to conferences to share her insights with industry partners, including the Eastern Economics Association Conference (presenting with Clare), the CSU Symposium on University Teaching and the American Economics Association’s 2015 National Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education.

FACULTY INPUT NEEDED FOR TECHNOLOGY UPGRADESThis summer, ITS/Classroom Technologies will be upgrading over 200 university scheduled classrooms to meet the needs of users and university support standards. Rooms making the list include 03-112, 113, 114, 201, 204, 206 and 209. Technology upgrades include new projectors, screens, control systems, digital switchers with HDMI, Apple TV’s, audio, document cameras, DVD/VCR and instructor stations. The rooms will also upgrade instructor consoles, cabling connection points, cable pathways, WiFi access points and LCD monitors. Ryan Jones, rjones16@calpoly.edu Classroom Technologies Manager, is currently eliciting OCOB input. You may also send and/or copy your email comments to Teresa Cameron at tacamero@calpoly.edu for follow-up.

FACULTY ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE IN 2015 OPEN HOUSE CELEBRATIONSAll Orfalea College of Business faculty are invited to attend and participate in the 2015 Open House events. This year’s event is a perfect time to connect with the next generation of Cal Poly business students and welcome back alumni looking to reconnect with the college. Your involvement is critical to building a cohesive culture led by faculty excellence for our students past, present and future. For a full schedule of Open House programs, visit http://orientation.calpoly.edu/openhouse/ To get involved, contact Lily Clark in the Advising Center at lclark08@calpoly.edu.

OUTSTANDING ALUMNI

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY & PACKAGING ALUMNI LAUNCH KICKSTARTEROrfalea College of Business alumni Jake Disraeli, Justin Farr and Jordan Keplar, otherwise known as The Cardboard Guys, have launched a Kickstarter campaign in support of their line of corrugated cardboard furniture for kids. Justin and Jordan developed the idea for this lightweight, recyclable furniture during their IT 407 senior project course. The start up has worked with Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship through its HotHouse Accelerator and Incubator programs. To learn more, visit their Kickstarter page http://goo.gl/y15YXr.

ALUMNI LEAD TOURS FOR MBA STUDENTS

In February, several Cal Poly alumni led a group of MBA students and faculty through exclusive tours of Bay Area businesses. Alumni including Mike Selfridge (B.S., Economics, 1989), chief operating officer of First Republic Bank, and Andrew Flachner (B.S., Finance, 2010), cofounder and CEO of RealScout showcased their companies and answered questions from students. The cohort also visited Apple, Zynga, Google and Microsoft. The tour was made possible by many relationships between the Orfalea College of Business’ advancement team and alumni, donors and volunteers.

ALUMNI RETURN TO CAMPUS FOR EXECUTIVES IN RESIDENCEThe Orfalea College of Business’ Executive in Residence program continues to welcome alumni back to campus to speak in classes, meet with student roundtables and discuss industry trends with faculty. Winter quarter’s alumni speakers include:

• Simon Arkell (M.S., Business Administration, 1994) CEO and Founder of Predixion Software

• Shari Moore (B.S., Accounting, 1989) Vice President of Human Resources at NetApp

• Steve Guisto (B.S., Accounting, 1985) CEO and President of Purposely Inc.• Pete Feldman (B.S., Finance, 1990) Director of Marketing at Amgen• Russ Bik (B.S., Industrial Technology, 1970) Entrepreneur (pictured)

PACKAGING PROGRAM DEBUTS NEW CALCULATION TOOL WITH IFCOIndustrial Technology & Packaging students and faculty have collaborated with Ifco Systems, a global packaging firm that operates reusable plastic containers for fresh produce, to develop a new packaging cost calculation tool. The system will allow the user to estimate costs along the supply chain and compare different degrees of standardization. The tool was developed through an independent grant in 2014. Jay Singh, packaging program director, debuted the product in February at Ifco’s Customer Forum in Los Angeles.

UPCOMING EVENTSTuesday, March 17th Service Awards Luncheon

11:30 a.m. in Chumash Auditorium

Thursday, March 19th Listening Session with President Armstrong11:00 a.m. in 03-111

Thursday, April 9th All College Meeting with Dean Scott Dawson11:00 a.m. in 03-111

Saturday, April 11th Career Readiness Forum10:00 a.m. in the Orfalea College of Business

Thursday, April 16th

to Saturday, April 18thOpen House, Poly Royal Parade & Tractor Pull

Wednesday, April 22nd CIE Forum: Wine & Food Entrepreneurship4:00 p.m. in the PAC Auditoriumcie.calpoly.edu/programs/entrepreneurship-forums/c/4.aspx

ON THE HORIZON

PRESIDENT ARMSTRONG TO CONDUCT COLLEGE LISTENING SESSIONSAll Orfalea College of Business staff and faculty are invited to a listening session with Cal Poly President Jeffery Armstrong on Thursday, March 19 at 11 a.m. in room 111. This is your chance to talk directly with university leadership about the Campus Master Plan and Academic Plan for Enrollment.

FACULTY APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR CAL POLY GLOBAL PROGRAMS, SUMMER AND FALL 2016 The Cal Poly International Center invites faculty from all colleges to apply to teach in Cal Poly Global Programs during 2016. The programs are led by faculty with strong teaching records who can offer general education or specialty courses appropriate to the specific program. The summer intensive offerings include programs in England, Spain, Peru and Thailand; there is also a fall term offering in Spain. For applications and information regarding qualifications and deadlines, visit the Faculty tab on the Study Abroad website.

GRANTS SUPPORTING FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP EXTENDED TO LECTURERS

The Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities (RSCA) Grant Program helps faculty remain engaged in their disciplines beyond the classroom and contribute new knowledge through scholarship programs. The annual funds are intended to provide more internal resources to help faculty pursue a broader array of professional activities. The deadline to submit proposals for awards of mini-grants, assigned time, and additional compensation for 2015-16 is 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 16. The RFP has been updated to allow lecturers the opportunity to apply. For application and submission instructions, visit the Office of Research & Economic Development website or call at ext. 6-5153.

FACULTY: STAY CURRENT WITH STUDENT UPDATES FROM THE ADVISING CENTERThe Orfalea Advising Center has created as weekly e-newsletter for students with current updates on deadlines, opportunities and resources. To stay informed on what students receive each Sunday night, sign up for the email list by contacting Lily Clark at lclark08@calpoly.edu.