The Vanderbilt MBA program fared well in the 2012 “Which MBA?” rankings from The Economist:
in North America among full-time MBA programs (up one slot from last ranking)
globally among full-time MBA programs (up two slots)
globally in diversity of recruiters
globally in alumni effectiveness
globally in education experience
globally in faculty quality
globally in student assessment of career services
David Owens, Professor of the Practice of Management and Innovation, is participating in Vanderbilt’s first institution-wide foray into offering free online courses worldwide via the digital learning consortium Coursera. Owens’ course—Innovation Strategy: Managing Innovation and Creativity in Individuals, Groups, and Organizations—is one of five being offered in spring 2013.
For more information, visit vu.edu/digitallearning.
Energy always has been a bit of a mystery to me. Even though it’s such an inextricable part of my daily life, I have only the vaguest notions of how, say, electricity is produced, commoditized and then delivered to my home. In fact, I’m reminded how much I’m in the dark about energy every time that I’m, well, literally in the dark. All it takes is just a few hours without power to make me realize how little I understand it and how much I depend on it.
In the cover story, we attempt to shed some light on the broad and complex topic of energy. The story isn’t intended to be a comprehensive survey of the business or an endorsement of one fuel source over another. Rather our aim is to capture the energy sector through the prism of the Owen community—alumni working in the industry and the growing connections between their employers and the school.
In some sense, a university is as good a backdrop as any for understanding energy. At the heart of each is the idea of harnessing untapped potential. Take, for example, the rivers and lakes that feed hydroelectric plants across the U.S. In their natural state, these waterways may serve many purposes, but only when properly channeled do they generate power for the greater benefit of society. Likewise, students arrive on campus brimming with promise and ambition, but what helps them live to the fullest of their abilities is the direction they receive from faculty and others.
I’ve had the good fortune to report on this transformative process at Owen for the past five years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the process helps spark a strong current that connects everyone in this community. Call it what you will—enthusiasm, camaraderie—it’s an energy unto itself, albeit a different sort than what’s mentioned above. Yet it burns just as brightly in its own mysterious way.
Among the rewards of editing Vanderbilt Business is the privilege of being a part of this very energy. I may not fully understand where it comes from or how it connects one person to the next, but I do know that its pull makes it harder to say goodbye.
I’m sad to say this issue is my last: I’m joining the staff of Vanderbilt Magazine, and my talented colleague Nancy Wise will be the new editor. As excited as I am about this next step in my career, I’ll miss working with Owen’s faculty and staff on a regular basis. I’ll also miss not being able to bring to light more of the stories that make this school so extraordinary.
The inventor Buckminster Fuller once said, “Real wealth is ideas plus energy.” If that’s so, then there are few places as prosperous as Owen. This community has both energy and ideas in spades, and I’m the richer for having been a part of it. Thank you for making these past five years so illuminating in the fullest sense of the word.
Dean
Jim Bradford
Editor
Seth Robertson
Contributors
Nelson Bryan (BA’73), Sherie Edwards (EMBA’12), Jennifer Johnston, Sandy Smith, Cindy Thomsen, Ryan Underwood (BA’96), Brett Wade (EMBA’12), Amy Wolf
Photography
Daniel Dubois, Lauren Owens, Anne Rayner, John Russell
Designer
Michael T. Smeltzer
Art Director
Donna Pritchett
Chief Marketing Officer
Yvonne Martin-Kidd
Associate Dean of Development and Alumni Relations
Cheryl Chunn
Editorial Offices: Vanderbilt University News and Communications, PMB 407703, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7703, Telephone: (615) 322-0817, Fax: (615) 343-8547, owenmagazine@vanderbilt.edu
Please direct alumni inquiries to: Office of Development and Alumni Relations, Owen Graduate School of Management, PMB 407754, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7754, Telephone: (615) 322-0815, alum@owen.vanderbilt.edu
Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. Opinions expressed in Vanderbilt Business are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Owen School or Vanderbilt University.
Vanderbilt Business magazine is published twice a year by the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, 401 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203-9932, in cooperation with the Vanderbilt News and Communications.
© 2012 Vanderbilt University. “Vanderbilt” and the Vanderbilt logo are registered trademarks and service marks of Vanderbilt University.
This July, I took a bike trip with my oldest son through Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies. Having been to Glacier on photographic journeys before, I had a good appreciation for what I was about to experience. Or so I thought.
Glacier and its Canadian counterpart, Waterton, make up the Peace Parks—more than 2 million acres of pristine wilderness, towering mountains, glacier lakes and abundant wildlife. The aptly named Going-to-the-Sun road forms a backbone across the top of Glacier National Park. The Going-to-the-Sun road begins with 14 miles of rolling countryside. Then it climbs for the next 11 miles, ultimately rising to 6,646 feet.
As my son and I began the ride, it started to rain and the temperature dropped. I’d trained the previous four months to make this climb, and I was determined to reach the top. The road is winding and narrow under normal conditions, but the weather made it that much more treacherous. The normally expansive views were now obscured by rain and fog. The path forward kept twisting and turning, never flattening to provide a pause for rest. I had but one choice and that was to keep grinding.
Nevertheless, the experience was incredible—everything I’d bargained for. The fog occasionally opened just long enough to catch a glimpse of the valley below. By this point the rain had turned to snow. I neared the top with less than a half-mile to go and was wet from head to toe, despite the rain gear. Park rangers briefly stopped me to clear a slippery trail somewhere above the mountain pass I was about to top. Once I stopped, I realized how cold I really was. But the final half-mile passed quickly, and before I knew it, I reached the top. And wow! I will never forget that experience.
We went on to have days ahead of beautiful sunny climbs and speedy descents. But it was this climb, this difficult ascent, that I remember most.
Why? First, I was prepared. I trained hard and it paid off. Second, the changing weather added a degree of adversity I hadn’t expected—exactly as things happen in life. Third, while topping the mountain pass was fantastic, it was the journey that I valued most. This was especially true since I cherished the time with my son, who has been my riding partner for many years.
A good friend once gave me a phrase to live by: “It’s all uphill from here.” His comment preceded a debate about how we might solve a difficult challenge. Yes, it would be hard. Yes, we would face adversity, but by working together, we would gain the high ground. There was a mountaintop experience ahead.
I hope that your educational journey at Owen offered you a similar perspective. I trust it was hard and that you faced occasional adversity, but that you gained the higher ground by working with others, many of whom are now your lifelong friends. In a way, the journey that you began at Owen has never really ended. You may be years, or even decades, removed from having received your diploma, but you’re still part of a larger community that is on the move together. We’re making steady progress in our upward climb to where we want this school to be. If we each continue doing our part, I can assure you that a mountaintop experience lies ahead.
It’s all uphill from here.
James W. Bradford
Dean, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management
Ralph Owen Professor of Management
 
|
| Yasin Alan, Assistant Professor of Management, comes to Owen from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management, where he recently completed his doctorate. His research interests lie in the interface of operations management and corporate finance. He conducts theoretical research to study the relationship between operational decisions and financial considerations such as capital structure, growth and bankruptcy risk. He also performs empirical research to link operations to stock performance and financial distress.
Jesse Blocher, Assistant Professor of Management, joined Owen’s finance group this fall after completing his doctorate at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. His study “Contagious Collateral: A Network Analysis of Interconnected Intermediaries” (2011) won the Financial Research Association’s Michael J. Barclay Award for best solo-authored paper by a young scholar. Another paper, “The Long and the Short of It: Evidence of Year-End Price Manipulation by Short Sellers” (2011), won the BNP Paribas Hedge Fund Center at Singapore Management University Research Award. Assistant Professor of Management Tae-Youn Park, who earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, joined the organization studies group at Owen this fall. His research interests include the individual and organizational consequences of compensation, and voluntary and involuntary turnover. His work has been accepted for publication in Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology and Strategic Management Journal. |
The Owen School has named Christie St-John, MA’94, PhD’99, as its new Director of Admissions, effective Oct. 1, 2012.
St-John returns to Vanderbilt from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where she served as Senior Associate Director of Admissions and Recruiting since 2004. St-John began her MBA admissions career at Vanderbilt in 1997, overseeing international recruitment.
Previously St-John held roles in marketing, as well as in oil and gas trading. A Nashville native, she holds a master’s degree and doctorate from Vanderbilt. St-John has lived abroad and traveled to 70 countries for both work and pleasure.
“We are excited to welcome Christie back to Vanderbilt,” says Dean Jim Bradford. “She combines a vast global experience with a keen understanding and appreciation of what makes a top graduate management program.”
Tami Fassinger, Chief Recruiting Officer for Owen, adds that St-John will also play a key role in the school’s larger strategy of aligning incoming student career objectives with placement results on a broad geographic scale.
“Christie’s ability to relate to our global talent pool is invaluable to where we’re going as a school. We’re glad to have her back on our team,” Fassinger says. “I hired Christie in her first tenure at Vanderbilt. We’ve missed her talent, as well as her international mindset and far-reaching network.”
St-John will handle recruiting and admissions for the full-time MBA program and one-year MS Finance program.
“Vanderbilt has seen a great deal of positive momentum in recent years,” St-John says. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to increase the school’s reach, both in the U.S. and globally.”
