James Barth, the Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance, traveled to Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk and Moscow in Russia during the week of May 25-29 to speak on "Roosevelt and Obama: Confronting Economic Crises." He spoke at universities, American Corners, the Council for National Competitiveness, the Aurora Expertum Club, the Gorbachev Foundation and the Carnegie Center. He also was interviewed on the Spotlight program, "Russia Today TV," while in Moscow.

Dave Ketchen, Lowder Eminent Scholar, has been appointed an associate editor for the Journal of Supply Chain Management. The journal is owned by the Institute for Supply Management, an association of over 40,000 supply management professionals that was founded in 1915. Ketchen is also an associate editor for the Academy of Management Journal.

Matt Mazzei, Chris Shook and Dave Ketchen's paper "Selling strategic issues: Crafting the content of the sales pitch" was accepted for publication at Business Horizons.

The College of Business honored outstanding teaching, service, and achievement at the 5th Annual Faculty and Staff Awards  Ceremony, held on April 22.  Congratulations to the following award recipients:

Outstanding Teaching Awards
Mark Bertus, Associate Professor, Finance
Brian Gibson, Professor, Aviation & Supply Chain Management
Jennifer Mueller, Associate Professor, Accountancy
Dan Padgett, Assistant Professor, Marketing
Chris Shook, Associate Professor, Management

MBA Teaching Awards
James Barth, Lowder Eminent Scholar, Finance
DeWayne Searcy, Assistant Professor, Accountancy
Chris Shook, Associate Professor, Management

Edward Lowder Teaching Excellence Award
Michael Yates, Assistant Professor, Finance

McCartney Teaching Award
Jennifer Mueller, Associate Professor, Accountancy

Summer Research Grants
Wesley Randall, Assistant Professor, Aviation & Supply Chain Management
Chetan Sankar, Thomas Walter Center Professor, Management

Distinctive Faculty Achievement Award
James Barth, Lowder Eminent Scholar, Finance

Outstanding Research Award
Garry Adams, Associate Professor, Management

Promotion and Tenure
Garry Adams to Associate Professor, Management
Duane Brandon to Associate Professor, Accountancy
Randy Johnson to Associate Professor, Aviation & Supply Chain Management
Andrew McLelland to Associate Professor, Accountancy
Keven Yost to Associate Professor, Finance

Did you know that the Auburn 
University College of Business has established groups on three professional and social networking sites? Look for us at any of the following:

Facebook - If you are already a member of Facebook, search for the Auburn University College of Business Alumni group. If you are not a member of Facebook, you can set up a profile here.
LinkedIn - If you are already a member of LinkedIn, search for the Auburn College of Business Alumni group. If you are not a member, visit http://www.linkedin.com/ to join.
Tiger2Tiger - Access to Auburn Tiger2Tiger is restricted to Auburn University alumni. If you are already a member, search for the Auburn College of Business Alumni group. If not, click here to verify your status and set up an account.

Also, we want to keep you connected to all the wonderful things happening in the College of Business. If you have moved or changed jobs recently, please take a minute to Update Your Record.

Jackie DiPofi, president of the Greater Peace Community Development Corporation (GPCDC) Board, was an invited speaker at the Grand Opening of the new Jordan’s Gate subdivision in Opelika, held on May 29. A collaborative effort between GPCDC and the Bennett Group, this 26-acre development is located in Jeter, an area of Opelika targeted for redevelopment. Jordan’s Gate features 48, single-family rental homes created for families earning 60 percent or less of area median income and includes a clubhouse, playgrounds, and fitness and computer centers. The development was financed with Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity and loans from Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. and a Section 4 grant from Enterprise Community Partners along with a construction loan from Troy Bank & Trust. Residents of Jordan's Gate will be provided an option to purchase their homes at the end of the tax credit compliance period. For more information, please contact Dr. Jackie DiPofi, Director, at 334/844-4220 or dipofja@auburn.edu.

The Board of Directors of the Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation has pledged $200,000 to the Auburn University College of Business in support of flight education. The gift will be used to purchase a glass cockpit flight training device and create an endowment to support proper maintenance and upkeep of the equipment throughout its useful life. A 1926 graduate of Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Solon Dixon was a leader in the forestry industry. Dixon began his career, however, in the aeronautical engineering and flight education programs at Auburn, instructing student pilots for nearly a decade. In recognition of his early role in flight education programs, the Auburn University Board of Trustees approved a request at its last meeting to name the simulator after Mr. Dixon. The simulator will be known as the Solon Dixon Simulator.

The College of Business has received a gift from Wendy S. Wilson of Huntsville to establish a professorship endowment in honor of her first accounting professor and current associate dean of undergraduate programs, Gary Waters. The endowment, in response to President Jay Gogue's charge to create 81 new professorships campus-wide for existing faculty with exceptional merit, is the second to be secured by the College of Business in two months and the first to be fully funded. The professorship will be called the Wilson Family Endowed Professorship until Waters retires from the College of Business, and then will be renamed the Dr. Gary Waters Professorship. The dean of the College of Business will award the endowment to a professor who exhibits a strong commitment to students and provides a high quality of instruction, research and service. To make the endowment one of distinction, the university will match endowment earnings up to $7,500 in perpetuity. A 1988 graduate of Auburn with a bachelor's degree in accountancy, Wilson is the owner, president and CEO of Aero Thermo Technology Inc. The company is an engineering, advisory and assistance firm with offices nationwide, providing support to the U.S. Department of Defense since 1989. To read more, see the news release.

The Society for Advancement of Management (SAM) welcomed Scott Posey from ThyssenKrupp Steel USA at its last meeting held on Tues., June 9 at the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Posey presented “Update on Plant Design and Mobile Area Construction.”

Auburn University and Baptist Health in Montgomery are joining forces to improve the quality of health care and reduce the likelihood of medical errors through a unique approach that applies the airline industry's advanced communication methods to the medical field. The project is led by Randy Johnson, associate professor in Aviation and Supply Chain Management in the College of Business. The two parties have developed a training model known as Synergistic Management and Resource Team (SMART) Training, which applies communication methods used in the airline industry to significantly increase the safety and quality of patient care. A ceremony was held on June 3rd at Baptist Health's Institute for Patient Safety and Medical Simulation. Auburn President Jay Gogue, Provost Mary Ellen Mazey and Assistant Vice President for University Outreach Royrickers Cook joined Baptist Health Chief Operating Officer Robin Barca and Institute Director Judi Miller at the event. For more information, visit http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/953.

352 undergraduate business students were named to the Dean’s List for spring 2009. To be eligible for the Dean’s List, students must be enrolled for 12 or more credit hours, must pass all courses attempted for that semester, have no D grades that term and earn a grade-point average of at least 3.75 on a 4.0 scale. To access the entire list, visit https://fp.auburn.edu/ocm/deanslist/.

Alexis Mosjidis recently passed the MySQL Database Administrator Certification Exam. Alexis is a student worker in the Office of Network and Media Services and is responsible for the maintenance of the College of Business website.

Experiential Learning in Action?  A degree requirement, MNGT4800: Strategic Management is a capstone course for all business students that focuses on managing a total organization through strategic problem-solving and integration of all functional areas such as accounting, finance, operations, and marketing. Each semester, student teams compete against one another in a strategic management simulation game, administered by CapSim. The six highest scoring teams are then invited to participate in a second tournament in which they make strategic decisions for an additional eight rounds. Cash awards are then presented to the top two finishing teams, thanks to an endowed fund for excellence established by Bruce and Christy Cox of Atlanta, GA. Congratulations to Dave Adams, Addison Colgrove, Scott Fraser, Andrew Klein and Benjamin Patterson (First Team - $1000 prize), as well as to Rob Croley, Jase Traylor, Wright Varn, and Chris Vick (Second Team - $500 prize).

The Auburn Technical Assistance Center at Auburn University is offering a Lean Certificate Series open enrollment course June 22-26 at the Auburn Training Connection (Auburn Center for Developing Industry), 1500 Pumphrey Ave. It will be held from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-noon Friday. Lunch, refreshments and all training materials will be provided (except lunch will not be provided Friday). The cost per seat price is $1,295 for the full five-day course or $295 for day-one only for Principles of Lean. Preregistration is required; no cancellations allowed, but substitutions are permitted. Register online at http://www.auburnworks.org and click on the "Seminar & Course Registration" link at the top of the page. For more information, contact Mitch Emmons at 844-3881 or emmonmb@auburn.edu.