The award, which grants a tuition scholarship for the student’s use toward the MIT Supply Chain Management Master’s Degree Program, has been granted to three Penn State students this year: Courtney Quisenberry, Lindsey Joyce, and Samantha Jarmul.

“We sent MIT three applicants this year, and MIT was so impressed that all three students were offered scholarships,” said Bob Novack, associate professor of supply chain and information systems. “That speaks volumes about the quality of our students here at Penn State.”

According to Novack, this is the only partnership of this kind in MIT’s Supply Chain Management Program. MIT does not have an undergraduate program in Supply Chain, but their Supply Chain Management Program is the top-rated supply chain graduate program in the country.

“MIT understands how incredibly qualified our Supply Chain students are, and they want to create a feeder system into their graduate-level program from Penn State,” said Novack.

Next year’s applications will open to Supply Chain seniors in January. Scholarship recipients are expected to spend two to five years in the workforce before joining the MIT graduate program.

The MIT Supply Chain Management Program is a 10-month study program designed for early career supply chain professionals that includes coursework, a company-sponsored project, and international travel.

Teammates Jordan Freed, Nathan Rubinstein, Emily Zheng, and Matthew Manocchio are all lead analysts from the student-managed investment fund, the Nittany Lion Fund, LLC.

The competition, sponsored by the Little Investment Bankers of Rutgers University, Clear Harbor Asset Management, and J. P. Morgan, consisted of short-sell only recommendations.

“We’re fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sharpen our analytical skills and present the abilities the Nittany Lion Fund has instilled in us,” said Manocchio. “This weekend provided us the chance to utilize our skills in a professional setting and learn from others while doing so.”

Competing against teams from Virginia Tech, New York University, Georgetown University, Carnegie Mellon University, and more, the Penn State team won the $1,500 first-place prize.

“The Rutgers competition was a great experience that taught us a lot about shorting,” said Freed. “It was also a unique opportunity to show some of the other schools that have a strong presence on Wall Street that Penn State students can compete with the best.”

The event also included a workshop from Ben Axler, managing partner of Prescience Point Research, and multiple networking opportunities with professionals from firms like Cadian Capital Management, JAC Capital, Merrill Lynch, Strategic Value Partners, UBS, and more.

Announced at the Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 23, the winning team was the One Hit Wonders: Finance majors Chris Marthers, Anurag Kumar, and Noor Nahavandi; and Ryan Saba, a student in the integrated Master of Accounting Program.

The three-day competition began with a tour of Kohl’s retail store in State College, during which students learned about the company’s strategy and how stores are structured and organized.

“The store tour was our Kohl’s industry 101,” said Nahavandi. “And we integrated something into our presentation from every area of the store that we saw.”

After the tour, the teams and their advisers, select Smeal faculty, and several Kohl’s executives gathered at the Atherton Hotel—where students were sequestered during the competition—for a kickoff dinner.

“I think it’s really exciting to get a chance to network with Kohl’s executives,” said ‘I Smeal a Victory’ team member Zachary Fleming, a Supply Chain and Information Systems major. “It’s also nice to get a chance to talk with other students. We see these kids all the time but don’t always get a chance to talk to them.”

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Jeff Sharp welcomed guests to the dinner, and spoke about the unique opportunity provided by the competition and its sponsorship by Kohl’s.

“This weekend is a wonderful picture of how the private sector can work together with the University to launch the next generation of students,” said Sharp.

Students picked up the cases on Friday morning and spent the next 24 hours hard at work preparing for the first round of presentations. The teams were tasked with developing a mobile solution to enhance Kohl’s customers’ in-store experience.

“We wanted to provide something that gives the shopper a more personalized experience,” said Saba. “We proposed features like personal suggestions based on purchasing history and a ‘Help Me’ button that would notify store associates.”

After the first round of presentations on Saturday morning, four teams were chosen to present in the final round.

The competition was intense, said members of the winning team, but the ‘One Hit Wonders’ presentation ultimately came out on top.

“We really took an analytical look at things, like how our plan fit into their strategy. We also really focused on our idea’s benefit to Kohl’s,” said Saba. “We also did well in the question and answer sessions. The judges had a lot of logistical questions, and I think we had really good answers.”

Charles Whiteman, John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal and one of the judges in the final round, spoke at the awards dinner about how case competitions like this add educational value to students who participate.

Nahavandi agreed: “In the classroom, you learn the tools, but case competitions give us practice using the tools. Every case competition I do, I learn something new, whether it’s about teamwork, leadership, or the industry.”

The Penn State Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1988. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University system during the year following the award presentation.

Sharp joined the faculty in 1989 after serving as litigation counsel to national financial institutions and the FDIC during the banking crisis and recovery of the 1980s. In his business law classes, he said he strives to design and deliver the subject matter “in a context that brings personal meaning to a student either through reference to an experience or through a believable projection of one’s life into such an experience.” A nominator said that he is “legendary amongst his colleagues” for obtaining almost perfect student ratings, even in classes of 350 students.

One student wrote, “The passion shown by Jeff Sharp is unmatched and fosters an environment that encourages students like me to learn and put forth the effort to do more than simply get by.” According to another student, “The spot-on, and sometimes sarcastically comedic, examples of law in real life that he uses in class help this course to remain memorable and fresh a full two years later.”

He has been honored three times (1992, 2000, and 2006) with the Smeal College of Business Fred Brand Jr. Teaching Award, and he also has received Penn State’s Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching. In 2003, he won the Academy of Legal Studies in Business Master Teacher Symposium for his presentation “A Beatle, Some Rappers, an Uncertain Thereafter: Employing the Music Industry as a Vehicle for Teaching Copyright Law."

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (March 11, 2013) -- Penn State Smeal College of Business alumna Ally Greer (Mktg ’12) is pairing her marketing background with tech-savvy new media know-how in her position as community manager for content curation platform Scoop.it, headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.

When Greer signed up for an internship in Paris through Intrax at a global career fair at Smeal, she didn’t know anything about Scoop.it—it was a start-up company still in private beta, and access was invite-only. When she moved to Paris for the summer internship after her junior year, the company was only six months old.

“I was the first American employee of Scoop.it,” said Greer. “Then after my internship ended, they said they wanted to keep in touch during the next year.” As she neared graduation, Greer accepted Scoop.it’s offer of a full-time community management position and moved to San Francisco in June of 2012.

“I’m basically the liaison between the company and the community,” she says. “A big part of my job is making sure our users are happy.”

She spends much of her time supporting customers’ use of the platform, reaching out to new and potential users, managing the company’s social media presence, and facilitating connections among existing users.

“I’m constantly learning new things about community management, technology, and other things you really can’t learn in college yet, but I think my traditional marketing background from Smeal is really beneficial in my day-to-day activities,” Greer says. “Ultimately, everything you’re doing comes down to knowing how to run a business and how to measure impact.”

Since Greer started with the company in 2011, Scoop.it has grown to about 300,000 users who are curating and sharing content. It is popular with small businesses as a content marketing and professional development tool and as a way to demonstrate expertise on various topics.

Most people are already curating content, says Greer: “If you’re on Twitter and you like to share content on a certain topic, that’s you curating content for your audience.”

The advantage of doing it through Scoop.it, she says, is that you create a more permanent collection of content on various topics and attach your own thoughts and insights. “Your name and your insights are attached to the content to show that you’re knowledgeable about a certain topic, and that connects people directly to you.”

Though a position in community management may seem like a nontraditional path for a marketing graduate, Greer says that her Smeal education gave her a solid foundation from which to build her unique set of skills.

“People assume community managers don’t know anything about business because they’re all about social media,” says Greer, “but the traditional marketing knowledge that I got from Smeal is what connects me with how to run a business.”

Intrax is a company that connects students with volunteer or work experiences abroad. Students can connect with Intrax through SmealConnect or find out more about them on their website at www.intraxinc.com.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, March 26, at the Nittany Lion Inn on Penn State’s University Park campus.

S.T.A.R.T., or Striving Toward Awareness and Respect for Tomorrow, brings students together with faculty, administrators, and corporate representatives to discuss diversity issues such as raising awareness in the corporate world and increasing respect for individuals in the workplace. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and gain insight into the corporate climate of presenting companies.

“The S.T.A.R.T. Conference has become a tradition here at Smeal,” said Assistant Dean for Diversity Enhancement Programs Jamie Campbell. “It’s a great opportunity for us to take the time to talk about diversity issues in the workplace.”

Reginald Butler, director of educational methods in learning and development at PricewaterhouseCoopers, will deliver this year’s keynote address. Butler is a well-known corporate consultant and educator with more than 25 years of experience in education and learning solutions within the private and corporate sectors.

Breakout sessions on this year’s agenda will cover topics such as personal branding, generational differences, multicultural leaders, and transitioning from student to professional life. The sessions will be led by representatives from companies such as KPMG, Boeing, Kohl’s, Altria, Johnson & Johnson, Shell, and CapitalOne.

The S.T.A.R.T. Conference was established by a group of Smeal students in 1999 to foster open dialogue with professional and corporate leaders on creating a productive and respectful work environment.

Altria, Boeing, CapitalOne, Ernst & Young, Johnson & Johnson, Kohl’s, KPMG, PwC, Shell, Target, and United States Steel are sponsors of the event. To learn more and to register for the free half-day conference, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/startconference.

She is one of many students who looked outside of Pennsylvania for job and internship opportunities. Smeal, the top-ranked school for corporate recruiters, provides opportunities for students to gain work experience all over the country.

According to the Smeal Career and Corporate Connections Office, only 45 percent of internship placements in the 2011-12 academic year were in Pennsylvania; dozens of students interned in states like New York, Connecticut, Illinois, California, and Texas.

Jacoby said she didn’t really have a location in mind when she started applying for internships. But she became interested in the opportunities at Georgia-Pacific after talking with their recruiters at a supply chain career fair.

“What drew me in was that it was kind of a risk to go out of my comfort zone. I know with greater risk, there’s often greater reward.” --Cassie Jacoby

Georgia-Pacific, a national company that manufactures tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products, and more, regularly attends Smeal career fairs and recruits students for co-ops and full-time positions.

“They had a lot of different opportunities as far as positions, and they offered a lot to their co-ops, like social events and mentoring.” She continued, “What drew me in was that it was kind of a risk to go out of my comfort zone. I know with greater risk, there’s often greater reward.”

Jacoby was offered a full-time position with the company as a logistics analyst just a few months after returning from her co-op. While she says that moving across the country to Atlanta after graduation is a big step, she knows it’s the right move for her.

“My co-op experience was so great that I’m ready for the next step,” she said.

Meg Handley, director of Smeal Career and Corporate Connections, said, “We encourage students to keep an open mind when considering a company’s location. There can be a lot of really cool opportunities all over the country or even abroad.”

Georgia-Pacific is just one company that recruits for locations all over the U.S. Many firms that work closely with Smeal have several locations across the country.

According to Handley, students can search internship and co-op positions by location on SmealConnect, a Smeal online recruiting system accessible by all current Smeal students.

Internships and co-ops are an integral part of the Smeal experience. The Smeal Career and Corporate Connections office reports that 80 percent of 2011-12 graduates had held at least one internship, and 91 percent of them had accepted full-time positions within six months after graduation.

Gebhardtsbauer said this is the first time he’s ever had students pass that many exams before graduation.

“These are some of the toughest exams there are,” said Gebhardtsbauer. “Most people don’t take these exams until they’re on the job.”

That’s because many employers offer paid study hours to prepare for the exams—a luxury not afforded to the students who choose to take the exams while in college.

“I think the exams are more difficult to pass in school because you don’t get that paid study time,” said Bonczek. “I also think there are more distractions while in school.”

Pugh agreed, citing everything going on with both classes and extracurricular activities.

“It’s hard to prioritize when everything seems to be so urgent,” he said. “I particularly remember last fall during the week of our career fair thinking, do I spend time preparing for this large event happening in a few days, my group project that is due in a week, or studying for my actuarial exam in a month?”

Passing these five exams means that Pugh and Bonczek are about 80 percent of the way toward achieving the designation of Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

Bonczek said that the hardest part of these exams is the time and effort necessary to study for them. In fact, up to 300 hours of studying is recommended per exam.

Gebhardtsbauer added, “Actuarial students have to be really good in multiple areas—economics, finance, math, and statistics and probability.”

Penn State is one of fewer than 15 universities in the United States with the distinction of being a Center of Actuarial Excellence, meaning that it meets specific requirements that denote it as an excellent place to receive actuarial science education.

“Penn State graduates are good at math and also good communicators,” said Gebhardtsbauer. “Recruiters like that the Penn Staters are well-rounded.”

The Actuarial Science option in the Risk Management major at Smeal covers calculus, probability and statistics, financial and actuarial mathematics, economics, finance, risk management, pensions, and insurance in preparation for careers in insurance, consulting, finance, and government agencies. The Actuarial Options in the Mathematics and Statistics Majors in the Eberly College of Science have a very similar curriculum.

Nicholas Fakelmann, Devin Weakland, Benjamin Pugh, and Samantha Jarmul

The Smeal team, led by case team director Andy Gustafson, assistant professor of business administration, included Marketing major Devin Weakland, Actuarial Science and Economics major Benjamin Pugh, Accounting and Finance major Nicholas Fakelmann, and Supply Chain and Information Systems major Samantha Jarmul.

Thirty schools attended the competition. Each was allowed 24 hours to prepare a presentation in response to a case revolving around Owens & Minor, Inc.—a supply chain solutions provider of medical and surgical supplies.

“In essence, the students were charged with the following question: How do we extract the greatest value from our recent European acquisition?” said Gustafson. “The students had to create a business strategy, implementation plan, and financial return analysis in less than 24 hours.”

While all the business skills that contribute to developing this presentation make up about 50 percent of the judging, according to Gustafson, public speaking and presentation skills also count for much of a team’s final score.

Pugh said one of the reasons their team stood out was their clear presentation of ideas: “In any presentation, what’s really important is to make things easy to understand. It also helps if you can make a personal connection with the judges.”

Also important is their ability to think on their feet in the question and answer session with the judging panel—which included Owens & Minor CEO Craig Smith.

“Nick, Devin, Ben, and Samantha were not only great competitors, but also great ambassadors for Penn State,” said Gustafson.

Penn State took third place behind the University of British Columbia, which took top honors, and the Singapore Management University, which came in second.

This year, four Penn State Smeal College of Business students hold positions on the Overall Committee for THON: Melanie Sessa, a marketing major also pursuing a major in public relations; Mike Wellner and Matt Scorzafave, both supply chain and information systems majors; and Jen Stipa, who majors in accounting.

Additionally, hundreds of Smeal students contribute to the yearlong process of coordinating the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, a fundraising and awareness campaign aimed at fighting pediatric cancer.

"My motivation for getting involved in THON was never to get a job or build my resume,” said Wellner, the overall rules and regulations chairperson, “but one of the benefits is that we learned about leading and managing an organization and a lot of people."

"My motivation for getting involved in THON was never to get a job or build my resume, but one of the benefits is that we learned about leading and managing an organization and a lot of people."

Wellner oversees a team of 34 captains and facilitated a number of changes this year to make fundraising activities like canning safer for students. This weekend, Wellner’s group will manage event security at the Bryce Jordan Center, where THON participants and families will fill the arena to capacity.

Scorzafave, the overall supply logistics chairperson, says he was able to practice some of the lessons he learned in the classroom related to inventory and distribution. In this role, he also worked to develop and maintain relationships with the companies that provide in-kind donations to supply THON events.

Just as importantly, though, Scorzafave said he learned valuable skills in leadership among fellow Penn Staters, particularly the 21 captains he oversees: "It’s been a huge learning experience to work on garnering respect among peers and learning how to be a good leader and mentor," he said.

The students know that these kinds of leadership and communication skills will benefit them long after THON weekend is over. Sessa, the overall morale chairperson in charge of dancer health, safety, and entertainment, recognizes the value of the lessons she learned in professionalism and promoting THON and its message.

"THON has given me more professional experience than some internships would have," said Sessa, who oversees 21 captains. "It taught me so much about working with people outside my realm and aligning our missions."

Many Smeal student organizations, including all the business fraternities, have participated in fundraising over the past year and will be sending dancers to this weekend’s 46-hour dance marathon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

More than 45 Smeal students will be dancing for Smeal-related organizations, and many more will take the floor for other organizations with which they are involved. The Smeal organizations sending dancers include: the Accounting Society, the Actuarial Science Club, Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi, the Penn State Finance Society, the Penn State Marketing Association, Phi Beta Lambda, Phi Chi Theta, Phi Gamma Nu, the Professional Management Association, the Sapphire Leadership Program, the Smeal MBA Program, Smeal Student Mentors, and Women in Business.

Additional THON Activities at Smeal

This year, the college’s Women in Business group raised funds through canning and other fundraisers and hosted events such as an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner at the Abba Java Café and a trivia night. The Penn State Marketing Association is another active student group that raised funds through canning, donations, and events like a sports date auction, variety show, and pasta night.

The Smeal MBA Program held several fundraising events over the past months, including Jar Wars—turning fundraising into a competition among first year students, second year students, and faculty and staff; THON restaurant night at Chili’s; and candy gram sales for Valentine’s Day. The Smeal Executive MBA Program raised money for THON through its THON Night Out silent auction.

VITA is a nationwide, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sponsored program that provides free tax preparation to low income, special needs, and senior citizen taxpayers. Each year many students at Penn State volunteer their time to assist in tax preparation for members of the local community. This year, 38 of the 52 volunteers are Smeal accounting students.

The VITA program at Penn State is led by Cathy Bowen, professor of consumer issues in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, and is a joint venture among the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, the Smeal College of Business, and the Dickinson School of Law. Each college has a student liaison to assist Bowen in recruiting and managing the volunteers.

Sarah Mackey is a junior in the integrated master of accounting program in Smeal, and she is serving as the 2013 liaison for accounting students. “I wanted to be involved in something hands-on,” she said. “This is one way to get some hands-on experience even before you have an internship.”

VITA volunteers begin meeting in the fall to learn the relevant federal tax laws and the TaxWise software used to file electronic returns. All volunteers—including greeters—must pass an ethics course; those who wish to prepare taxes must also pass both basic and intermediate-level certification tests.

The VITA program is a popular way for students in business and law each year to get some hands on practice with taxes as well as a service activity: “The repetition of doing the tax returns really helps gel classroom tax lessons in their minds,” said Bowen.

In addition to IRS support, PwC and KPMG offered financial support to this year’s program that is crucial to the program’s survival.

Employers will seek students for internships, co-ops, and full-time positions. All career events will take place in the Atrium of the Business Building on the University Park campus.

The Corporate Associate Career Fair will be held on Monday, Feb. 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for students of all business majors, from first-year students through seniors. This career fair features companies who partner with Smeal, including Altria Group Distribution Company, Deloitte, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ernst & Young, Ferguson, Grant Thornton, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, PNC, PPG, PwC, Shell, and Target.

The two-day Supply Chain Career Fair will be held from Feb. 5-6 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for students seeking positions in the supply chain field. For more information on the more than 75 companies attending and the positions for which they are recruiting, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/cscr/recruiting.

The Marketing Career Fair will be held on Thursday, Feb. 7, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for students interested in career and internship positions in the marketing field. For a full list of the 30 companies attending, visit ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/careers/career-fairs/marketing-career-fair/.

“All of the career fairs organized by Smeal aim to assist in making the connection easier between companies seeking specific majors and our quality students,” said Meg Handley, director of Smeal’s Career and Corporate Connections office. “We were excited to connect more than 1,800 students who attended career fairs last fall, and we hope to see that many networking with employers again this spring.”

For the past two years, Smeal has been ranked number one among recruiters according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Students attending the career fairs should make sure to bring plenty of copies of their resumes and to dress in business professional attire. For tips and advice on making a positive first impression at the career fair, visit Smeal’s Career Fair Prep website at ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/careers/resources/career-fair-prep/.

The 105 members of the Smeal MBA Program class of 2012 will hold their pre-commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall at the HUB-Robeson Center. Smeal alumnus Daniel Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, will deliver the keynote address. The ceremony will also include remarks from James B. Thomas, the John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal, Carrie Marcinkevage, MBA managing director, and select student leaders. The ceremony will be followed by a reception for graduates, their guests, and MBA faculty and staff.

Also at 2 p.m., the college will host its Senior Sendoff celebration in the Business Building. The semiannual event is a time for Smeal seniors and their families to reflect on their accomplishments and celebrate their future. Lynn Cruser, Smeal Alumni Society Board President-Elect, will deliver remarks at 2:30 p.m. and light refreshments will be served.

Commencement for the Smeal class of 2012 will be held at 10 a.m. on May 6 in the Bryce Jordan Center. The commencement speaker is Smeal alumnus Anthony Buzzelli, retired senior partner at Deloitte.

Members of the MBA class of 2012 will receive their degrees at the Graduate School commencement at 4:30 p.m. on May 6 in the Bryce Jordan Center.

For more information on Penn State commencement, visit commencement.psu.edu online.

About Daniel Mead
Daniel Mead was appointed president and CEO of Verizon Wireless in 2010. Prior to that, he served as president of Verizon Services Corp., overseeing all of the finance operations, real estate, and supply chain services for all Verizon companies. He was appointed to lead Verizon Services in October 2005, when the unit was created.

Mead was one of the founding senior executives responsible for launching Verizon Wireless in July 2000. From March 2001 to October 2005, he was president of its Midwest Area, a 15-state region with a population of 61 million that stretches from Pennsylvania to the Dakotas and from Minnesota to Kentucky. He has held various other leadership roles in telecommunications functions during his 29 years with Verizon and its predecessor companies.

Mead holds a bachelor's degree in Quantitative Business Analysis and Finance and an M.B.A. from Smeal.

About Anthony Buzzelli
Anthony Buzzelli, who retired from Deloitte in 2011 as senior partner, spent his entire 40-year career at Deloitte in several key positions, including vice chairman, national managing partner of U.S. Regions, managing partner for the Pacific Southwest Region based in Los Angeles, and managing partner for the Central Atlantic Region based in Washington, D.C. He also served on Deloitte’s board of directors, its Executive Committee, and its Operating Committee.

Always active in his local community, his philanthropic activities have ranged from serving as an instructor for Junior Achievement to taking part in Deloitte's annual IMPACT Day. In California since 2003, Buzzelli served on the boards of United Way of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the World Affairs Council, and the San Gabriel Valley Boy Scouts. He was a trustee of the California Science Center and chairman of Leadership LA. Currently, he serves as chair of Semester at Sea, and sits on the board of a nine-hospital integrated healthcare organization and a large member-services entity.

A lifelong supporter of Penn State, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting, Buzzelli served as the inaugural chair of Smeal's Accounting Advisory Board and is a member of the college's Board of Visitors. In 2003, Penn State named Buzzelli its Accounting Alumnus of the Year.

The book explores how analytics, visualization, and emerging technologies such as smartphone networks, social media, and cloud computing are changing the way business is done. Jordan looks at how the latest technology trends and their impact on human behavior are impacting business practices from recruitment to marketing to supply chains to customer service.

Geared toward investors, managers, and executives, the book shows readers how to think more broadly and see deeper patterns in order to take advantage of the many emerging capabilities that will inevitably transform their businesses. Readers will learn of five broad areas in which they can anticipate rapid change in the foreseeable future.

Jordan is a seasoned IT strategy scholar whose research focuses on emerging technologies and their impact on business strategy, design, and practice. He relies on this expertise and hundreds of examples to show how technology is transforming businesses and how startups with the right IT strategies are disrupting long-established players. Jordan presents several case studies to showcase how emerging technology has disrupted long-standing business models in data and communications, software, music, news, health care, retail, and real estate.

"This book attempts to explore the intersection of our connecting technologies and our institutions, and the changes that come to business as a result," Jordan writes in the preface. "For a variety of reasons -- not all of them related to the Internet -- making a living, finding a partner, and other essential, defining pursuits are changing. … The changes are happening fast, but often invisibly, particularly for the young."

Information, Technology, and Innovation: Resources for Growth in a Connected World is available online from Wiley and Amazon, among other booksellers.

About the Author
John Jordan has been on the Smeal College of Business faculty since 2005, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in management information systems, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He previously directed Smeal's Center for Digital Transformation, a research center focused on helping business realize the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital economy. Since 1997, Jordan has written Early Indications, an electronic newsletter that examines emerging technologies and how they impact business and society.

Prior to joining Smeal, Jordan served as principal at Capgemini, a global business and technology consulting firm, where he analyzed e-commerce success stories like Amazon, Linux, and eBay. His consulting experience extends across industries and geography, with engagements on four continents. Before he entered consulting, Jordan won teaching awards at the University of Michigan and Harvard University.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Duke University, a master's degree from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Smeal's two honorees are Christopher M. Thomas, global recruiting director for the Experienced Commercial Leadership Program at General Electric Co., and Daniel W. Veltri, co-founder and chief operating officer of Weebly.

Thomas earned his bachelor's degree from Smeal in 2003 and received his Smeal M.B.A. in 2008. At GE, he helps to manage global recruiting efforts, establish the U.S. hiring plan, and oversee the overall ECLP Summer Associate pipeline.

Thomas served as the strategic marketing initiatives manager for the GE Capital, Commercial Distribution Finance business, and as diversity lead recruiter and lead recruiter for Penn State for the ECLP program.

He was selected in 2006 as one of Ebony magazine's "30 Young Leaders Under 30"; received the Penn State Alumni Association's Diversity Award in 2008; and in 2011, was selected as one of The Network Journal's "40 Under Forty."

Veltri is a 2007 graduate of Smeal with a bachelor's degree in Finance. In 2006, while still Penn State students, Veltri and David Rusenko founded Weebly, now a San Francisco-based Internet company with an intuitive drag-and-drop website creation service geared for nontechnical people. The company has grown to more than 10 million users since 2006. Its service is available in eight languages, and its Facebook page has 60,000 fans.

Weebly was named one of Time magazine's "50 Best Web Sites" of 2007 and has been featured in several other prominent magazines.

Thomas, Veltri, and all of this year's recipients of the Alumni Achievement Award were honored at a dinner ceremony March 30 at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.

Academic colleges or campuses nominate alumni who are then selected by a University-wide committee. They are invited by President Rod Erickson to return to campus for several days to share their expertise with students and the University community. The Alumni Achievement Award began in 2005 and since then has honored 85 outstanding alumni.

The complete list of this year's recipients, along with their year of graduation, current title, place of employment, and city of residence are:

• Heather D. Agnew '03, principal research investigator, Integrated Diagnostics; Los Angeles;
• Danielle S. Bassett '04, Sage Junior Research Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara; Goleta, Calif.;
• Matthew T. Bresee '00, president, Erie BayHawks; Erie, Pa.;
• Ellyn Fisher '99, vice president of public relations and social media, Ad Council; New York City; 
• John H. Gilmore Jr. '01, tight end, New Orleans Saints; Tampa, Fla.;
• Meghan K. Jasani '99, vice president and product manager, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services; Boston;
• Sean A. Misko '04, special advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Department of State; Arlington, Va.;
• Ronald D. Ondechek Jr. '99, investment professional, Altira Group LLC; Denver;
• Herb Sweeney IV '03, senior associate, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Somerville, Mass.;
• Christopher M. Thomas '03, '08g, global recruiting director, General Electric Company; Stamford, Conn.;
• Daniel W. Veltri '07, co-founder and chief operating officer, Weebly; San Francisco.