Dear members of the Fox School Family:
These words are at the heart of what we do and are as much a part of our rich legacy as our promising future.
In 2018, the Fox School of Business will celebrate our Centennial — 100 years of business education!
From our roots in 1918 as Temple University’s School of Commerce to today, as one of the nation’s largest and most-comprehensive business schools, the Fox School of Business has remained true to the vision of Temple’s founder, Dr. Russell Conwell.
For nearly 100 years, our stellar faculty has produced influential research and innovative teaching, and our diverse and exceptional students have earned an elite business leadership education. Our graduates have excelled as executives at every level, whether in C-Suites of Fortune 500 companies or as successful entrepreneurs in unique and cutting-edge ventures, further demonstrating our legacy of excellence.
And, the Fox School has maintained a reputation of outperformance.
U.S. News & World Report rated our Online MBA as No. 1 in the nation. U.S. News and The Economist regard our Part-Time and Executive MBAs, respectively, as the best in Philadelphia. And several of our undergraduate programs are ranked among the top-15 in the U.S., according to U.S. News and The Princeton Review. Our faculty’s scholarship output is highly ranked among the top business schools in the nation.
In the months ahead, we will unveil a schedule of events to recognize our storied history, our distinguished alumni and remarkable student body.
We welcome your participation in these celebrations. Along the way, we will also ask you to share personal stories and submit memorabilia to be featured in exhibits and displays.
We look forward to celebrating this distinguished legacy — and our 100th anniversary — with you!
Regards,
M. Moshe Porat, PhD, CPCU
Dean
Laura H. Carnell Professor
Fox School of Business
Temple University
Are you part of a Fox family legacy? Email your photographs and stories to Kimberly Hamm, Associate Director of Development & Alumni Relations, at khamm@temple.edu.
earned an MBA from the Fox
School, also serves as its Director of Enrollment Management. He and his family, who attended the Temple-Penn State football game in August, have deep ties to Fox and Temple University. John Diehl, FOX ’84, who earned a BBA in Accounting, and current Fox students Colleen Diehl and Elizabeth Diehl were in attendance. Also pictured are David Diehl, EDU ’60; Noreen Diehl, EDU ’95, TYL ’02; Stephen Diehl, TYL ’97; and Brian Callahan, a student within the College of Education.
Fox School of Business alumnus Justin Rosenberg, MBA ’09, is returning to his roots.
The founder and CEO of honeygrow, Rosenberg announced that he plans to open a location of his Philadelphia-based, fast-casual restaurant on Temple University’s campus in the fall. The store would utilize commercial space within Morgan Hall, a residence hall located at the southeast corner of Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
With seven stores currently and plans to open nine more by the end of 2016, honeygrow offers fresh-to- order salads and stir-fries that are made with seasonal, local ingredients.
“Temple University is on the rise, and it’s a location that I’m beyond confident will work,” said Rosenberg.
“I’m a Temple guy, I wrote a chunk of my business plan for honeygrow at Alter Hall, and the business is very much a #TempleMade concept. This makes perfect sense.”
Marketing majors from Temple University’s student chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) won the parent organization’s annual Collegiate Case Competition by delivering a marketing strategy for a product from event sponsor The Hershey Company.
The Temple AMA team took top honors ahead of the University of Pennsylvania, Texas State University, and Ferris State University, among other tough competitors. The team of marketing students from the Fox School of Business assembled a thorough, research-driven marketing plan for Hershey’s Ice Breakers Cool Blast Chews, emerging from a field of 91 college chapters to claim first place in the prestigious competition for the first time. The $3,000 top prize will be allotted toward defraying costs related to next year’s case competition, the team said.
The Temple AMA all-junior presentation team comprised Lily Tran, Abbey Harris, Rachel Baker, and Alexander Bran- nan. The written case team included seniors Taylor Sauder, Rachel Zydyk, and Jennifer McGill. Temple AMA was one of 10 national finalists invited to deliver a presentation at the AMA International Collegiate Conference, held March 17-20 in New Orleans.
The final presentation culminated more than seven months of original research, situation analysis, conducting focus groups and surveys, and marketing recommendations by the Temple AMA team. The group had submitted its writ- ten case to AMA in December and, one month later, learned that it had been selected as one of the 10 finalists. From there, they delivered a number of “dry-run presentations,” said Dr. Craig Atwater, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, and one of Temple AMA’s three faculty advisors.
“The focus groups and taste tests helped our students determine that the product’s positioning was ambiguous,” Atwater said. “It’s not a gum, as it dissolves within 15 seconds, and yet it’s not a mint.
It’s instead classified within a subcategory, as a power-mint. Our students found that for millennials, who enjoy trying new things, this product is cool and fun, but they found that it also required an explanation.”
“While awaiting the results, I remember counting the spots and losing count because my heart started to pound,” said Harris. “TU-AMA is improving in reputation thanks to our incredible faculty advisors — Dr. Craig Atwater, Professor Jim Thompson, and Dr. Drew Allmond — our talented Fox School professors, and the support of the Marketing department.”
A team of graduate students from Temple University’s Fox School of Business advanced to the final round of the National Cyber Analyst Challenge, sponsored by Lockheed Martin.
The students, from Fox’s Master of Science in IT Auditing and Cyber Security (ITACS) program, competed against teams from eight other colleges and universities for a $25,000 grand prize. Fox’s team included: Jeta Gjana, Jose Gomez, Kerwing Hy, and Nick Nguyen, from the ITACS program’s security track, and Ibtissam Bazzine, of ITACS’ auditing track.
The first phase of the National Cyber Analyst Challenge consisted of an analysis of a complex real-world case created by Lockheed Martin experts. Participating teams received documents pertaining to a fabricated company and files that were meant to replicate a report issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. The team from Fox, which is coached by ITACS professors Ed Ferrara and Wade Mackey, pored over 75 gigabytes of data to find the cause of the hack.
“We couldn’t have been more excited to represent Temple and Fox in a competition of this level,” Hy said.
TEMPLE ENTREPRENEURS WIN CASH PRIZES AT BUSINESS COMPETITION
May 12, 2016 //
Young entrepreneurs from the Fox School of Business took home top honors at February’s College Pitch Philly competition, geared toward unearthing the top business concepts of undergraduates from Philadelphia’s colleges and universities.
Andrew Nakkache, FOX ’16, won the $7,500 top prize with Habitat, a mobile app that lets students and faculty to order food, via pickup or delivery, from their favorite food trucks and restaurants around campus.
Neha Raman, a sophomore international business major at the Fox School of Business, claimed the $5,000 second prize for Rungh, a create-your- own nail polish system.
Nakkache and Raman competed among 33 other students or teams of undergraduates Feb. 24 at the University Science Center’s Quorum.
Organized by Campus Philly and the Philadelphia
Regional Entrepreneurship Education Consortium (PREEC), College Pitch Philly offered a pool of $15,000 in prize money for new business ventures. After making two-minute pitches in the first round, six finalists delivered five-minute pitches and conducted five-minute Q&As to determine the winners.
“I’m still in shock,” Raman said. “I still have the giant check from the competition in my room.
One of the first-established academic departments at the Fox School of Business is getting a new name, and is set to introduce a new undergraduate degree program.
The Fox School’s Department of Statistics will soon be rebranded as the Department of Statistical Science. Addi- tionally, the department will unveil a Bachelor of Science degree program in Statistical Science and Data Analytics. Both changes are effective for the 2016-17 academic year, following the approval in March by Temple’s Board of Trustees.
The department had been known as the Department of Statistics since its establishment in 1929, 11 years after the founding of the Fox School.
“Rebranding our department as the Department of Statistical Science reflects the breadth of our department’s academic research, the discipline’s changing landscape, and our department’s renewed focus on engaging in quality research that reshapes the field of statistics and to train new generations of statisti- cally skilled graduates,” said Dr. Sanat K. Sarkar, Chair of the Department of Statistical Science.
RESEARCH, LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT HONORED RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE
May 12, 2016 //
Four faculty members from the Fox School of Business headlined the awardees at the 17th annual Research Roundtable and Teaching Awards ceremony, held Oct. 30 at Alter Hall.
Professor of Strategic Management Dr. Robert D. Hamilton III, who has been on faculty since 1981, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, for his exhibition of a lifetime of distinguished teaching, research, and service.
The Fox School also celebrated the investiture of three named professorships.
Dr. Mitrabarun “MB” Sarkar, top, is the inaugural H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the Strategic Management department at the Fox School.
Dr. Kose John, center, is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Finance at Fox. He joined Fox in July from New York University, where he was the Charles William Gerstenberg Chair of Banking and Finance.
Dr. David E. Jones, bottom, is the Jerome Fox Professor in Accounting, Taxation and Financial Strategy. He joined the Fox School in July from Case Western Reserve University.
Jones’ distinguished chair was created through a $2 million gift from Saul A. Fox, SMC ’75, in honor of his father, Jerome Fox — a World War II veteran, a certified public accountant, and the founder of the former Philadelphia accounting firm Gelrod Fox & Company. This chair is to be held by high-level practitioners of accounting, taxation and financial strategy, who hold the same zeal for these areas of academic focus as Fox did.
FOX SCHOOL UNDERGRADUATE SERVES AS MANDARIN-LANGUAGE BROADCASTER FOR TEMPLE BASKETBALL GAMES
May 12, 2016 //
There was cheering, in both Mandarin and English, as Fox School of Business freshman James Yuan won the right to serve as Mandarin-language broadcaster of Temple University men’s basketball games.
Temple University’s Office of International Affairs organized the inaugural “Battle of the Broadcasters,” held Jan. 31 at Morgan Hall. The com- petition pitted five Chinese international students to determine the most-engaging and accurate live commentary of the Owls’ game against South Florida. Yuan and Javi Yuan, a recent graduate of the School of Media and Com- munication, shared first place, and will broadcast the team’s remaining home games on YouKu, the Chinese version of YouTube, and Temple’s Owlsports.com.
“I was very nervous, but mostly excited to be up there,” Yuan said.
FOX PROFESSOR SELECTED LEADS ACADEMY FOR TEACHERS PROGRAM
May 12, 2016 //
In his course “Law in American Society,” an animation of folk singer Willie Nelson, designed by Dr. Samuel D. Hodge, strums his guitar as he explains the difference between public and private law.
Professor of Legal Studies at the Fox School of Business, Hodge’s use such animations demonstrates his place as an innovative educator. Hodge served as the Academy for Teachers’ 2016 master teacher and lead a program on innovation in teaching in January, leading a one-day conference for elite high- school teachers.
The Academy for Teachers is an annual selective conference in New York City that’s intended for teachers. One master professor, as chosen by the Academy, leads a lesson for a number of selected high school teachers on innovative strategies in teaching. Previous master teachers include Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Pulitzer Prize in Music winner David Lang; and renowned social and political activist Gloria Steinem.
“This was a total surprise,” he said. “I didn’t apply for it; they just called me out of the blue one day. Then I saw the list of people who have been selected before me and I said, ‘Why am I within that elite group?’ But I was, and it was exciting.”
TOURISM, BUSINESS LEADERS VISIT TEMPLE TO DISCUSS IMPACT OF WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES
May 12, 2016 //
Roughly 800,000 people flooded Philadelphia in late September for a visit from Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families, a global gathering of Catholics.
So… now what? An event jointly sponsored by Temple University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) and Temple’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) considered that very question.
Gathering Philadelphia’s leading minds in tourism, international business, and government at its event, titled, “The World Meeting of Families is Gone: Now What?”, STHM and CIBER aimed to address how Philadelphia could leverage the international exposure and media focus it received from the World Meeting of Families in order to further its status as an elite host for future global events.
“This was our finest hour and it can be again,” said Pat Ciarrocchi, the event’s keynote speaker and a longtime Philadelphia news anchor who covered the World Meeting of Families.
“The World Meeting of Families brought Pope Francis to Philadelphia and, along with him, more than 15,000 reporters representing media outlets from around the world,” said Dr. Elizabeth Barber, STHM Associate Dean. “This event generated an unparalleled level of visibility to viewing audiences that wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to what Philadelphia has to offer. In order to best capitalize on the tourism opportunity created by the World Meeting of Families, we as a city will need to maintain the open dialogue we’re initiating today through this event.”
In examining the future of a post-Pope Francis Philadelphia, the event welcome notable keynote speakers: recently retired Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO and president Jack Ferguson; CEO and president of Visit Philadelphia Meryl Levitz; executive director of the Tourism Division of PHLCVB Brian Said; and executive director for Global Philadelphia Zabeth Teelucksingh.
IN VISIT TO FOX, THE HOME DEPOT’S CO-FOUNDER DISCUSSES THE ART OF CONDUCTING BUSINESS ETHICALLY
May 11, 2016 //
Do ethical entrepreneurs earn more?
“Yes,” said Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, answering the question that also served as the title of his lecture.
The co-founder and former CEO of The Home Depot, Marcus visited the Fox School of Business Feb. 9 as the inaugural Warren V. “Pete” Musser Visiting Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Established in 2015, the Musser Professorship is an endowed term professorship filled by experienced and well- known practitioners who are interested in spending a term at the Fox School to mentor students in the early stages of their ventures.
A businessman and philanthropist, Marcus co-founded The Home Depot after he and coworker Arthur Blank lost their jobs with a California hardware store. The Home Depot went public in 1981 and has since become a billion-dollar, home-improvement empire. Marcus retired in 2001 to focus on philanthropy.
“Ethics are critically important,” Marcus told the standing-room only crowd at Alter Hall. “Everyone has that desperate moment in business when someone tries to break your conscience.”
Marcus’ “desperate moment” came when, at age 49 and unemployed, he decided to open The Home Depot. The former medical student hadn’t encountered the sometimes-unprincipled and amoral dealings that one can encounter with owning a business.
Undaunted, Marcus refused to work with those who were dishonest and resolved that his business wouldn’t be about cutting corners or taking bribes.
The Fox School honored William A. “Bill” Graham IV as the recipient of the Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership, the highest honor conferred by the School, during a Nov. 5 dinner and reception. Graham is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of The Graham Company, a privately held and leading U.S. insurance and surety brokerage and consulting firm considered one of the largest in the nation based on revenue size.
The evening paid homage to Graham and one of his lifelong loves — pigs. Graham, whose office is decorated with pig paraphernalia, is said to hold the animal in high regard because of its intelligence.
Graham received a plush pig toy, along with Musser Award winner’s customary crystal owl statuette, from Dean M. Moshe Porat and Warren V. “Pete” Musser upon reaching the podium to deliver his acceptance remarks.
CNBC anchor Tyler Mathisen, the event’s master of ceremonies, playfully addressed attendees in Pig Latin to kick off the evening. On stage, a safety inspector appeared and gave Mathisen an ultimatum about ensuring the safety of a nearby handrail — a play on Graham’s line of work. “Yes, Mr. Inspector. We’ll get right on that — when pigs fly,” Mathisen said, as a toy pig soared across Mitten Hall’s Great Court. A live potbelly pig, named Valentino, also made his way onto the stage to the crowd’s delight.
Also recognized at the recep- tion were: Dr. MB Sarkar, H.F. Gerry Lenfest Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Excellence in Teaching); Dr. Anthony Di Benedetto, Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management (Excellence in Research); Dr. TL Hill, Associate Professor of Strategic Management (Excellence in Faculty Service); Dr. Rajan Chandran, Fox School Deputy Dean (Excellence in Administrative Service); Silas C. Adams, FOX ’15 (Excellence in Student Leadership); and James J. Dornan, FOX ’85 (Excellence in Alumni Achievement).
Said Kenneth Ewell, the President and Chief Operations Officer of The Graham Company: “Bill Graham is the kind of man everyone wants to work for because he leads by example. I don’t think the Fox School of Business could have chosen a better-suited recipient for the Musser Award.”
Maybe when pigs fly.
‘FACE YOUR FEAR,’ THE MESSAGE AT TEMPLE’S 16TH ANNUAL LEAGUE FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMEN CONFERENCE
May 11, 2016 //
When Philadelphia’s leading female journalists, restaurant owners, consultants, entrepreneurs, and student leaders gathered at Temple University’s Mitten Hall, they hardly expected they’d be blowing bubbles.
Laughing as the bubbles popped, the women embraced the obvious message: Be daring, no matter the setting.
At the 16th annual League for Entrepreneurial Women’s Conference, held Oct. 20, the Greater Philadelphia region’s top female innovators came together to share stories on their respective paths to success, and honored those who have reached professional pinnacles.
Co-founders of the League for Entrepreneurial Women Dr. Elizabeth H. Barber, Associate Dean of Temple’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management; and Betsy Leebron Tutelman, Temple’s Senior Vice Provost for Strategic Communications; with Ellen Weber, Executive Director of Temple’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI), hosted the event.
A packed room of women heard from keynote speaker Lu Ann Cahn, Director for Career Services at Temple’s School of Media and Communication. The face behind the bubbles, Cahn asked the women to think about how blowing bubbles felt. The overwhelming response was empowerment and freedom from judgment.
Cahn, who spent 40 years in the broadcast news industry, including 27 with Philadelphia’s NBC10, was familiar with that feeling. After surviving breast cancer, Cahn found herself at odds with her career and challenged herself to try something new each day for a year. Her book, I Dare Me, documents her experiences with rediscovering her spark of individuality and confidence.
“No matter what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve survived, sometimes you forget who you are,” Cahn said. “The hardest first to do is a first that faces a fear.”
Like blowing bubbles, doing something that might be silly or might fail is how success was made, she said.
“I’m here to dare you to go on your own adventure,” Cahn said.
(front) received Elevate 2015 Aflac Intern scholarships from the insurance company. Congratulating them are, back row from left: Fox School Dean M. Moshe Porat; Aflac District Coordinator Matthew O’Hanlon; Aflac Market Director Matthew Berger; and Aflac Regional Coordinator Eric MacDougall.
Two students from Temple University’s Fox School of Business received merit scholarships by Aflac based upon their stellar performances during summer internships with the insurance company.
Junior International Business major Maria Blaszczyk finished No. 2 in the United States among collegiate interns within Aflac’s program. She earned a $3,000 scholarship and a trip to Aflac’s corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ga., to meet with Aflac executives and to tour the Aflac campus. Senior Marketing major Elliot Astor, who finished No. 1 in the Northeast Region, earned a $2,000 scholarship.
The Elevate 2015 Aflac Intern contest, in its second year, awards scholarships to eight college-age interns from a pool of 365 students who interned for the company.
Requirements for the scholarship, among others, include ranking among the best in sales and acquisitions.
“Maria and Elliot have exemplified what it means to be great interns with a Fortune 500 Company,” said Matthew O’Hanlon, District Coordinator of Aflac’s Philadelphia Region. “This demonstrates why the Fox School of Business is such an elite business school, and it is with great pleasure that we honor these students.”
“No matter what you do, do it to your utmost. I always attribute my success to always requiring myself to do my level best, if only in driving a tack in straight.”
Russell Conwell, Temple University’s founder, said those very words. Entrepreneurship and innovation are analogous with the Fox School of Business and Temple University, where doing things to our utmost is essential.
The Fox School’s commitment to preparing students to innovate through their management (entrepreneurship) or through the management of an organization
(intrapreneurship) has been a highlight, manifesting in two recent rankings. The undergraduate- and graduate-level Entrepreneurship programs earned Nos. 8 and 10 national rankings from The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. Entrepreneurship is present throughout Fox and the university. The Fox Online MBA was recently ranked No. 1 for the second year in a row. And Temple University’s 10th President, Dr. Neil Theobald, has made “entrepreneurship across disciplines” one of his six commitments to power Temple’s future.
As you have seen — and will continue to see — Temple alumni have embraced the entrepreneurial drive.
This drive is within you, too. Temple’s motto, “Perseverance Conquers,” is a part of your life. You have the power. And here’s how you can take advantage of it: Mentor a student. The experience you possess is your greatest skill. Fox students are eager to learn from you, in whatever career path you’ve chosen to follow. Next, hire a Fox student. Doing so welcomes the next class of Owls into the professional world. And the collaboration will create more opportunities for you to innovate. Finally, visit campus and speak to our students. Fox’s student professional organizations create opportunities for students and alumni to connect beyond the board room and classroom.
Continue to connect, both with alumni and current students, and always remember that perseverance conquers.
Regards,
Jack Cesareo