Smeal Update: May 29, 2020

Dear Smeal Community,

Welcome to our weekly update on the many activities of the Penn State Smeal College of Business.

As we continue to support Penn State’s efforts to address the impact of COVID-19, please refer to the Smeal Coronavirus FAQ page, which contains links to the University’s faculty/staff FAQs and other pertinent information.

Penn State’s work-from-home directive still in effect

  • As we move closer to President Barron’s June 15 date for an announcement about fall 2020 instruction and work plans, the work-from-home directive remains in effect. Groups at the University and College levels are working on contingency plans. Information about Fall 2020 Planning can be found online.

Surveys provide information for Fall 2020 planning

  • If you haven’t already, please consider taking the time to complete the University’s Return-to-work survey. Smeal will be conducting its own survey in the near future.

Smeal to sponsor national MBA symposium

  • The College will be the event sponsor of the first MBA Roundtable Virtual Curricular Innovation Symposium on Oct. 29-30. According to Brian Cameron, associate dean for professional graduate programs, “Penn State has been offering online education since 1999, and we are pleased to be able to use our experience and capabilities to develop and implement a variety of high-quality, highly-interactive virtual learning experiences for this premier event.” Cameron serves on the board for the Roundtable.

Smeal fall career fairs will be held virtually

  • The College has received a green light to find a virtual solution for its fall career fairs. Smeal will be using Brazen’s virtual career fair platform.

Efforts by Smeal supply chain experts continue to garner attention

  • The collaborative work of Smeal supply chain experts in helping organizations address supply chain disruption continues to receive widespread recognition. The latest came on Penn State’s LinkedIn account on May 28.

Trivia contest helps Undergraduate Education maintain sense of community

  • Did you know that someone in Undergraduate Education “once memorized Pi to 200 digits for a contest and didn’t win” or another person “can eat a lemon whole, peel and all”? Those were just a few facts revealed in a trivia contest UED held recently. To read about this and other initiatives designed to build continuity of community, join the Smeal Community on Teams. Use code g35pap8 in the “Join a team with a code” section of Teams.

Leading executives to discuss the impact of COVID-19 at upcoming Smeal webinar

  • The Institute for Real Estate Studies’ Advisory Board will hold a webinar at 2 p.m. June 5 titled “Insights on the Real Estate and Financial Markets During the Pandemic.” The panel discussion will feature Ira Lubert, Penn State Board of Trustees member and chairman of Lubert-Adler Partners, David Welsh, founder of Seniac Ridge Partners, and Simon Ziff, president of the Ackman-Ziff Real Estate group. Register online.