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Veterans Day holds different meanings for College of Business vets

College of Business student Robert Fredlund remembers how he felt the day he returned from Iraq.

It was February of 2011 and he had just finished a 10-month tour of duty with the United States Army. As he stepped off the plane, Fredlund heard something he wasn’t expecting on the runway.

“It was the first time I had stepped on American soil in about a year, and there was a group of people clapping for us,” Fredlund said. “It’s tingly, chills. It’s that feeling you are appreciated and it means a lot.”

For veterans in the College of Business — including students, faculty and staff —those small gestures can often be just as special as the parades and ceremonies that are a key part of Veterans Day traditions.

Oregon State College of Business student Robert Fredlund, a U.S. Army veteran, helps construct the Veterans Day float for Give 2 The Troops.
Oregon State College of Business student Robert Fredlund, a U.S. Army veteran, helps construct the Veterans Day float for Give 2 The Troops.

Fredlund started at Oregon State in the fall of 2012 and pursuing a dual major in Business Management and Entrepreneurship with a minor in Leadership. His personal experience led him to get involved with veterans’ organizations while at OSU, and try to pay back the kindness he’s seen as a veteran.

As the president of the OSU Management Club, Fredlund has organized activities through Give 2 The Troops, a group that sends care package to soldiers overseas.

The club has participated in packing parties and other events. This year the club used a meeting to handwrite notes for the boxes and helped build the Give 2 The Troops float for the Albany Veterans Day Parade.

“I saw it as an opportunity to apply the skills I’ve learned at the College of Business,” he said. “These projects are a good way to get real world experience but also give back to the community.”

Malcolm LeMay, director of operations for the college, spent 20 years as an aviator in the Marine Corps.

LeMay has made it a point to stay connected to veterans in the college and the community since coming to Oregon State. He served as president of the Military Officers Club of Corvallis, and makes an effort to meet with students who have served and are looking for advice.

“It’s neat to see recent vets going through here,” LeMay said. “You can tell the experience, the maturity and confidence they have.”

LeMay has been impressed with Oregon State’s commitment to veterans. More than 1,000 students receive veteran educational benefits at OSU, and the university has a number of resources available to help the transition.

“We go out of our way to make it easy for returning veterans to get started with class,” LeMay said. “That’s more than just on Veterans Day. It’s year-round commitment to veterans and their skills.”

Dan Schwab, a College of Business advisor, has experienced that commitment firsthand.

Before coming to the college Schwab served three years as Commander of the OSU ROTC program, and then 10 years as OSU’s director of student conduct after retiring from the U.S Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2004.

“I thought it was a rewarding job because I was preparing future leaders, my replacements,” Schwab said. “It was a good transition job from active duty to a civilian job.”

A third-generation military veteran, Schwab said he has always felt a call to serve, which helped lead him to higher education after his military career ended.

“I like to serve something, to serve people,” he said. “That’s why I’m an advisor today. I feel I’m serving students.”

New College of Business Assistant Professor Charles Murnieks previously served students and his country as an instructor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Murnieks joined the Air Force Academy after high school as a way to give back to a country he felt had already given him so much.

“I entered the service because I felt there was something honorable in serving my country, and serving to protect it,” Murnieks said. “When I signed up I felt I owed the country this, I never felt the country owed me anything.”

After joining he realized he wanted to make the Air Force his career, and later was asked to join the academy as an instructor. The Air Force encouraged him to continue his education, supporting him as he earned his MBA from UCLA and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

While he’s enjoyed his move to Oregon and out of the Air Force, Murnieks said he is grateful for the reminders of his service and thanks he’ll get from people he speaks with.

“I’m always struck anytime someone takes time out of their day to say thank you,” Murneiks said. “I’m always touched by that, because I don’t expect it.”

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Oregon State honors Northwest’s top family businesses

It takes a special family to start a business together. Combining the joys but also the pressures of one’s home and work life is no easy task, but the rewards often go beyond either on its own.

This year Oregon State’s Austin Family Business Program is once again honoring the best family enterprises in the Northwest with the Excellence in Family Business Awards Nov. 21 at the Governor Hotel in Portland. In conjunction, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber officially proclaimed the day Family Business Day in the state.

This year’s honorees have a diverse range of talents and industries, but all show a commitment to family, community and being good stewards of ventures being passed down the generations.

Learn more about the award winners below, and join us Nov. 21 to help honor them and all family enterprises.

2013 Excellence in Family Business Awards honorees:

Micro (Nine or fewer employees)

Started by Oregon State alumni Norman and wife Judy Kujala in 1978, Skipanon Brand Seafood of Warrenton is being honored as the Micro Family Business of the Year. Skipanon is now run by Krujala’s sons, Mark and Paul, with siblings Andy and Marie also working with the business.

Hanson Family Singers of Veneta and TnT Builders, Inc., of Albany will be recognized as finalists.

Small (10-24 employees)

S. Brooks & Associates, Inc. or Brooks Staffing of Portland was started by Sam and Margaret Brooks in 1981. In that time the couple has grown the business and their role in the community. Sam founded the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs and is active with the National Small Business Development Center and the National Business Incubator Association, among others. Daughter Simone is now president of the company while Marion serves on the board.

C.M. & W.O. Sheppard of Hood River and Rose City Label Company of Portland were finalists.

Medium (25-99 employees)

Springfield-based Aggregate Resource Industries, Inc., started in 1978 when Bob “BJ” Jeremiah and his wife Sandy started the business as a used logging and construction equipment provider. The company expanded to drilling and blasting in the 1980s, and BJ continued to push the business forward until his passing from ALS. The company is now led by the next generation as son Kris, president of ARI, and Katie, vice president and general counsel, have joined the business.

Medium category finalists are BedMart of Wilsonville and Hagan Hamilton Insurance Sales of McMinnville.

Large (100 or more employees)

Reliance Connects & Day Wireless Systems of Estacada traces its history back more than 100 years to the founding of Estacada Telephone in 1905. The business is now the largest Motorola Outlet in the USA, serving school districts, universities, federal agencies and 57 Fortune 100 companies.

Also recognized in the large category as finalists were Portland’s Andina Restaurant and Enterprise’s Chrisman Development, Inc.

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“This education is changing your brain”: Graphic design alumni discuss value of design thinking

Oregon State Graphic Design alumni Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun speak to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on Campus.
Oregon State Graphic Design alumni Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun speak to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on campus.

As Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun went through their presentation slides a beautiful photograph of the Empire State Building framed in a window flashed across the screen.

“That’s the view from Erin’s office,” Crescenzi said.

Next came a different work shot from a few years earlier. The pair is in the background, blurry, while the camera focuses on a laptop in the foreground with the time front and center.

“That’s at 5:44 a.m. in Fairbanks Hall.”

For Crescenzi and Mintun, Oregon State University graphic design alumni now living their dreams in New York, the two pictures are directly connected. Those late nights at OSU helped lead to the careers they have now, because of the power of design thinking and a lot of hard work.

“It’s not to pat ourselves on the back,” Crescenzi said of the photos, “but more show you that this is a staging point, a launch pad if you take your education seriously.”

The two returned to Corvallis last week as the OSU Alumni Association named Crescenzi an Alumni Fellow, and stopped to give a talk to current students about the lessons they’ve learned since graduating in 2007.

Sponsored by the Oregon State School of Design and Human Environment, the event focused on the value of a design education and design thinking, with OSU Professor of Graphic Design Andrea Marks introducing her former students.

Crescenzi made a name for himself at Nike, designing the branding for LeBron James and the U.S. Olympic basketball team. Fast Co. Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. He now works for branding firm Prophet.

Mintun joined Nike after graduating from Oregon State and moved to product design, and now is the active editor for Stylesight in New York.

For each, the career path has been improvised. Within Nike they took advantage of opportunities outside of their daily work and built a reputation as hard-working, creative designers who could take on any task.

They key for Crescenzi was the design education he received at Oregon State, which he said more than anything trained him how to think about creative problems no matter the medium.

“Design is a way of thinking,” he said. “This education is changing your brain, the way you think about the world. You can’t turn it off.”

That mindset makes designers valuable in a wide range of jobs and industries, he said, creating possibilities for those willing to step out of his or her comfort zone.

“Your skills are applicable to a massive field of design and creative fields,” Crescenzi said. “The skills you’re learning are doorways to different jobs if you keep our head up.”

Mintun remembers that when she was initially approached to join Nike as a color designer after an internship, her first thought was ‘What is that?’

“I’ve never known a job existed before I got it,” Mintun said. “You can take it a different direction and apply the same skillset.”

Crescenzi said when he approaches any product he thinks first about the person who is going to be using or experiencing it.

“It’s about the consumer, the end-user,” he said. “You’re empathizing with their experience, the same thing as if you’re designing a poster for a friend’s band. It’s not a logo or a color pattern, but that entire experience.”

Mintun said that while designing footwear for Nike she searched for patterns and colors that conveyed the meaning of her subject — from the London Olympics to the feel of cities like New York and Tokyo.

“It’s all about storytelling,” she said. “We’re communication designers, not graphic designers.”

On top of that skillset is the will and desire to put in the work needed to get what you want.

One of their final slides read “Hard work trumps talent every time.”

“It’s why we love Oregon State and wear the Beaver badge proudly,” Crescenzi said. “This place teaches you how to work.”

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Teaching better training through paper airplanes

 

Oregon State College of Business Assistant Professor Anthony Klotz watches as students in his Human Resource Management class throw paper airplanes for a lesson on training.
Oregon State College of Business Assistant Professor Anthony Klotz watches as students in his Human Resource Management class throw paper airplanes for a lesson on training.

As Anthony Klotz started class Thursday he handed out the quizzes as usual, but also asked his students to take a few sheets of brightly colored paper.

A few moments later they lined up at the front of the class and tossed hastily assembled paper airplanes as far they could, which wasn’t very far at all.

For Klotz, an assistant professor of management at the Oregon State College of Business, it was a quick setup to teach his human resource management students a few things about training.

Now that his students had a task they could improve at, Klotz walked them through different training strategies before getting another attempt at the end of class. They watched a YouTube video on making paper airplanes and met in groups to strategize.

Klotz also demonstrated the need to convince your employees — or students — that training is important.

“You need to make it meaningful,” Klotz said. “So if they beat the class average by 20 percent on the second throw, I take away a quiz.”

“All of a sudden they get really dialed in, and by the end they’re cheering and clapping for each other.”

Klotz’s first class on Thursday threw their planes an average of 12.8 feet on their first attempt. On the second, the class improved to 23.3 feet, a 90 percent improvement.

“The key is that training is not fun,” Klotz said,  “but it’s important to do it and measure its effectiveness.”

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Austin Hall in the Fall

So much changes every Fall, but this year the Oregon State College of Business community gets to watch a different sort of change take place as the construction of Austin Hall continues.

The exterior framing of the building finished up at the end of August and the exterior façade is going up. Meanwhile, the rest of the Oregon State campus continues its usual brilliant fall transition.

Last week we took a few minutes to stop and admire the two together and capture some photos.

 

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Students give their education a lift with summer internships

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College of Business student Parker Edwards on his internship this summer with Alaska Airlines.

Oregon State College of Business student Parker Edwards heard a familiar phrase over and over this summer.

“I don’t know if this is possible, but …”

The Business Information Systems major spent his summer in Seattle with Alaska Airlines as a systems and process intern. Working with maintenance and engineering, Edwards’ job was to structure the huge amount of data connected to every aircraft and make it easier to find areas needing repair.

“I love data,” Edwards said. “It’s so powerful. People get really excited. Someone would come in and say, I don’t even know if this is possible, but if you can find a way … if I could click a button.”

Edwards was just one of a number of College of Business students who worked around the country and the world this summer as interns with some of the biggest companies in their industries.

Edwards’ role with Alaska combined his interest in technology and problem solving with his love of aviation.

“I want to get my pilot’s license as soon as I get out of school,” he said. “Also working with an airline that’s as prominent in the northwest as Alaska was a great opportunity.”

Interning with an airline also comes with perks beyond great experience.

Between his time as a system and process analysis intern with Alaska, Edwards and other interns flew free around the west coast and to Alaska and Hawaii. Edwards’ favorite trip was a day in Honolulu, leaving in the morning and returning the next day.

Edwards also had a great view at the office.

“Because it’s at the hangar, you can go downstairs at any given time and there would be 747s and just outside the door it’s SeaTac International Airport,” he said. “That was probably the coolest thing I could do there.”

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Georgia Brown on her internship with Daimler Trucks North America.

Georgia Brown is still finishing her summer internship with Daimler Trucks North America in Portland.

That’s because Brown is part of MECOP. The prestigious, Oregon industry-sponsored program places students in a pair of paid six-month internships with some of the biggest firms in the Northwest.

“The most appealing thing about it was the fact that I would graduate with a year’s worth of work experience in my major,” Brown said. “I’m not exactly sure what I want to do once I’m out of college and having the chance to work for some of the most competitive companies in the Northwest is a great way to find out.”

As a project management intern in the Daimler IT Finance department, Brown works as an analyst for her group, bringing together research from different sources to create easy-to-comprehend reports on a variety of topics.

“Since I started my internship, I’ve developed the department’s Sharepoint site, created a customer relationship database in Access, and am working on documenting and learning TM1,” she said. “My knowledge of IT in general has improved and developed way more than I ever thought it would.”

Beyond the valuable real-life experience, Brown said her internship has helped her learn more about what she wants out of her own career.

“I’ve talked to students before who are hesitant to do an internship because they don’t know if they would enjoy that field, but I think this is the best way to try different career options and see what works for you,” she said.

In the School of Design and Human Environment Internship Program, more than 163 students completed internships during the 2012- 2013 school year with more than 109 companies. Overall, 11 students interned in New York City’s Garment District, eight in Los Angeles and three internationally.

Through the program, facilitated by SDHE Internship Coordinator Sandy Burnett, students take a preparatory class before their internship and then a “Field Experience” course during, with weekly check-ins to mark progress and goals.

Merchandising Management student Kahli Lanning interned with Donna Karan during the summer, where she was able to work with teams from Donna Karan Japan.

“Getting to sit in on their meetings and being able to practice my Japanese in a business setting was a great experience for me,” Lanning said. “It is a great program, and I think the experience I gained will be invaluable to my future career.”

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Students make professional connections at Industry Info Sessions

Oregon State College of Business student Elizabeth Yamada didn’t know what to expect when she sat in on her first Industry Information Session.

Yamada is hoping to join the MECOP business and engineering internship program and wanted to hear from representatives of the Boeing Company, one of the session’s featured companies and a MECOP sponsor as well.

She spoke with Boeing Project Manager Katie Schuberg, an OSU Finance and MBA graduate and former MECOP intern herself.

Yamada left with her questions answered, a new contact at a company she’d love to work with and renewed confidence in her path.

“[Schuberg] was also a MECOP intern, and hearing she doesn’t have a technical background — like me — I needed to hear that,” Yamada said.

Put on by the College of Business Career Success Center, Industry Information Sessions bring representatives from multiple companies to Bexell Hall 328 at 4 p.m. every Tuesday.

Every session focuses on a different industry, allowing students to meet with recruiters, find out more about companies and start networking for future jobs and internships.

Fall term’s first session featured the aviation industry, with representatives from Boeing, the Port of Portland and Evergreen Aviation.

Yamada said the environment was welcoming, with recruiters open to questions and eager to give advice.

“It’s not as scary as it sounds like,” she said. “When they announce it in class, networking can sound intimidating, but the recruiters are just like we are.”

Schuberg said she enjoys coming back to Corvallis as a Boeing rep now, and encourages students to attend as many professional events as they can before graduating.

“It’s about opening students’ eyes to the possibilities at a company,” she said of her role on campus visits. “I never thought about Boeing until I was there.”

The sessions and in-person contact with a representative can also be tools when looking for future positions.

“That face-to-face interaction with representatives from a company is huge,” Schuberg added. “We do take resumes and answer questions, and it shows you’re proactive.”

For her, that active role in the job search is the best thing a student can do.

“You’re the only one looking out for yourself,” Schuberg said. “Put yourself out on a limb sometimes.”

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Exploring the changing world of design

North Carolina State University Professor Meredith Davis gives a talk at Oregon State Oct. 5
North Carolina State University Professor Meredith Davis gives a talk at Oregon State Oct. 5

Meredith Davis has seen major shifts in the design industry in her nearly 30 years as an educator.

As the complexity of the field has increased so has the need for collaboration across disciplines, both inside and outside the classroom, Davis said at a talk at Oregon State University Oct. 5.

The Professor of Graphic Design and Director of Graduate Programs in Graphic Design at North Carolina State University came as a guest of the Graphic Design faculty at the OSU School of Design and Human Environment.

A leading design educator, Davis is a 2005 National Medalist of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and now serves on the AIGA Visionary Council to define “The Designer of 2015.” (Oregon State alumnus Darrin Crescenzi recently spoke to AIGA about his views on the future of design.)

The talk, titled “The Changing Context for Design Practice,” touched on a some key questions for designers to consider as the craft changes over the coming years.

She sees the rapid advancement of technology making design tools easier for non-designers. That’s moved the industry away from its craft-based tradition to a more strategy-focused role.

“We have to teach collaboration and evaluate it,” Davis said. “If you don’t, you say it doesn’t matter.”

That makes it more important than ever for designers to be able to communicate with those in other areas — specifically business and technology. Davis noted that 65 percent of graphic design is now screen-based only and that a majority of her students are now working in software design.

Davis was impressed with Oregon State’s efforts to bring designers in contact with other disciplines, with SDHE moving into the College of Business last year.

“You’ve made an enormous step by pulling design into business and starting that collaboration,” she said.

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College of Business welcomes eight new faculty members

Coming from three countries, two branches of the United States military and some of the top business schools in the country, the eight new tenure-track faculty members joining the Oregon State College of Business in 2013 bring a range of skills and experience.

Arthurs_photoJonathan Arthurs

Jonathan Arthurs joins OSU as an Associate Professor in Strategy and Entrepreneurship. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a BBA and was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. After leaving the military, he worked as a bookstore manager before going back to Texas A&M to earn his MBA. After graduating he worked in the finance department of a large corporation and then on an internal consulting team reporting directly to the top management team. Next, he attended the University of Oklahoma and completed his Ph.D. with a focus in strategy and entrepreneurship.  He spent nine years at Washington State University where he was also the doctoral program coordinator for the management track.  He teaches strategy and entrepreneurship courses and his research focuses on governance and innovation, particularly in new ventures.

Arthurs said his love of entrepreneurship started in high school, when he was mentored by an entrepreneur who gave him an appreciation for what it takes to start a new venture.

“I love to do research into innovation and the governance of new ventures,” he said. “I also like to do research into understanding how entrepreneurial ventures are able to appropriate value from their activity.”

Jeffery BardenJeffery Barden

Jeffrey Barden is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, joining Oregon State after teaching at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington since 2005. Barden earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and his Ph.D. in Management from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

“I got into strategy in large part because strategy is arguably the most integrative discipline,” Barden said. “Answering big questions about firm performance requires a tremendously broad set of knowledge.  I was also inspired by my MBA strategy professor, Idie Kesner, who is now dean of the Indiana University business school.”

 

Oregon State vs UtahInga Chira

Inga Chira joins OSU as an Assistant Professor of Finance. She completed her Ph.D. in May at Florida Atlantic University, where she taught corporate finance and financial institutions. Prior to pursing her Ph.D., Chira was a full-time instructor at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Fla., where she taught courses in corporate finance, financial statements analysis, financial markets and institutions, investments, financial management, international finance, security analysis and venture finance. In addition to her academic career, Chira has industry experience in corporate finance and financial systems analysis at CitiStreet, ING, UPS and CSX.

Chira’s research is focused on empirical corporate finance and is concentrated on mergers and acquisition and the efficiency of financial regulation. Her plans include pursuing a CFP certification and working towards promoting financial literacy and education.

Chira said she’s enjoyed getting to know Corvallis and her new colleagues in the Finance discipline.

“They have a true commitment to being the best teachers they can be and doing the best research they can do, and I am looking forward to becoming part of this group,” she said. “And I am not going to lie, I am a big wine fan and this is a great place for that.”

 

Oregon State vs UtahPeter Frischmann
Peter J. Frischmann is an Associate Professor of Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant and received his B.S. in Accounting from Utica College of Syracuse University; his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan; and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University. Before pursuing his academic career, Frischmann was a manager with Ernst and Young in Phoenix, Ariz. Frischmann’s research focuses on taxation and the interaction of taxation and financial reporting. He has been named as an outstanding faculty member by Business Week’s Best Business Schools and has published in such journals as the Journal of Accounting and Economics, the Journal of the American Taxation Association and National Tax Journal. His work has been honored by the Financial Accounting Standards Board as research addressing issues relevant to the FASB and containing conclusions likely to benefit their decision-making process.

“The real inspiration for my career in accounting education came from Randy Huta at Utica College of Syracuse University, my first accounting professor who became a life-long friend,” Frischmann said. “My greatest career pleasure comes from leaving our next generation better educated to take on the challenges of a changing world.”

Oregon State vs UtahAimee Huff

Aimee Huff joins the College of Business as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. She recently completed her Ph.D. at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She earned her M.B.S. in Food Marketing at the University College Cork, Ireland, and her B.Com. at the University of Guelph, Canada. Huff’s research explores the intersection of consumer experience, consumer culture and family in contexts that involve complex, emotional decisions. Her dissertation examined the experiences of new mothers choosing care for their infants, the experiences of elderly individuals and their adult children choosing elder care facilities, and the experiences of adult males purchasing commercial intimacy. Huff’s research has been published in Journal of Consumer Affairs, and presented at multiple conferences of Association for Consumer Research and Consumer Culture Theory. She’ll teach Marketing Management in the MBA program and Advertising Management at the undergraduate level.

 

Klotz pic2013Anthony Klotz

Anthony Klotz is an Assistant Professor of Management. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma in 2013 and earned his MBA from Creighton University in 2009. Klotz’s primary research areas are in organizational citizenship behavior, counterproductive work behavior, team conflict and employee resignations. His research has been published in the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Management, and the Journal of Organizational Behavior. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., Klotz spent five years in managerial roles with General Mills at the company’s Albuquerque, N.M., Lodi, Calif., and Midland, Ontario, manufacturing facilities, and operated a small business for three years.

While working for both a Fortune 100 company and an entrepreneurial firm, Klotz realized his passion was in helping employees grow personally and professionally.

“I realized as a management professor I would have the opportunity to dedicate myself to studying employee behavior and to helping prepare students for success in their professional and personal lives,” Klotz said. “That is the part of my job that I enjoy most — giving students the tools to make their transition from student to manager as successful and minimally stressful as possible.”

 

Lu_PhotoGuanyi Lu

Guanyi Lu is an Assistant Professor of Global Business Analysis. He earned his B.S. in Management Information Systems from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, his M.S. in Business and his Ph.D. at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. In 2012 he received the Outstanding Teaching Award at Mays Business School.Previously he served in a leading Asia-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) as an assistant supply chain manager for three years.

His research focuses on supply chain security, a topic that caught his interest after a truckload of around 5,000 LCD monitors was stolen from a company he was working for. Lu investigated the aftermath of the theft, which significantly affected his firm.

“The most joyful part about supply chain security research is that it is very relevant, business-driven,” he said. “All managers I met cared about their supply chains and were eager to develop effective supply chain security programs for their firms. The topic allows me to conduct research that not only provides academic insights but also brings value to practitioners.”

 

murnieks photoCharles Murnieks

Charles Murnieks is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. Most recently he taught as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Management at the United States Air Force Academy. In 2010 he received the Military Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service while deployed to Iraq.

While serving as a civil engineering officer in the Air Force, Murnieks was given the chance to become an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy, and began his research after earning his Ph.D.

“Honestly, I love both teaching and research,” Murnieks said. “I love the student interaction and the process of discovery that accompanies teaching, and I love the intellectual challenge and the prospect of uncovering new knowledge in research. It’s a perfect blend, and I think Oregon State offers the opportunity to do both very well.”

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Accounting student finds $10,000 scholarship lost in the stacks

This July Oregon State College of Business student Scott Schaub went to his parents’ home and started one of the many rituals of returning students: He opened the stack of piled-up mail left in his old bedroom.

Tucked away in the pile he found a two-month-old letter announcing he earned a $10,000 scholarship from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

“It turns out the letter had been sent in May, yet for some reason my parents failed to mention they had placed all of this mail in my room,” Schaub said. “I don’t think I will ever let them live that one down.”

Congress established the PCAOB as part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The nonprofit oversees the audits of public companies to protect investors and the public interest.

The act also established a scholarship for accounting students funded by penalties paid to the board.

This is the third year the PCAOB has awarded the scholarships. Each year it selects institutions from across the country to nominate students for the honor, and this year chose Oregon State as one of 77 to participate.

Oregon State Professor of Accounting Roger Graham was impressed by Schaub’s enthusiasm in one of his classes and nominated the then-junior for the scholarship.

“Scott’s one of those really smart students the College of Business gets, but what I liked most was how outgoing and engaged he was in class,” Graham said. “He’s the kind of student professors really like because he talks in class, engages and really tries to understand the material.”

Schaub, a dual major in accounting and finance, said he stumbled into accounting after taking his first introductory course in the College of Business.

“I really enjoyed the fact that the subject matter is applicable to all types of businesses and I felt it would open doors to a variety of industries,” he said.

Schaub spent the summer interning for Geffen Mesher in Portland, but kept up with Graham to see if there was any news of the scholarship.

“We kept emailing back and forth, have you heard anything?” Graham said. “Then he sent me this link that said Oregon State had received a scholarship and wanted to know if maybe someone else had gotten it.”

That was when Schaub went back home and found the notice, officially naming him as a scholarship recipient. This is the first time PCAOB has awarded the scholarship to an Oregon State student.

“To be honest, I had no expectation of being awarded the scholarship, but was thankful and flattered to have been considered.”