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Last Wednesday evening some of Portland’s best and brightest students were introduced to three successful young College of Business alumni at OSU Night PDX, held in the Oregon Convention Center.

Jenny Bruntmyer ’11, Daniel Changkuon ’13 and Kim Pedergrass ’12 each spoke to the group of high-achieving high school students about their experiences at Oregon State, and what the prospective Beavers have to look forward to this fall.

Bruntmyer, a senior accountant at ESCO Corporation, graduated with a degree in accountancy. As a student ambassador in the Advising office, a member of Beta Alpha Psi and intern at Deloitte,  Bruntmyer knows the “extras” the College of Business offers are what helped her achieve early success in her career.

Now an advisory consultant in IT Risk at Deloitte, Changkuon endorsed the benefits of studying internationally and shared with the audience how Oregon State offers ordinary students extraordinary opportunities.

Pendergrass, marketing manager at NVoicePay, graduated with degrees in marketing, international business and art history. As a high-achieving student, she explained how she was once convinced that private school was the option that suited her best; but completely changed her mind when she visited Oregon State.

A networking session followed the alumni presentations, where the prospective students could ask more in-depth questions to the alumni; Jim Coakley, Associate Dean for Academic Programs; and Pam Knowles, Executive Director of Industry Relations.

If you ask senior finance major Sara Stillwell for advice on expanding your post-graduation job prospects, she’ll tell you to network. That’s why Stillwell, president of the Finance Club, coordinated Oregon State’s participation in Portland State University’s First Annual Northwest Finance Career Fair.

Portland State Financial Management Association president Kris West reached out to Stillwell while planning the event, which took place on March 4, 2014 at PSU’s Native American Student and Community Center.

The career fair was targeted at students from top finance and business schools interested in accounting, finance or economics, and provided a unique opportunity to hear from and network with companies in those fields. More than 150 students (30 of which were from Oregon State) from six schools in the northwest attended the event and talked with representatives from fourteen companies.

The event, which ran from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., began with an employer showcase, where business representatives each gave a 15 minute overview of their company. The rest of the day was a typical career fair, where students could meet and discuss potential opportunities.

It is estimated that the event resulted in 85-120 interviews scheduled, and equally as important were the countless connections made.

“The event was not only for those that wanted to interview; it was also a perfect opportunity to network,” said Stillwell. “It’s great to be able to put yourself out there.”

The fair was equally as beneficial to employers, as it provided them access to top-tier students interested in finance, accounting and economics from a variety of different schools. Students and companies that participated were surveyed, and the feedback was positive. It is the hope that next year’s fair will double in size and will remain the largest finance recruiting event in the Pacific Northwest.

The Austin Entrepreneurship Program recently welcomed back three young alumni to talk with students as part of their Austin Fellows series. Willen Sin (’13), Jennifer Villalobos (’12) and Darryl Lai (’11) returned to Oregon State in February to share their insight. Click here for the full story.

 

 

While in its 28^th year, the School of Design and Human Environment’s (SDHE) Career Symposium is constantly evolving to bring students the most relevant and valuable career opportunities.

This year’s Career Symposium, titled “Designing Tomorrow’s Business,” connected 368 students to 70 industry professionals and 30 companies.

Last year was the first time the symposium was entirely student-run, and this year Sandy Burnett, SDHE senior instructor and internship coordinator, took it one step further by developing a for-credit class to manage the entire event.

“We had 15 students enrolled in the class, and they took on the entire project, encompassing all aspects of the event planning, from securing speakers and sponsorships, to the layout, to the design and content of the event materials and marketing,” said Burnett.

In addition to the event providing networking opportunities and sessions run by alumni, business partners and other industry professionals, it also adds the opportunity for students enrolled in the class to plan and execute the event, enhancing the experiential learning aspect of the day.

“We were split into five committees and managing across those groups got a bit tricky at times, but we were able to pull it off,” said Rachel Draper, a senior apparel and merchandising management double major.

The ballroom of the CH2M HILL Alumni Center was the center stage for the event, where companies and industry representatives set up booths for networking. Students perused the room, talking with employers about their companies, career and internship opportunities.

Mixed throughout the morning were various breakout sessions led by alumni, business partners and industry representatives. Sessions titled “Work in Progress” featured alumni of the various degree programs, who talked about what they are doing now. Sessions titled “What you can do with your degree” featured representatives that talked about various career opportunities associated with their respective fields.

Angela Snow, an alumna and Managing Director of Design and Operations at Nike, presented “Designing for Tomorrow’s Business,” where she discussed Nike’s story, and how they initially set out simply to sell better shoes; and never considered they’d be as ambitious as a “design” company.

Scott Trepanier from Colombia Sportswear and Jillian Rabe from JILLIAN RABE LLC spoke on “The Business of Social Media,” talking about how each use social media in marketing their brands.

At the end of the day, both students and Sandy Burnett were thrilled with how the day turned out.

“This is the main networking event for students and employers. It’s so cool to see students back here after going through the program and now recruiting,” said Burnett.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The OSU Entrepreneurship Club and the Austin Entrepreneurship Program hosted Reddit.com co-founder Alexis Ohanian Thursday evening, who spoke to a standing room-only crowd at LaSells Stewart Center.

In a funny and inspiring talk riddled with internet-meme references, Ohanian told the story of Reddit while encouraging students to use the tools and resources available to them to create and innovate.

Ohanian and Steve Huffman co-founded Reddit – a social news and entertainment site where users submit content for others to either up-vote or down-vote – after a failed attempt to create a mobile food-ordering site. Ohanian has since started two other successful websites, Breadpig and Hipmunk.

Ohanian admits that the duo didn’t always know what they were doing when they started, but he encouraged the audience to embrace that feeling.

“Get comfortable not knowing what you are doing,” Ohanian advised the room full of entrepreneur hopefuls.

Author of “Without Their Permission: How the 21^st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed,” Ohanian stopped at Oregon State as part of his tour to promote his book and enlighten the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Although Ohanian isn’t sure what the future holds, he wants the internet to be a powerful tool for people with great ideas.

“The internet is a new frontier –you are Lewis & Clark, and I’m Sacajawea.”

Ohanian closed with a “fireside chat” with recent College of Business alum Ryan Connolly. Connolly, a marketing and entrepreneurship graduate, co-founded Tally, a mobile app developed for users to gain opinions on fashion choices, with the help of the Advantage Accelerator.

 

 

At the beginning of her College of Business Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Tuesday, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Francesca Gino gave the audience a short quiz.

After asking the crowd to rate their own decision-making abilities, she told all those who said they were above average to raise their hands.

“I see about 98 percent of people,” Gino said. “That’s a mathematical impossibility.”

It was just one of a number of entertaining demonstrations Gino used to show the crowd of nearly 1,000 how we often don’t realize the subtle cues affecting how we make decisions.

The talk focused on Gino’s research and findings she shared in her book “Sidetracked: Why our decisions get derailed and how we can stick to the plan.”

One of the issues that can sidetrack a decision includes our perceptions of ourselves. Taking time and honestly assessing a situation and how it will affect us can go a long way to creating a positive outcome, Gino said.

From there, it’s important to look at the context of a situation — our emotions, relationships and other influences — and imagine if those could be changing the way you see a decision.

Gino showed an experiment where subjects were more likely to cheat if they saw someone wearing shirt for their school do it, but less than average if the cheater had a rival’s shirt on.

“Even in a situation as important as ethics, we’re often swayed by those close to us,” Gino said.

While Gino said realizing the effect small factors have on us can be discouraging — would we really act differently if someone next to us had a Beaver or Duck on their shirt? — it’s also empowering to know we can change.

“You can sort of end up with your hands in your hair, screaming ‘We are so biased!’” she said. “But it’s also hopeful, because you can find that context and next time make a better decision.”

On Nov. 21, Oregon State School of Design and Human Environment student Jessica Neffendorf was critically injured in a car crash on Highway 20 in Corvallis.

She was rushed to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and has remained in intensive care. The other driver was arrested under suspicion of impaired driving.

Now friends and family are raising money to support Jessica in her recovery, setting up a website for donations and an account in her name with US Bank.

SDHE Associate Dean Minjeong Kim is also reminding students to be “cautious and smart” while traveling this winter break, and to not condone driving under the influence by themselves or others.

If you can, please help Jessica at her family by donating or participating in a fundraiser organized by the family Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Papa’s Pizza in Corvallis.