High-Impact Internships in the IEE

Every day in the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE), students from all disciplines and schools across the University of Pittsburgh are getting a first-hand look at what it takes to start and run a business. For recent graduates like Jason Spudic and Amanda Wheeler, the internships they had in the IEE gave them valuable real-world experience and influenced their future career paths. Read more about Spudic and Wheeler. >

CBA's Chapter of Phi Beta Lambda Takes National Leadership Conference by Storm

Several thousand members of Phi Beta Lambda, the world's largest and oldest business student organization, from colleges and universities across the country gathered June 21-24 for the organization's annual National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, GA. The University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration's chapter was represented by five delegates and advisor Kate McConnell, director of CBA's Career and Leadership Development Center. The annual conference includes competitive events and workshops for students. The four Pitt students who participated in competitive events all placed in the top 10 of their respective events. Read more about the National Leadership Conference. >

Katz Welcomes New One-Year MBA Students

On Tuesday, May 13, the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business welcomed 25 new students to the one-year MBA program. For the next 11 months these students will immerse themselves in multicultural learning teams and experience the rigors of the Katz MBA program. Read more about the newest additions to the Katz community and their first days in the program. >

CBA Junior Takes the Reigns of the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association

While most first year Pitt students were adjusting to college life, CBA student Christina Whittaker jumped in with both feet, getting involved and taking on leadership roles from the start. Now a rising junior, Whittaker will put her leadership skills and experience to work heading up one of CBA's largest and most active student organizations, the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association (RCMBA). Read more about Whittaker and her plans for RCMBA.

Scuttling the Scut Work

Katz alumnus Jordan Cohen (MBA '89) has helped roll out a large scale knowledge-outsourcing program (Office of the Future or OOF for short) at Pfizer where he is senior director of organizational effectiveness. The program frees Pfizer's most-prized workers from having to do their own support work like creating documents, manipulating and creating spreadsheets, scheduling meetings, and researching—tasks that once occupied 20-40 percent of their time. The program is a huge cost savings too; Pfizer now pays two outsourcing companies in India $15-$35 per worker hour for OOF services like research that a consulting company would have charged upwards of $215 per hour to complete. Read more about Pfizer's OOF program, which was featured in the February 2008 issue of Fast Company >