BT天堂

The BT天堂College of Business delivers experiences that prepare and inspire students to be ethical, innovative and engaged business leaders who positively impact their communities. We are committed to a culture of excellence across all programs, activities, and events, with a focus on action-based learning and student success and retention.

Despite disruptions due to COVID during our last academic year, our students and alumni have overcome obstacles and risen as leaders. Several COB alumni were honored for their efforts in their communities and workplaces while our students volunteered at food pantries, prepared free tax returns for low-income Arkansans, and earned awards.

This annual review gives a brief look at this year’s student, alumni, and faculty success as well as evidence of our commitment to engaged learning.

If you have a story of success or accomplishment from 2021-2022 to add to this list, or anytime in the future, please听send听it to US.

Sincerely,
Michael Hargis
Dean, BT天堂College of Business

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

To address the changing business environment,听COB expanded to add three new Applied Data Analytics programs:
– a Bachelor of Science
– a Master of Science
– and a technical certificate.

COB welcomed new Marketing & Management Department Chair,听Dr. Tracy A. Suter, who began his role at the start of the spring semester.

Dr. Suter has taught and led at 5 institutions over the past 25 years; has authored many academic articles and textbooks and served in other administrative capacities; most extensive experience was as a 15-year faculty member at Oklahoma State University.

Learn more听about his credentials, career, and interests.

COB Student Ambassadors听engage, connect, and serve as representatives for our college.听Twenty-one students听took on the task of serving as COB’s first ever group of ambassadors.

They have talked with incoming students, received swag and headshots, and experienced unique development opportunities available only to ambassadors.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Economics student Caleb Vines won the Student Research Award at the 2022 Society of Business, Industry, and Economics (SOBIE) conference.

Several other COB faculty and students across all disciplines also presented papers at the SOBIE and International Academy of Business Disciplines (IABD) conferences this spring.听 MORE

COB named its Outstanding Students who were chosen because they combined exemplary academic performance with internships, volunteerism, professional development, experiential education, and participation in clubs and other important experiences.

Daisy Martinez Carranza took home the top honor of COB’s 2022 Outstanding Student.听READ MORE

鲍颁础鈥檚听Master of Business Administration (MBA)听program was named to the听Programs and University HQ鈥檚听听Programs list.

Associate Professor of economics and听ACRE Scholar听Jeremy Horpedahl received the Public Choice鈥檚听Duncan Black Prize听for the best article contributed by a senior scholar.

Karen Shaw, a member of the COB Board of Advisors, was named 2021听CFO of the Year听by Arkansas Business.

Shaw was a leader even during her BT天堂days, as a charter member of Beta Alpha Psi, but her leadership development didn’t stop there.听Learn more听about Karen’s leadership as a business and community leader.

Several COB alumni, including听听(辫颈肠迟耻谤别诲),听, and听听were named as rising business and community leaders by Arkansas Business.

Three teams representing UCA鈥檚 MBA program placed among the top 100 performers in a worldwide business simulation competition called GLO-BUS. Nearly 2,000 teams from 99 colleges and universities competed.

Congratulations to COB’s听Theta Lambda Chapter听who earned first place at the 2022 Beta Alpha Psi regional conference competitions in the category of Best Practices in the Art of Engagement and will compete at the conference in Orlando this summer. The chapter also earned a second-place win for Best Practices.听MORE

In addition, UCA’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi achieved superior status for 2021-2022 from the national chapter. To be a superior chapter, the registered student organization met the following requirements:

• Average member听completed at least 32 hours of service and professional development (at least 12 each)
  >265 hours of professional development
  >555 hours of service
• Chapter completed at least 8 reaching-out activities including attending conferences; competing in best practices and project run-with-it; alumni activities鈥� multi-chapter events; and promoting careers in accounting, finance, information systems, and/or data analytics.

Congratulations to our听听students and to听Connie McKnight听补苍诲听Ashley Phillips, our tireless faculty advisors, for another year of superior status!

CAREER DEVELOPMENT & SERVICE LEARNING

More than 65 volunteers and students from UCA’s Biz@Bear Residential College collected over $1650 worth of personal care donations for children in Arkansas foster care.

This event ended an academic year with more than 1800 student engagement hours led by Academic Director, Dr. Louisa Moseley; over 200 of those were service hours.听MORE

Accounting Professor Ashley Phillips was awarded the Peter J. Mehl Service-Learning Faculty of the Year Award for her work with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Under her leadership, students听volunteered approximately 420 hours听to return more than $324,000 of taxpayer money to the community through the preparation of over 250 tax returns for low-income taxpayers in the region.

Sixteen business professionals connected with COB students at the annual听Women in Business Sixteen business professionals connected with COB students at the annual听Women in Business luncheon听for which a panel and table leaders shared the 鈥淭op 5 Things Women in Business Need to Know.鈥�

听听hosted a COB Escape Room of intricate puzzles for students to solve. To 鈥渆scape,鈥� participants applied tips for create an effective resume.听READ MORE

In ’21 & ’22, COB and Acxiom partnered to provide a four-day Information听Technology (IT) Careers Camp听for high school students.

During the camp, students听stayed on UCA鈥檚 campus, were mentored by industry experts, and participated in exercises in programming, cybersecurity, robotics, 3D modeling, and 3D laser printing.

Congratulations to all of our graduates in 2021-2022!

If you have a story of success or accomplishment from 2021-2022 to add to this list, please听send听it to the BT天堂College of Business.

For year-round news and听updates听from the BT天堂College of Business, make sure to visit听.