UConn in Florence

The UConn in Florence program has been very popular with business majors and is an excellent destination for sophomores and juniors. The program does not offer business electives, but does offer courses that would be of interest to business majors. The classroom facility at Palazzo Rucellai is first rate and is in one of the palaces of a famous Renaissance business family (the Rucellai were as famous as the Medici family at the time). Students live in apartments right in central Florence and can walk to class (or a short bus ride) and have access to a tremendous amount of history and culture. The airport and the train station are also excellent connectors to other destination in Italy and Europe.

I am going to find a student who attended the program to write an additional description of the program, but if you have any questions, you can contact Jeff Rummel, who has taken students to Florence for the summer program.

Internship opportunity in Ireland

UConn students have never participated in this program before, but students have studied at the Quinn School, University College Dublin. The program runs from June 11th through August 3rd. The first week is an intensive course on Irish history, politics and culture, and the remaining time is spent working at a company in the Dublin area. Here is some additional information from the program:

The Internship placements are of a very high quality and involve project based meaningful work assignments. The students need to indicate in what area they would like to conduct their Internship on their application form. The Internship placements will be for 20 hours per week. The following is a sample list of companies providing Internships:

Bank of Ireland, Bank of Ireland Asset Mangement, Ulster Bank, Anglo Irish Bank, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche, JP Morgan, Arthur Cox, A&L Goodbody; Matheson,Ormby,Prentice, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Compaq, Oracle, Chase Bank, Diego Treasury, Norwich Union International, Citibank, Ryanair, Aer Arann, Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, ESB International, etc.

They also offer an extensive cultural/social program, with a variety of trips throughout Ireland available each week. A weekend trip to the West of Ireland is also organized for the students.

Please note that this is an unpaid internship, but you may earn six credits for this program. Budget and application details will be available shortly.

UPDATE (Feb 2): The internship program now has the details available at the study abroad website.

UConn in Paris

UConn has a program in Paris, and the faculty who run the program have invited business students to participate and take advantage of the facilities they have in Paris. The curriculum would include French language, and courses are offered at all levels (so you do not need previous courses in French). All of the other courses will be taught in English. Another required course of the program looks at French culture. They have also identified courses that would be of interest to business students. These courses would not satisfy particular business major requirements but would help you to gain a more global view of the business environment. Two example courses are "Europe: Today's Challenges" and "International Business Ethics." Students must carry a minimum of twelve credits in the program.

They have also agreed to organize some visits to Paris-based businesses and corporations, ranging from oil and energy to transportation and advertising. There are also trips and excursions for all of the students in the program to other regions of France, such as Normandy and Champagne.

Exchange Program at the University of Warwick

There is the possibility of arranging for an exchange program with the University of Warwick for one of the semesters next year. This would be the first opportunity for a UConn student at this University, and so we are looking to see if there is anyone who might be interested. There are a number of programs at Warwick, including one in Management and one in Accounting and Finance.

Since this is an exchange program, the cost would be lower than for other study abroad programs. Preference will be given to honors students.

Take a look at their website, and if you think you would be interested, please contact Jeff Rummel.

Florence pictures from the 2006 trip

Here are some pictures from the Florence business program from the summer of 2006. There are more details about the program on the Study Abroad website (link is below). Use the "find a program" tab on their home page and search for "Florence business" to find out more.

Summer Programs 2007

There are a good number of applications started for the Florence business program this summer, and there will likely be a group of students from Penn State joining the program. This program runs from May 25th to June 29th.

There is also a new agreement with the University College Dublin to provide summer internships in Ireland for UConn students (and a course in Irish history, politics and culture). This program will run from June 11th to August 3rd.

More detailed information will be posted here, in addtion to the study abroad sessions in the School of Business on

• January 31 (5pm, room 226),
  
• February 1 (5pm, room 218) and
  
• February 2 (12pm, room 226) and the
  
• University-wide study abroad fair on February 13.

Summer Program in Florence

I will be leading another group to Florence for six weeks in May and June. The program will provide six credits -- three in business (OPIM 293) and three elective credits (probably in art history or italian culture). You can find more details on the UConn Study abroad website (the link is along the right side of this blog), or by contacting me.

I think the program will also include students from Penn State.

Summer Program at Georgetown

We had a student from UConn attend this last year (contact me if you'd like to talk to them) and he thought it was excellent. Here's the announcement, and they also have scholarship money available.

LIVE. LEARN. INTERN. SUMMER INSTITUTES

This summer: June 9 – August 4, 2007

Georgetown University, Washington, DC

www.dcinternships.org

**NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR EARLY DEADLINE OF DECEMBER 1, 2006**

Sponsored by The Fund for American Studies in partnership with Georgetown University, the Institutes combine substantive internships, courses for academic credit, career development activities, site briefings and lectures led by prominent policy experts.

Students applying by the Early Deadline of December 1, 2006 are given preference in admissions and scholarship decisions and will receive a 5% discount on their tuition balance.

• Internships – Competitive placements with top sites in D.C.
• Classes – Up to 9 transferable credits from Georgetown University
• Housing – Furnished on-campus apartments in the heart of D.C.
• Guest Lectures – With Washington’s top policy and industry experts
• Site Briefings – At the White House Complex, State Department, U.S. House of Representatives, and Federal Reserve
• Leadership & Professional Development – Leadership, mentoring and career building activities
• Networking – Interaction with hundreds of other student leaders from around of the world
• Scholarships – Over half of all students receive full or partial funding based on merit and financial need

Four eight-week programs are offered in the following subject areas:

• Politics and Economics
• Journalism
• Business and Government Affairs
• Nonprofit and Community Service

For more information and an online application, please visit our website www.dcinternships.org or contact Mary Connell, Recruitment and Admissions Manager, at mconnell@tfas.org or 1-800-741-6964.

Please click here for an informational brochure: https://www.dcinternships.org/tfas/brochure/index.asp

Honors program initiatives -- junior/senior year

Students who complete the sophomore certificate, or students who apply in their sophomore year to join the honors program (applications available in the Honors Program office in CUE) will be eligible to participate in the following activities

1. Students will be able to honorize individual courses, but the School will work to make the process more clear for students, especially with the core business courses in the junior year. In addition, the School will identify elective courses that would be available to students in different majors that could be taught as honors courses. Example courses might include: financial statement analysis and investing (accounting); advanced microeconomics or risk management (finance); advanced organizational behavior or business research methods (management); advanced statistics/data mining (marketing/OPIM); spreadsheet modeling and management science (OPIM).



2. The School will continue the "traditional" thesis model where students identify an area of interest and work with a particular faculty member to complete that project.



3. The School will work to provide opportunities for thesis work as part of our experiential learning initiatives. This would include work with the Student Managed Investment Fund, edgelab, and the Financial Accelerator.



4. The School will work to provide opportunities for thesis work as part of summer internship assignments. Companies (or government agencies or non-profits) providing these internships will allow students to do research during the assignment, and students will work with a faculty member to complete the actual thesis.

Honors program initiatives -- sophomore year

During the sophomore year, students will be able to take ACCT 131 and ACCT 200. The School will offer at least one section of ACCT 200 as ACCT 200H, and those credits can be used towards the sophomore certificate. ACCT 131 is taught in large sections, but the instructors may be will to allow a few students to honorize that course.

Honors program initiatives -- freshman year

The School's initiatives include new programs for students in their freshman year.

The University will provide dorm space for Business honors students.

There will also be at least one section of a FYE course for business honors students. This fall there are two sections of the course, titled "A Career in Business as a Calling" and one of the assignments for the class is to read the book If Aristotle Ran General Motors by Tom Morris. The classes meet on Monday and Wednesday at 9:00 and 10:00.

Business Honors Club

Students in the School have a club for students in Honors called Driven. There will be a meeting at 2:00 on Friday, September 29 to discuss the future plans for the club. I will post a note with the results from that meeting, and will also post some information on what the faculty of the School have approved as their strategy for improving and increasing the opportunities for honors students in the school.

Update: seven people came to the meeting, and all agreed that continuing the club was a good idea. The next steps are to talk to people about an officer group to meet the requirements of USG, and to work on a website for the club. I will work on arranging a speaker to come sometime to talk about internships with the club. I think I have someone from UTC who would be willing to come. If anyone has other companies or contacts, please let me know.

Welcome

Welcome to a new blog for the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. My name is Jeff Rummel, and I am the new director for the Honors program at the School, and also for the Study Abroad programs that students in the school attend.

Coming soon will be some information about these opportunities for business undergraduate students to take on additional challenges while completing their undergraduate degrees.

My office is in the OPIM suite, and you can find my email on the official UConn websites (sorry to not post it here, but I'd like to avoid as much spam as possible). Feel free to contact me if something you see on this blog is of interest to you.