Dean's Message, May, 2018

COBI Interim Dean Hassan HassebElnaby

Congratulations to our Spring graduates and all best wishes on the fantastic futures you will make for yourselves! We were pleased to have Tricia Cullop, UT’s amazing  Women’s Basketball Head Coach, as our guest speaker at our college Convocation on May 4, where she provided the graduates her advice for success. Her remarks inspired us all. We were also inspired by the noted achievements, job offers and career plans revealed by our graduates.  The university commencement ceremonies in the Glass Bowl the next morning were also a fantastic occasion, full of energy, accomplishment and optimism for the future.

Actually, our faculty and students have achieved success this year through a variety of pursuits, including publishing critical papers and competing in national professional competitions.

Of course, every success story has its beginning, and for incoming COBI freshmen, that occurs during the COBI Rocket Launch orientation sessions, which begins in June. We emphasize to both students and parents that we are committed to their success, that we will effectively teach them both in the classroom and through experiential learning, and that we will actually help them find internships and their first jobs through the great work of our amazing Business Career Programs office. (I know that parents always like to hear about that.) We are all committed to helping our Rockets soar.

One of the new tools our students can use in their search for jobs and internships is Handshake, a computer program now accessible to COBI students that widens their access to internships and job opportunities locally as well as all over the country.

Additionally, current professionals in the workforce who want to accelerate their careers should be interested in our Executive MBA program. Cohort 23 is now forming for classes that begin this fall. If you are interested in being part of a challenging, amazing experience which will dramatically enhance your professional and personal life via this accelerated 12-month program.  Now is the time to participate in one of our Exploration Events, the next event being June 9. Here potential students can sit through part of a class, meet faculty and current students, enjoy lunch and learn about the great benefits of this program.

We always want to hear your success stories and welcome you to check out COBI and the UT campus…it’s a great place to take a summer stroll. If you do, consider this your personal invitation to stop by my office on the fifth floor of Stranahan Hall!

Inspire. Transform. Empower. Achieve.

Go Rockets!

Interim Dean Hassan HassabElnaby

COBI Business Career Programs introduces new Handshake software for students, then wins Innovation award

UT COBI’s Business Career Programs office already has remarkable success in finding jobs for our students, resulting in a 93% job placement rate for our graduating seniors.

But recent implementation of new software known as Handshake will further enhance the internship/job acquisition process for COBI students.

“This is very cutting edge, and very valuable for our students.  We are truly excited,” explained Craig Turner, Career Advisor and Employer Relations for Undergraduate Students. “Handshake is a platform to more opportunities for our students as they post their profiles. Companies that we never had access to before that use this software include PayPal, Pepsi, Chevron, Dow Jones, Exon Mobile, Samsung and Berkshire Hathaway.”

Left to right: Craig Turner, Career Advisor and Employer Relations for Undergraduate Students; Dr. Terribeth Gordon- Moore, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Administration in the College of Business and Innovation; Carol Stamm, Employer Relations and Job Development Specialist; Alison DeVolder, Secretary.

“Within the first two weeks of launching this software, we had over 119 qualified jobs and 456 approved employers on board,” Turner said. “The exciting piece is that within hours we had students establishing their profiles and applying for numerous positions.”

“We are also receiving positive feedback from our current recruiters that are already using Handshake as they have a single sign on experience, and can more easily post their positions and engage with students. This intuitive program utilizes over 165,000 recruiters, and more than 100,000 companies, which includes 95% of the Fortune 500.”

Turner explained that Handshake is accessible to all COBI students, who very quickly uploaded hundreds of active profiles.

“The exciting piece is that within hours we had students establishing their profiles and applying for numerous positions. This program will widen our student’s access to job opportunities all over the country as well as locally,” he said. “Furthermore, there is already an Apple app for mobile access, and will soon be an Android app. The Handshake program is also available to COBI alumni.”

“While Handshake is an amazing program that provides new opportunities for our students,” said Dr. Terribeth Gordon-Moore, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Administration in the College of Business and Innovation, “it is also just one more component of our High Tech, High Touch philosophy of helping COBI students launch and build their professional lives. We strive to provide career concierge services to all our students, and connecting them with employers and recruiters for internships and jobs through programs like Handshake is extremely important.”

Business Career Programs won the COBI Innovation Award for the past academic year, in part for their successful introduction of the Handshake program.

“The award is based on our work in the college and its outcome for our students,” Turner said. “We believe that innovation is key within the College of Business and Innovation, and we are the first ones to receive and use Handshake within the UT community. The platform is used by several hundred colleges and by some 1,200 companies.  It is a mutual relationship which helps our students.”

“We need to be innovative about what we do for our students,” Turner said, “and this is a great tool. We are setting the standard for other University of Toledo colleges and the Center of Experiential Learning and Career Services as they join this inaugural program.”

COBI PSE Chapter wins numerous awards at national conference

Several UT COBI students attended the Pi Sigma Epsilon 62nd PSE annual conference in San Diego, participating in and winning many honors and recognitions.

"Our students worked extremely hard preparing for the convention and it showed in their amazing results,” explained Dr. Catherine Johnson, advisor to the UT PSE team. “They excelled in virtually every competition they entered. They even won an award for sustained excellence, a true testament to the consistently high quality of UT's PSE chapter over a long period of time. I'm really proud of their hard work and success."

Members of the Epsilon Delta chapter at University of Toledo earned the following awards and scholarships:
- 1st place Top Professional Development
- 1st place Top Chapter Recruitment Program
- Whan Challenger Award won by Jovan Sanson
- 2nd place Top Gold Chapter
- 2nd place Top Management Team
- 2nd place Top Social Media Strategy
- 2nd place Case Study Competition
- 2nd place Top PSE Salesperson won by Taylor Busse
- Anchor Plastics Scholarship won by Kaeleigh Wilkins
- Carew International Scholarship won by Taylor Busse
- Federated Insurance Scholarship won by Seth Balog
- Marv D. Loos Scholarship won by Alex Edinger
- Paycom Scholarship won by Courteney Buchanan
- Principal Financial Scholarship won by Haley Orr
- Vector Marketing Scholarship won by Rachel Boulton
- William H. Harris Memorial Scholarship won by Jovan Sanson
- Future Leader Scholarship won by Courteney Buchanan

Members of the Epsilon Delta chapter also received the Sustained Excellence Award that recognizes chapters who remain among the top tier chapters for three consecutive years.

The Future Leader Scholarship recognizes freshman and sophomore members of Pi Sigma Epsilon who display the potential to become great future leaders of their chapters and of PSE. Buchanan won free registration to the National Convention ($295 value), $100 travel stipend, and was recognized at the scholarship dinner in front of hundreds of her colleagues.

Pi Sigma Epsilon is the nation’s only professional business fraternity for men and women in the fields of sales, marketing and management. Pi Sigma Epsilon has spread to over 170 campuses nationwide since its inception in 1952. For more information on Pi Sigma Epsilon, visit www.pse.org

Dr. Mallin’s paper receives Outstanding Article award

Dr. Michael Mallin’s paper "Power-Base Effects on Salesperson Motivation and Performance: A Contingency View," co-authored with Charles B. Ragland and published in the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing,  Outstanding Article Award from the University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation.

Sales literature shows that motivation is a key determinant of salesperson performance. The literature also suggests that how managers use social power will have an effect on important organizational outcomes, including salesperson performance. This study examines the five bases of social power that sales managers use (reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert) as moderating influences in the salesperson motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic)—salesperson performance linkage.

The authors found support for five of eight hypotheses. Results and significant findings suggest that sales managers can impact sales performance in extrinsically motivated salespeople by using coercive and legitimate power. For intrinsically motivated salespeople, sales managers can impact sales performance by using coercive, legitimate, and referent power.

Dr. Mallin is a Professor of Marketing and Sales and the Faculty Director for MBA/EMBA programs at UT COBI The University of Toledo, College of Business & Innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Kent State University, an MBA from The University of Dayton, and a BS in Computer & Information Sciences from The Ohio State University. Dr. Mallin teaches and researches in the area of sales and sales management.

His research interests include salesforce leadership, motivation, and performance issues.
His research has appeared in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Selling & Major Account Management, Direct marketing, an International Journal, Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, American Marketing Association Educators Conference Proceedings, National Conference for Sales Management Conference Proceedings, and Academy of International Business Regional Conference Proceedings.

He is the recipient of faculty teaching and research awards at The University of Toledo and for outstanding teaching as a doctoral fellow at Kent State University.

Prior to joining the University of Toledo, Dr. Mallin’s industry experience includes positions as Sales Director for The SBC Corporation, Sales & Marketing Manager, and Account Executive for AT&T Corp.

Dr. Mallin said he had worked on the paper for a year with Dr. Ragland, Department of Marketing, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Hats off to COBI graduates (Spring, 2018)

Special congratulations to the Spring 2018 graduates of The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation, who celebrated the COBI convocation program on Friday evening, May 4, and the University Commencement ceremony the next morning. UT's Women's Basketball Head Coach Tricia Cullop spoke to the graduates during the Convocation.

Celebrating their success with family and friends, several COBI students wore graduation caps which they had decorated with their own special messages for the event. Here you can see some of the caps, as we say our hats are off to all the grads for their achievement.  

Preparing to start the COBI Convocation event are, right to left, Interim Dean Hassan HassabElnaby, UT Women's Head Basketball Coach Tricia Cullop, COBI Senior Associate Dean Dr. Terribeth Gordon-Moore, and Dr. Michael Mallin, COBI Department of Marketing and International Business.