College of Business News

Howard Smith, of Boise State, has accepted a position at another university and will not be interviewing at MSU for the position of dean of the College of Business. Smith’s public presentation, scheduled for Wednesday, has been cancelled. Smith was one of three candidates for the position visiting MSU.

Penne Ainsworth, of the University of Wyoming, visited Feb. 22-23. Kregg Aytes, of Idaho State University, is on campus today and will give his public presentation Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Procrastinator Theater of MSU’s Strand Union Building. The campus community and the public are invited to attend.

Click here for more information on the candidates and to view their vitae.

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Seven Montana State University (MSU) seniors have been awarded the 2012 Torlief Aasheim Community Involvement Awards, the university’s top award for student service.

Dema Alniemi, Sarah Balian, Jamie Diehl, Jodie Kunesh, Megan Podolinsky, Erin Sweitnicki and Joseph Thiel are the winners of the award, which was named for the late MSU alumnus Torlief “Torley” Aasheim. The award recognizes a senior student from each college at MSU who, in addition to excelling academically, volunteer on campus and in the community.

Jodie Kunesh is a business accounting major who has served as president of Beta Gamma Sigma and treasurer of Beta Alpha Psi. She has also volunteered as a CAP mentor and as a member of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

Marc Giullian, an accounting professor and mentor to Jodie, had this to say at the 2012 Awards for Excellence banquet, where she was honored.

“…In the ten years I have been at MSU, I cannot recall any student who works as hard as Jodie. She works part time, is an officer of MSU’s Beta Alpha Psi/Accounting Club, participates in other extracurricular activities and also manages to get the highest grades of any student I have taught. I do not know how she can do so much and do it all so well! She also has an enthusiastic, positive attitude that is infectious. Just being around Jodie will help you feel more enthused about your life. Having students like Jodie who are hungry for knowledge and anxious to do the work to gain that knowledge makes teaching a true joy.”

- Marc Giullian, associate professor of accounting

News

The Montana State University (MSU) Alumni Association and the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce recognized forty top MSU seniors and their faculty or staff mentors including four College of Business (CoB) students and faculty mentors on Tuesday, February 21, 2012. Student winners were nominated by faculty in their college or department and chosen by an award selection committee. Honorees are of senior standing and maintained a minimum 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. They all have an exemplary record of campus and community activities, involvement and service. The student honorees each selected a faculty or staff member who had been most inspirational and influential in their development at MSU. Excerpts from their nominations are included below.

The College of Business students and mentors who were honored at the banquet were:
Kaitlyn Ash, accounting and finance, Bozeman, MT / Angela Woodland

“Kaitlyn Ash is one of those wonderfully unexpected people one rarely encounters…in fact she is also an eight-time amateur karate champion. That accountant/karate champion combination is hard to find! Kaitlyn’s combination of characteristics makes her a person one wants to be around and a person likely to achieve amazing success” –Angela Woodland

“Angela Woodland is a knowledgeable and fun professor who truly cares about her students…I admire Dr. Woodland’s dedication to her work and to her students.” –Kaitlyn Ash

Jodie Kunesh, accounting, Chetek, WI / Marc Giullian

“Jodie Kunesh can be described by two words: tireless and enthusiastic…I do not know how she can do so much and do it all so well!” –Marc Giullian

“His door is always open …Marc is very patient. If I didn’t get something the first time, he would look for a different way to explain until the concept was understood.” –Jodie Kunesh

Carl Nystuen, finance, Lakeside, MT / Dave Foster

“Carl Nystuen thrives on challenge! …he has completed this challenging academic schedule [three majors and one minor] while excelling as a student athlete in track and cross country, while also actively and continually engaged in a number of high profile campus groups and activities.” –Dave Foster

“…Dave’s door was always open for guidance or a friendly conversation, making me feel like I had strong support in the College of Business. I also had the pleasure of learning the fundamentals of international marketing and leadership through Dave’s impeccable teaching styles.” –Carl Nystuen

Molly Zander, accounting, Great Falls, MT / Angela Woodland

“She is a hard worker, dedicated, strong, determined, brace, and willing to take risks… she is of high integrity, strong character, and is extremely personable. I expect that Molly will be successful in all her pursuits and will make a real different in the profession of accounting.” –Angela Woodland

“When I think about the type of person I want to be, I think of Dr. Woodland. She exudes confidence, professionalism, success, inner-strength, and a well-roundedness that I aspire to. Her standards and expectations in the classroom are high, which is refreshing and appreciated …outside of the classroom, she takes the time to listen, offer advice, encourage, and inspire her students to do more than they ever though possible…” –Molly Zander

News

The Montana State University College of Business will be holding campus and community information and feedback sessions for students, faculty, staff and members of the public who wish to share their ideas for a new building planned for the college.

The College of Business received a $25 million gift from MSU alumnus Jake Jabs last fall. A portion of that gift will be used to construct a new building. With the assistance of Comma-Q Architecture of Bozeman and Hennebery Eddy Architects of Portland, the college and the university is gathering ideas from the campus community and public about the building’s design.

The second set of information and feedback sessions will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Reid Hall 103; and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 in Reid 415.

The other sessions will be on the following dates with locations to be announced:

Wednesday, March 21, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 22, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Wednesday, April 18, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 19, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Ground could be broken for the building in 2013, with construction completed in 2015.

Additional information on the new building can be found on the CoB webpage: http://www.montana.edu/cob/building/index.html. Comments can be sent through the Comma-Q website: commaq.com/msu.

Please contact Audrey Lee, audrey.lee@montana.edu, if you have any questions.

News

Three candidates for the dean of Montana State University’s College of Business will interview on campus Feb. 22-29. Each candidate will meet with faculty and students as well as give a public presentation with time for questions.

The finalists and the dates of the campus visits follow with the specific time and location of their public presentation. All public presentations will be in the Procrastinator Theater of MSU’s Strand Union Building and will be followed by a reception.

Feb. 22-23
Penne Ainsworth, Ph.D., CPA, CMA, CIA
Associate Dean, College of Business
University of Wyoming
Public presentation, Thursday, Feb. 23, 9:30 – 11 a.m.

Feb. 27-28
Kregg Aytes, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, College of Business
Idaho State University
Public presentation, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 9:30 to 11 a.m.

Feb. 28-29
Howard L. Smith, Ph.D.
Boise State University
Public presentation, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.

For more information on each of these candidates, please read the MSU News release.

“These three candidates were chose from a national pool of more than 50 applicants,” said MSU Provost Martha Potvin. “There is a great deal of excitement around our college of business these days and that was reflected in the quality of the candidates we had to select from.”

The dean search committee hopes to have completed the search by mid-March with a new dean starting by July 1.

The dean position came open last spring, when Dan Moshavi left the position to become dean of the School of Business and Leadership at Dominican University of California in San Rafael. Susan Dana, who did not apply for the permanent position, has been serving as interim dean.

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