Inaugural Newsletter

Featured Alumni - Barbara Barcon

Ms. Barbara Barcon has been a finance executive with over 30 years of corporate finance leadership in the Aerospace and Energy industries. She has an extensive background in financial planning, M&A and operational management. Her career includes over 21 years at Hughes Electronics, where she rose to the position of CFO  of the satellite manufacturing business unit. She was also at TRW/Northrop Grumman, a Private Equity firm and PG&E as CFO of the utility. She earned a Bachelors degree from San Diego State University and her MBA from CSULB in 1984. She also serves as a judge for the International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition. Ms. Barcon was honored at the 2016 Graduate Banquet on May 14, 2016. She was not able to join us and will receive her plaque at the November 12th Alumni Mixer. Please see our Upcoming Events Section for more information on our Alumni Mixer. Would you like us to feature your story in an upcoming Newsletter? Contact Giselle Oberly for more information

Saturday MBA Travels to Berlin

In June, SMBA 5 travelled to Berlin. We had the opportunity to explore a city with a rich and complex history, while learning about some ways in which sustainability is practiced in another culture. The idea was to be able to experience these differences and understand the potential to implement innovative ideas in the US. By approaching this experience through the lens of sustainability, the cohort was able to see how much opportunity there is to improve on processes in the US. Outside of the curriculum, the class was able to spend some time sightseeing, enjoying the local cuisine and bonding with each other!The cohort teamed with SRH­Hochschule Berlin, and learned both from the faculty at the campus, as well as through a number of site visits in order to learn about sustainability practices in Berlin. The site visits included locations such as the BMW Motorcycle manufacturing plant, and Feldheim, a community which supplies its citizens with energy resources such as a solar plant, wind farm, biomass and biogas facilities. Another site visit included the EUREF Campus Berlin, which is essentially a campus for sustainable start­ups. The class learned that innovation in sustainability can truly lead to profit and ROI. This international experience truly added to the MBA curriculum and heightened the cohort's understanding and application of materials learned on campus in Long Beach. - Carole Murphy SMBA Cohort 5

CBA Incubator

The landscape of entrepreneurship has grown, shifted, and changed dramatically over the past decades. It almost seems like new rules are being written daily. With the rise of social media, advancing digital & logistical technologies, and a shift to an app based culture the “business of business” has needed to evolve rapidly, but also maintain its practices and best working procedures, to ensure consistency and most importantly success in the 21st century.

Finding a clear path on the journey from idea to implementation to success can prove to be incredibly challenging and elusive for so many up-and- coming entrepreneurs as well as seasoned veterans of business. The difference between success and failure falls on a thin and sometimes uncooperative line. To help with these challenges, in November of 2015 a group of graduate students, from the College of Business Administration (CBA), now alumni, started a Business Incubator. Their mission: Plan for and implement an entrepreneurial incubator on and off campus that will facilitate learning and the development of a community of interest. The Incubator will be the bridge between Long Beach city government, the University, and the Long Beach community. For alumni, the Incubator allows the opportunity to return to campus and give back by sharing knowledge, experience, and in some cases, failures. Alumni also have the opportunity to form a stronger network, receive business guidance, and compete in business competitions.To facilitate the bridge between the University and the Long Beach community, the Incubator has recently partnered with Molina Healthcare to host a series of speaker events titled Molina Entrepreneurship Series. To learn more join us every Tuesday from 7:00PM – 9:00PM in the College of Business Administration (CBA) building room  139A.-­ Brian Budzinski SMBA 5

Program Orientations Fall 2016

CBA Graduate Programs welcomed the Fall 2016 incoming class at three separate orientations. Students in the Accelerated MBA, Saturday MBA, Evening MBA, MS Supply Chain Management and MS Accountancy programs had the opportunity to meet and mingle with colleagues, faculty and staff. Through various presentations, workshops and activities the students were given the knowledge base and tools to succeed in their program and beyond.­ Giselle Oberly, Graduate Programs Specialist

MSA Wins 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place in Case Competition!

Our MSA students participated in the 2016  IIA-LA Chapter Internal Audit Student Case Competition on September 26th.  Seven teams from our programs sent in their solutions and five of them made it to the final round. There were a total of 31 submissions, 8 teams made it to the final round. CSULB teams were awarded 1st. 2nd,  and 3rd place, beating out teams from UC Davis, CSULA and Redlands University! - Dr. Sudha Krishnan, Chair, Accountancy Department

Are you a recent CSULB business grad looking for better career opportunities?

Accounting employment is expected to grow by 11% over the next 10 years, adding almost 150,000 new jobs. Accounting careers are challenging but rewarding. Not an accounting major? Not a problem. You can leverage your business degree with CSULB’s Master of Science in Accountancy degree. The Master of Science in Accountancy at CBA, CSULB provides the advanced coursework in auditing, financial statement analysis, corporate governance, forensic accounting, and taxation required to meet requirements for CPA licensure in California and includes the relevant ethics courses required by 2017.

Dr. Rodney Smith, Director, Master of Science in Accountancy

Molina Entrepreneurship Speaker Series

The Graduate College of Business is partnering with Molina Healthcare, the City of Long Beach iTeam, and the Downtown Long Beach Business Association to present a new speaker series – Molina Entrepreneurship Speaker Series.  Our goal is to engage students, faculty, alumni, the business community, residents of Long Beach, and the LB City government in a discussion on promoting entrepreneurship. The first event on September 22nd was a panel discussion of four local entrepreneurs that shared their experiences navigating the “Valley of Death” as they started their businesses.  The event was attended by more than 125 people from all of our partners and created quite the buzz  in the Long Beach business community.  This series continues with the following dates: 10/27, 11/17, 12/15 and then on into January.  If you are interested in learning more about our speaker series, click here to register. -Dr. Ingrid Martin, Director, Graduate Business Programs

Career Tips: Creative Ways to Answer the All-Too-Common: "Tell Me About Yourself"

What can you to with/through/for others?
Why are you passionate about your major, a certain field, or a certain industry?
What problems do you love to solve, and how are you successful in doing it?
What is your work style? How do you do it?

For example, perhaps you identify yourself as both creative and intuitive. You determine that you want to coin your work style as “creative intuition”. Here’s how you could speak about your work style; in this case the answer is crafted to an engineering project management role you’re interviewing for:

INTERVIEWER: So, tell us a little about yourself and why you applied for this job?
BIANCA: Sure, so a little about myself, my name is Bianca, and if I had to describe my work style I would call it “creative intuition”. I enjoy working with others in teams in a way that utilizes my ability to tap into their motivations and strengths to create an efficient work process that allows us to get the job done. This is part of the reason I decided to pursue my MBA, so that I could better understand team dynamics in the business world. Additionally, I’ve found that I’m naturally creative, and I’ve been able to express this through engineering by coming up with ideas in technology that solve some of life’s basic challenges, such as building a self­cleaning fridge in my free time.

Through combining my ability to intuitively connect with others, and my passion for creating new tools and technology, I’ve come to realize that project management in the engineering field is the best fit for me in terms of a career. As a project manager for a biomedical device company, I will be able to solve some of life’s basic challenges, while leveraging my ability to connect with and lead others through my intuition, and that’s why I’m sitting here today interviewing for this role.
As you can see, the example above also took the approach of bringing the listener into the present moment as a way to close out the “tell me about yourself” answer. This makes the answer sound more natural and also illustrates the connection between who the person is and the qualifications of the job for the listener. We encourage you to use this creative approach in answering the age­old question of “tell me about yourself”. Be sure to practice your answer out loud several times before going into an interview or networking event. Best of luck out there!  ­ -Zoe Sullivan, Assistant Director, Graduate Business Career Services

How Can You Get Involved? Donate to our Scholarship Fund: Your Donations Make a Huge  Impact:

I would like to thank all the California State University, Long Beach  donors  for the meaningful  and generous donations made to help CSULB students. Your time and financial contributions allow CSULB students, like myself, to continue pursuing their academic and career goals at a life-­changing institution.  As a first generation college student, pursuing a master’s degree would not have been possible without scholarships. Thankfully, I received the Hogar Scholarship, from the College of Business Administration, which has made my dreams a possibility. This scholarship reduced my financial burden and gave me the opportunity be a 20­year old MBA student at CSULB. As a result, I have been able to truly enjoy the journey of being in the AMBA XII cohort, as well as get involved on campus and concentrate on my academics. Your donations have not only encouraged me to make the most out of my educational experiences, they have also inspired me to become a donor in the near future. By helping create an everlasting donating cycle, CSULB alumni and friends will continue to nurture CSULB student success for decades to come.-­Christopher Zermeno, AMBA Cohort XII

Give

Interested in Hiring Graduate Business Talent?

Interested in Hiring Graduate Business Talent? Hire SoCal 2017 Graduate Business Career Fair is your one­stop shop for hiring the best and brightest from 6 elite graduate business programs in the Southern California region. Participating schools include: California State University Long Beach, California State University Fullerton, Pepperdine University, Chapman University, Drucker School of Management, and UC Riverside. Our 3rd Annual Spring Career Fair will take place at California State University Fullerton on Friday, February 10, 2017. If your company is interested in hiring graduate business talent, please contact Michelle Gomez at for additional details.-Michelle Gomez, Employer and Job Development Specialist

 

Annual Alumni Mixer

Know anyone that would benefit from our business graduate programs? Invite them to learn more about your alma mater at our next Information Session on Saturday, October 15th, 11­:00am to 12:30pm, in CBA 139.

Meet the Staff

Director, Graduate Business Programs, Dr. Ingrid Martin is a Marketing Faculty member and was previously the Chair of the Marketing department. Dr. Martin oversees our five business master programs. Ingrid.Martin@csulb.edu

Rhianna Lemos­-Girton, Graduate Programs,Specialist Evening MBA and MS in Supply Chain Management,Rhianna.LemosGirton@csulb.edu