Despite disruption that began in early March caused by the pandemic, the School of Economics and Business had seen great progress and achievements to that point. Thereafter, it persevered in finding ways to maintain academic and business continuity. Courses were moved to remote instruction, meetings took place virtually, and the 2019-20 academic year was completed. The new normal challenged traditional learning, course delivery, creativity, engagement, networking, relationships, and research efforts. The students, faculty, and staff of the SEB deserve credit for their resiliency and hard work.
The fall and most of the spring semester operated within the traditional mode of face-to-face interaction in campus life, courses, conferences and co-curricular activities. The SEB continued its record of achievements. The Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series flourished. Students and faculty won prominent awards and recognition. Our innovations in pedagogy with the use of Bloomberg terminals, the Kent Newhart Student-Managed Portfolio Project, and SAP-based instruction gained momentum.
While this newsletter is ordinarily limited to retrospective coverage of the most recently completed academic year, this edition is a departure from the usual. Given delays in producing the newsletter, the content of the Dean’s Letter is integrated here by introducing the new faculty of the 2020-21 academic year.
I gratefully acknowledge some important partnerships that help drive success for the SEB. The Business Advisory Council’s support and participation is crucial to all aspects of our planning, operations, curriculum changes, and professional engagement. I also would like to stress that many SEB events, notably Backpacks to Briefcases and the Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series, are attributable to collaboration with the College Office of Alumni Engagement and the generous support of the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the School of Economics and Business News. Comments from our readers are always welcome.
Wade L. Thomas, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Economics and Business
Assistant Professor of Management Information SystemsDr. Alsius David joins the School of Economics and Business as an assistant professor of Management Information Systems in the Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems. Professor David is a graduate of G. Brint Ryan College of Business at the University of North Texas with a Ph.D. in Business Computer Information Systems. He received a Master’s Degree in Management Information Systems from Texas Southern University.
Assistant Professor of ManagementDr. Liyao Pan joins the School of Economics and Business as an assistant professor of Management in the Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems. Professor Pan is a graduate of University of Texas at San Antonio with a Ph.D. in Management and Organizational Studies. He received a Master’s Degree in Management at Dalian University, Dalian, China.
Robert Klein ’72, retired Director of Redevelopment Programs, Montgomery County Government, visited campus fall 2019. During his visit with students, he described how SUNY Oneonta was the foundation to his career in economic development and how to enhance their career options. His audience included the School of Economic and Business Student Advisory Council, Oneonta Future Alumni Network students and the local chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma.
Bianca O’Brien ’85, managing partner, New York Life insurance company. Ms. O’Brien visited campus fall 2019. She held an open presentation for students on “How to Ace Your Internship and Job.”
SUNY Oneonta is now a signatory institution to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). PRME is a United Nations-supported initiative founded in 2007. It provides a framework for raising the profile of sustainability in business schools around the world. The PRME engages business and management schools to ensure they provide future leaders with the skills needed to balance economic and sustainability goals, while drawing attention to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aligning academic institutions with the work of the UN Global Compact.
Becoming a signatory to the PRME is a product of the faculty’s purposeful and collaborative commitment to sustainability and responsible management education for our students and the entire college community. SUNY Oneonta joins over 650 institutions worldwide that have a formal relationship with the United Nations. Oneonta is one of only two institutions within SUNY that is part of this initiative.
Operations Management and MIS faculty members received the second StAR grant in support of activities related to integration of SAP into curriculum. Four MMI Department faculty members and two EFA Department faculty members attended SAP Next-Gen Faculty Boot Camps in 2019 and 2020 at the Sam Houston State University to become certified to teach with SAP.
MMI faculty members have completed workshops on different modules of SAP organized by SAP University Alliances and became certified in using SAP software in curriculum. The modules include Introduction to Business Processes Using SAP S/4 HANA, SAP-based simulation game (ERPsim – Level 1), ERP Cloud Platform/SAP HANA, SAP Business Warehouse on HANA 7.5, SAP Business Analytics on HANA 7.5, SAP Blockchain Services, and SAP Business Processes with BusinessByDesign.
To date, SAP has been introduced in the four courses. Therefore, Operations Management (MGMT 353), Logistics Management (MGMT 363) and Supply Chain Strategy (MGMT 362) courses are taught with the use of SAP software. Additionally, Management Information Systems (MIS 351) course includes teaching introduction to SAP Cloud Platform and SAP Blockchain Services. MMI department expects that more SEB courses will use SAP soon. Accordingly, students will obtain some hands-on experience with SAP in multiple courses.
SAP Award Certificates 2020:
Daniel Ioos is one of four SUNY Oneonta students to receive the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Daniel is a Business Economics major. He is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and the SEB Student Advisory Council. Daniel is consistently named to the Provost’s list. He is also a student athlete and dedicates time to peer tutoring. After graduation, Daniel will be working as a Corporate Analyst at J.P. Morgan.
Nicholas Giordano won first place in the New York State Economics Association Undergraduate Research Paper Competition.
Left to right: Michelle Catan (New York State Small Business Development Center), Dean Wade Thomas, Jared Ciccarelli, and Professor Christine Storrie at Otsego County Chamber of Commerce awards dinner.
Jared Ciccarelli received the Outstanding Student Intern Award from the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce at its Ignite the Fire of Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards Dinner. Michelle Catan of the New York State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Oneonta and a Business Advisory Council member was the site sponsor for the internship. Ms. Catan nominated Mr. Cicarrelli for the award.
Jared assisted clients in the preparation of the business plans and financial projections for their business ventures. He also assisted the SBDC with organizing and coordinating a Small Business Saturday Event, SBDC State training, and participated in meetings concerning the establishment of the SUNY Oneonta Innovation Center. He met with Congressman Antonio Delgado and State Senator James Seward. Jared also completed numerous research assignments at the SBDC.
The dean and the faculty of the SEB selected students to receive this year’s outstanding senior awards. The outstanding student in the school, as well as in each department and major, were recognized in a ceremony on May 10.
School of Economics and Business (SEB): Gillian Stieglitz
Department of Economics, Finance, and Accounting (EFA): Karlo Vlahek
Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems (MMI): Daniel Ioos
Business Economics Major: Gillian Stieglitz
Professional Accounting Major: Jason Cropsey
Economics Major: Nick Dillmann
Robert B. Carson Award: Karlo Vlahek
Additionally, this year’s Academic Achievement Award winners include Rachel Menoutis, and Karlo Vlahek from EFA department; Jared Ciccarelli, Jason Opela, and Nana Sato from MMI department.
The SUNY Oneonta Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) invited 16 of its top business students and one faculty member to join “The Best in Business,” an expanding network of 830,000 students and alumni worldwide. Only the students who rank in the top 10 percent of the baccalaureate programs and top 20 percent of graduate programs at schools accredited by AACSB International are eligible for this invitation. Our chapter now has 216 members since 2012. On April 24th, Dean Wade Thomas and BGS chapter advisor Professor Lisa Flynn led a virtual induction ceremony for the new members of the Oneonta BGS Chapter. The following individuals accepted membership into this prestigious organization:
Juniors: Diane Carvalho, Philip Foglia, Unique Jones, Kevin Ochs, Matthew Silva, Jessica Sinopoli, Shanice Thomas
Seniors: Caroline Byman, Erin Byrne, Anthony Dotsikas, Laura Hoover, Stephen Jesse, Makayla Klinger, Willis Raym, Nana Sato, Jacqueline Wood
Faculty: College Provost Dr. Leamor Kahanov
The student president of the SUNY Oneonta chapter this year was Rachel Menoutis. She was joined on the student leadership team by Vice Presidents Lesya Dubee, Justin Heller, and Jason Opela. The SUNY Oneonta Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma earned Highest Honors for 2019-20, the level of distinction possible for a BGS chapter.
The Student Advisory Council, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Omicron Delta Epsilon teamed up in the fall to carry on the tradition of students helping students during Study Day. The event coincided with the study day scheduled in the college calendar. Faculty members from the various academic disciplines of School of Economics and Business were also on hand to provide support to the student mentors and students seeking assistance with their academic subjects.
The School of Economics and Business welcomed Luis Ayala, Tristan Battistoni, Michael Capasso, Amanda Gresser, William Hund, Jacqueline Irvine, Zachary Loesel, Stephanie Menoutis, Danielle Shaw, Danielle Sullivan, Shanice Thomas, Christian Young to the Student Advisory Council for the 2019-2020 academic year. Officers for the 2020-2021 academic year are Carly Byam, president, Benjamin Rosenstein, vice president, Tydian Sylla, secretary, and Paiyam Kardgar, treasurer.
With the goal of promoting and facilitating the College’s mission in which we nurture a community where students grow intellectually, thrive socially and live purposefully, the SEB has focused on providing our students with experiential learning opportunities through the promotion of both credit and noncredit-bearing internships. Working with the Career Development Center and local and regional employers, we have been able to provide students with numerous internship opportunities to gain professional experience.
The 2019-2020 academic year presented numerous opportunities and unprecedented challenges for our internship program. There were 27 academic credit-bearing internships this past year in which students earned a total of 92 academic credits. Our students worked in a variety of business settings including, but not limited to, investment advisement, accounting, insurance, technology, and sports and entertainment. Internships included positions in New York City at the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to local internships with the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) and providing tax assistance through the United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA).
With the outbreak of the coronavirus and New York State’s response with the on PAUSE Executive Order in March, all thirteen spring 2020 interns were prevented from completing their internships on-site for the remainder of the semester. Fortunately, four of the interns were able to continue their internships “virtually” with their employers and the remaining interns only required slight modifications to receive academic credit.
Dean Thomas and Sean Shannon, SEB Internship Coordinator, continue to work with alumni to maintain and develop alumni relationships and secure internship opportunities for our students. Eight student interns were awarded $10,464.00 through the James ’75 and Mary Susan Ajello Internship Fund in 2019-2020. In addition to financial assistance, Jim Ajello provided mentoring for the fellowship recipients.
Alumni continue to provide valuable internship experiences for our students at firms including Constellation Brands, JP Morgan Chase and Co., and ABM Industries. The long-lasting success of the Backpacks-to-Briefcases program during the fall semester continues to attract students to this distinctive networking event with Oneonta alumni in New York City. The annual event connects students with internship placements and post-graduation employment.
Andrew Schwenck ’87 – hosting a Career Workshop after interviewing students for JP Morgan
SEB Students visit HSBC office in Manhattan during Backpacks to Briefcases Event.
On October 24, eighty-four SUNY Oneonta students from the School of Economics and Business traveled to New York City for the college’s annual Backpacks to Briefcases alumni networking trip. This networking event is designed to inspire students to jumpstart their careers by beginning to build professional networks. Students visited with well-established alumni in their Manhattan offices to tour the facilities, ask questions and obtain career advice. Fifteen alumni of various industries, positions, and experiences hosted students.In conjunction with the Office of Alumni Engagement, this event is coordinated by Assistant Professor of Accounting, Charlene Foley-Deno and head liaison Rachel Menoutis '20, assistant head liaison Jessica Sinopoli '21 as well as student liaisons Unique Jones '22, and Marlea Morales '20. Accompanying students on the trip were Professors Lisa Flynn, Wilson Lin, Lambrianos Nikiforidis, William O’Dea (Emeritus), Sean Shannon, and Christine Storrie. Backpacks to Briefcases is funded by the Oneonta Student Association and the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association through charitable gifts to the Fund of Oneonta.
The SEB was again represented at the College Fed Challenge intercollegiate monetary policy competition. Thirty-six teams competed in 2nd District College Fed Challenge this year at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The competition requires extensive team preparation combining classroom theory with real-time data in an exceptional class of experiential learning.
Teams are required to analyze current U.S. macroeconomic conditions, construct a short-term forecast for the economy, address risks facing the economy, and make a monetary policy recommendation based on those three factors. This year’s team was Francesca Giannetta, Karlo Vlahek, Meredith Bergman, James Mulvey and Erin Byrne.
“Although our team did not advance beyond the preliminary round this year, it was remarkable to watch the students develop their critical thinking and analytic skills throughout the semester,” said Assistant Professor Christine Storrie, the team’s advisor. “The entire class, which consisted of 18 students this year, works cohesively as a team. This course gives a unique opportunity for students to experience economic analysis, monetary policy decision-making, public speaking and teamwork and I am very proud of their accomplishments."
The 2019 Fed Challenge Team
Back row left to right: Paiyam Kardgar, Tydian Sylla, Emma Gleason, Erin Byrne, Nicole Lipinski (Teaching Assistant for the course), Francesca Gianetta, Christian Daly, Christopher Robertson
Front row left to right: Karlo Vlahek, Jared Ciccarelli, Unique Jones, Odalis Galeano, Caroline Byman, Christine Storrie, Therese Lyons, James Mulvey, Christian Dunphy, Edmund Carroll, Meredith Bergman
SUNY Oneonta’s American Marketing Association (AMA) student chapter finished 6th overall among almost 400 competing undergraduate chapters from throughout North American at the AMA International Collegiate Conference Awards Banquet on March 16, 2020. Its Case Competition Submission on behalf of Cotton, Incorporated was recognized as exemplary, and its Poster Competition submission under the direction of Dr. Wilson Lin finished in third place. Dr. Lin’s marketing students consistently excel in team competitions, having participated in many AMA competitions throughout the most recent five-year period.
Alumni Kaitlyn Hensler, Anthony Cerchia, and Brianna Muenkel from the Syracuse CPA firm of Dannible & McKee LLP vsited campus in the early fall to speak with students and conduct employment interviews; so also did alumnus Beth Benedict and partners Kevin Testo and Ken McGivney from Albany-based firm The Bonadio Group. Partner David Iles from Ithaca firm Sciarabba Walker & Co. also visited campus to speak with Accounting Society members about job opportunities and career development in a smaller accounting firm. Alumnus Shaun Goodman, of The Goodman CPA Group in Marlboro, NJ, spoke to accounting society members about skills needed to succeed in the accounting profession and the importance of combining competence with integrity as a professional accountant. Vanessa Hernandez and Anna Lammers, alumnae and staff accountants with Manhattan-based Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP, were accompanied on their visit to campus by the firm’s Director of Human Resources, David Finkelstein. Their discussions focused on the accounting profession, interview and resume pointers, as well as employment opportunities available at the firm. Accounting Society members also participated in the annual Backpacks to Briefcases trip to New York City in October and in the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program over the winter break and first half of the spring semester. The Executive Board included Justin Heller (President), John Clancy (Vice President), Jason Cropsey (Treasurer), and Martin Stone (Secretary). Advisors to the club are Professors Charlene Foley-Deno and Lisa Flynn.
The Economics club mission for the 2019-2020 academic year was to grow, develop, and expand. The club met four times during Fall 2019 and once during Spring 2020. The Executive Board included Ethan McDonald, Trevor Toussaint, Blake Dellabough, Sean Ryan, Marlea Morales, Michael Capasso. Advisors to the club are Professors Kpoti Kitissou and Christine Storrie
Throughout the year, the club helped promote Club Expo and fundraising activities. They held a bake sale during the College Fed Challenge rehearsal session for the competition.
Dr. Philip Sirianni, associate professor of economics, has been recognized with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Since joining SUNY Oneonta in 2012, Philip has established himself as an innovator. Dr. Sirianni developed two upper-level environmental and sustainability-related economics courses: Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Economics. He designed the college’s first interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning initiative, which the National Science Foundation featured in a video. Similarly, the Journal of Economics and Finance Education featured a creative classroom game that Dr. Sirianni developed for his Intermediate Microeconomics course.
Dr. Izabella V. Lokshina, Dr. Cees J.M. Lanting (a member of the SEB Business Advisory Council), and Dr. Barbara J. Durkin were honored in August 2019 as winners of the IGI Global 11th Annual Excellence in Research Journal Award. Their article, “IoT- and Big Data-Driven Data Analysis Services for Third Parties, Strategic Implications and Business Opportunities,” was published in the International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJESD) in 2018.
The IGI Global 11th Annual Excellence in Research Journal Awards highlight journal articles from the 2018 volume year that showcase forward-thinking research from IGI Global’s eleven core subject areas. Honoring outstanding scholarship and advanced research within IGI Global's prestigious journal collection, the Excellence in Research Journal Award recognizes the scholars behind the research for their insightful and remarkable contributions. The journal articles are selected for this award based on the following criteria: contribution to the field; originality of the research; practicality of research/results; quality of writing; rigor of the research; and substantive research and methodology.
Dr. Steve Walsh, associate professor of marketing, has been recognized as American Marketing Association (AMA) Faculty Advisor of the Year for the second time in April 2020. The first such recognition was in 2001. Dr. Walsh also was the recipient of an AMA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. The School of Economics and Business is proud of its outstanding AMA Collegiate Chapter and its continuous record of accomplishments over three decades.
Dr. Simona Giura’s paper titled “How does knowledge appropriability impact the decision to acquire the alliance partner?” was the winner of the Richard Briotta Best Paper in Knowledge/Strategy at the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference in the spring of 2020. This paper looks at how strategic alliances lead to knowledge transfers in alliance related areas (intended knowledge transfers), while also leading to knowledge spillovers in alliance unrelated areas (unintended knowledge transfers). The paper argues that high unintended knowledge transfers lead to acquisition of alliance partners while intended knowledge flows deter the acquisition of alliance partners. “
Dr. Lambrianos Nikiforidis, assistant professor of marketing, was invited by WalletHub (a personal finance and credit monitoring website) to offer his expert opinion on premium credit cards and their rewards for consumers in the economic environment of the current pandemic. His commentary was published as part of the WalletHub column “Ask The Experts.”
Life of the Mind (LOTM) showcase was held at SUNY Oneonta on November 13 & 14, 2019. SEB faculty presented their research to the campus community at the annual event.
Kpoti Kittissou, Christine Storrie (Economics, Finance & Accounting), Anthony Messina (SUNY Oneonta u/g student) The Impact of Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse on Socioeconomic Outcomes
Michael McAvoy, Kpoti Kitissou (Economics, Finance & Accounting), Nicholas Giordano (former SUNY Oneonta u/g student) Estimating the Marginal Revenue Product of a Premium Men's College Basketball Player
Sean Shannon (Economics, Finance & Accounting) A Legal Case Study: Using the Case of the "Monkey Selfie" as a Pedagogical Tool for Teaching Copyright Law, Procedural Law, and the Evolving Legal and Ethical Considerations of Legal Personhood
The Community of Scholars (COS) honors faculty research and other scholarly/creative work, recognizing publications (books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and creative/other published works), professional contributions to the arts, and external grant awards.
This spring’s COS showcase honored faculty accomplishments for the period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, and included the following listing of School of Economics and Business honorees:
Honorable Mention Scholars of the Year:
Izabella Lokshina, Professor, Management, Marketing and Information Systems School of Economics and Business
Book Chapters:
Simona Ileana Giura Giura I. S., Hasan, I., & Kumar, M. V. S. (2019). The effect of alliance scope on knowledge flows. In F. Contractor, & J. Reuer (Eds.), Frontiers of Strategic Alliance Research: Negotiating, Structuring and Governing Partnerships (pp. 252–266). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Izabella Lokshina
Lokshina, I., & Lanting, C. J. M. (2018). A qualitative evaluation of IoT-driven eHealth: Knowledge management, business models and opportunities, deployment and evolution. In N. Kryvinska, & M. Greguš (Eds.), Data-Centric Business and Applications. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 20. (pp. 23–52). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Lokshina, I., & Bartolacci, M. R. (2019). Thinking eHealth: Empowering for well-being with health monitoring systems. In N. Meghanathan (Ed.), Strategic Innovations and Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Telecommunications and Networking (pp. 290–312). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Izabella Lokshina and Barbara Durkin
Lokshina, I., Durkin, B., & Lanting, C. J. M. (2019). IoT- and big data-driven data analysis services for third parties: Business models, new ventures and potential horizons. In N. Meghanathan (Ed.), Strategic Innovations and Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Telecommunications and Networking (pp. 256–289). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Izabella Lokshina and Hua Zhong
Lokshina, I., & Zhong, H. (2019). Digital communications and a smart world. In N. Kryvinska, & M. Greguš (Eds.), Data-Centric Business and Applications. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 1 (pp. 1–21). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Lambrianos Nikiforidis
Nikiforidis, L. (2019). Paternal relationships with sons and daughters. In V. A. Weekes-Shackelford & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology and parenting. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles, and Creative/Other Published Works:
Kai Chen and Dona Siregar
Chen, K., Lin, A., & Siregar, D. (2018). Auditor reputation, auditor independence and the underpricing of IPOs. Journal of Applied Business and Economics 20(6): 30–38.
Jie Feng
Feng, J. (2018). How product attributes and innovativeness affect the volume of electronic word of mouth? Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness 12(4): 45–59.
Catalina Hurwitz
Hurwitz, C., Chou, W., Chang, C., & Prakash, A. (2019). The determinants of firms’ global diversification decisions. Applied Economics 51(30): 3274–3292.
Chien-Wei Lin
Rai, D., & Lin, C.-W. (2019). The influence of implicit self-theories on financial decision making. Journal of Business Research 95: 316–325.
Izabella Lokshina and Barbara Durkin
Lokshina, I., Durkin, B., & Lanting, C. (2018). The IoT- and big data-driven data analysis services: KM, implications and business opportunities. International Journal of Knowledge Management 14(4): 88–107.
Lokshina, I., Lanting, C. J. M., & Durkin, B. (2018). The IoT- and big data-driven data analysis services for third parties, strategic implications and business opportunities. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development. Special Issue: Rise of the Business Ecosystems: Business Models, Structures, Processes, and People 9(3): 34–52.
Michael McAvoy
McAvoy, M. (2019). War, race, and ethnicity: Collector discrimination for Hall-of-Fame player baseball cards. The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2017–2018: 48–69.
Mine Ozer
Lee, S.-H., Ozer, M., & Baik, Y.-S. (2018). The impact of political connections on government bailout: Examining the recent 2008 sudden credit crunch in the United States. Economics of Governance 19(4): 299–315.
Christine Storrie
Storrie, C. L. (2018). Demystifying bubbles in asset prices. Pennsylvania Economic Review 25(2): 78–90.
Juan Wang
Wang, J. (2019). Long horizon institutional investors and the relation between missing quarterly analyst forecast and CEO turnover. International Journal of Accounting and Information Management 27(2): 190–223.
