Looking for a one credit course?

From the Chautauqua Institute:

A dynamic new partnership has created an exciting new opportunity for you and your St. Bonaventure colleagues and students this summer. Jamestown Community College and Chautauqua Institution are collaborating to offer “College Credit at Chautauqua,” a series of one-credit courses based on lecture themes at historic Chautauqua’s Institution Amphitheatre.

Each of the courses will include an introductory class, five Amphitheater lectures, five post-lecture classes of approximately one hour, and a wrap-up class. Students completing the course(s) for credit will be required to complete a writing assignment in addition to class and lecture attendance. Each course is offered at a special tuition rate of $44 for New York state residents and $80 for non-residents. Each student will also be assessed a $75 fee for Chautauqua Institution gate and parking passes for each course.

Please note that Week Eight (August 14 -18) focuses on “Business and Finance: America and the Fiscal Future,” and whether the American economy will boom or bust. Does America lead the world with innovation and a resilient and productive economy or is America ‘running on empty’ as the world’s leading debtor nation? What are the effects, if any, of the aging baby boomers, the development of alternative energy sources and the birthrate? What are the likely effects of tax policy, state and federal spending and the strength of the dollar? The week will also explore the financial health of major markets and developing economies around the world and their relationship to the United States economy. Scheduled guest speakers include Paul Solman, Phillip Marineau, Richard Bernstein, and US Rep. Michael Oxley.

To register for this unique educational experience, call 716/376-7500, ext. 2332.

Spreadsheet errors

The Unknown Professor over at FinancialRounds has an interesting article on spreadsheet errors. We can all benefit from looking over our spreadsheets!!

There are no magic bullets, but much good advice!

Lack of jobs lead to people leaving

From NY Times:

"In 13 counties that include cities like Buffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton, the population of young adults fell by more than 30 percent. In Tioga County, part of Appalachia in New York's Southern Tier, 42 percent fewer young adults were counted in 2004 than in 1990.

"Make no mistake: this is not business as usual," Robert G. Wilmers, the chairman of M & T Bank in Buffalo, told his shareholders this spring. "The magnitude and duration of population loss among the young is unprecedented in our history. There has never been a previous 10-year period in the history of the upstate region when there has been any decline in this most vital portion of our population.""

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT ON FACEBOOK!!!

Yes, I was screaming in the headline. How can people be so stupid? and yet I see many of my own students doing the same thing.

From the NY Times:

"At Facebook, a popular social networking site, the executive found the candidate's Web page with this description of his interests: "smokin' blunts" (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex, all described in vivid slang.

It did not matter that the student was clearly posturing. He was done.

"A lot of it makes me think, what kind of judgment does this person have?" said the company's president, Brad Karsh. "Why are you allowing this to be viewed publicly, effectively, or semipublicly?""

You work so hard to get an interview and then blow it. Stupid.

College Debt

Does this sound like you?

From USAToday:

"After years of rising college costs and shrinking financial aid, it's come to this: Some graduates are now leaving college with student-loan debt in the six figures.

Graduates with more than $100,000 in debt still account for a small subset of borrowers. But their numbers are rising. And the proportion who are leaving college with some level of unmanageable debt — debt they can't repay without significant hardship — is swelling."

but on the good side if it does:

"Still, students remain willing to load up on loans in large part because studies have long shown that an investment in college pays off. The Census Bureau has estimated that college graduates will earn about $1 million more over their lifetimes than individuals with only a high school diploma."

Mental outlook impacts learning

From ScienceDaily.com

"Those who consider intelligence a natural gift—or the lack thereof the
fault of bad genes—may have trouble recalling a fact they have just learned. On
the other hand, those who believe that intelligence is something that can be
acquired through dedication and hard work demonstrate more vibrant memories of
things past. Jennifer Mangels, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at
Columbia University in New York, says that such flexible thinkers have better
memories because they are less concerned about forgetting. "They look at a
mistake at a more meaning based level, rather than superficially." she says.
As a result, explains Mangels, the brains of flexible thinkers process
information in greater depth, increasing the likelihood of memorization."

If around Olean

from the SBU Notice Board

Sr. Margaret on WHDL/WPIG radio this Sunday

On Sunday, June 11, WPIG 95.7 FM and WHDL 1450 AM will air an interview with Sr. Margaret talking about the exciting St. Bonaventure campus construction, the Capital Campaign, the University’s commitment to the Atlantic 10 Conference and a number of other University-related topics. Tune in at 6:45 a.m. on WPIG and at 10:05 a.m. on WHDL.

Online spreadsheet from Google

From the Mercury News:

"Jonathan Rochelle, product manager for the Google Spreadsheet, said the service is targeted at individuals who want to do things like plan a reunion or track baseball scores for a little league team or small businesses.

It allows up to ten users to collaborate together, and reflects their changes in real time. It also offers a number of standard features, like frozen column headings and sorting, but does not have charting, autofilter or drag-and-drop capabilities. Rochelle said Google plans on adding new features based on feedback from users."

Great advice from an econ teacher

I had to put in text book orders for the fall semester today. I always feel bad because books are so expensive, but I feel even worse that they are not used. Thus, when I stumbled upon the following from John Whitehead's site I felt obliged to mention it. Short version: text books are to be read!

"Student (sincerely): What can I do to get a better grade on the next exam?
Professor: Well, how did you study for the first exam?
Student: I went over the notes and thought that I understood them.
Professor: Did you read the textbook?
Student: No.
Professor (shouting): Read the #@$%& textbook!
Student (giving me the look like I'm crazy): I tried to read it but I didn't understand it.
Professor (calmly now, regaining his/her composure): Right on, that's why it's called "study."
Student (excitedly): Oh. I get it! I can't wait to get started!

An econ class blog

You have to check this one out! I just got reading it for 20 minutes....very interesting!

"Welcome to Aplia's economic news blog, a place to explore current events that relate to your econ classes"

Thanks to FinancialRounds (the Unknown Professor) for pointing it out!

The importance of internships

Free Money Finance has a nice look at the importance of internships.
One brief look-in:

"While a student, you'll learn all the theories and study great people in your field. It's all great and wonderful to do nothing but dream and do mock projects. An internship in the 'real world' will allow you to put the theories to the test and to do real work. Also, you'll learn about office politics, how people make money in your profession and hopefully pick up a mentor. Things that the university can't/won't teach you."

So get out there and get one! ;) Seriously, I have seen many students turn around their college career for the better on the strength of a single intership. I can not stress enough their importance.

Competition AND cooperation

Sure there are teams that do not work out and the classroom is somewhat competitive (although personally I think I would like to see a bit more, not less competition ;) ). That said, it is always popular to stereotype MBAs as ultra-competitive, win at no cost people. I hear this argument regularly, but personally have never seen it. Either as a student (I got my MBA from the Simon School at Univ of Rochester) or teaching at St. Bonaventure or tutoring while getting my PHD at PSU. In all three cases I found MANY more cases of cooperation than competition.

From BusinessWeek (Kerry Patterson):

"All MBA classrooms are built as coliseums. They follow case methods almost universally across the country. Students come to class, where they get cold-called, and they're graded as much as half by how they respond. Teams of students meet -- and I've watched them for over 30 years now -- and they're brutal to each other. The professor plays the role of referee. "

After blaming professors and adminstrators, the article gets around to a very useful perscription:

" Become a student of human interaction. In the classroom, students should be paying attention to interactions that do two things -- get the problem solved or make the point in the classroom in a way that doesn't cause harm in a relationship. "

When people are in their working world and attending meetings, most people don't know that there are two things happening -- the argument itself and the process of how that argument's unfolding. The capacity to constantly be observing the argument at hand as well as the process people are using to make their points makes you doubly empowered. "

Which is a case of agreeing with the prescription but not the diagnosis!

An interesting piece from Harvard's Working Knowledge:

"The actual statistical calculations represent only 5 percent of the manager's work," says Frances Frei, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School who teaches two-day statistics seminars to corporate managers. "The other 95 percent should be spent determining the right calculations and interpreting the results."

Here are some guidelines for using statistics effectively:

College Central for jobs

You may have seen this, I had not. It should be much easier to search for jobs etc. College Central is a job site (career center) for small and medium sized colleges. SBU has joined. You should look it over.

Welcome to the CCN Services for St. Bonaventure University

These services are available to students, alumni and employers.

Approved employers may post jobs and search résumés.

Available services, help guides and announcements of interest can be accessed through the icons below. All services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

KKR goes public

PRIVATE equity became a little less private yesterday.

A unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, the private equity giant that came to fame with the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1989, went public in a $5 billion offering in Amsterdam.

Demand for the fund unit was high: the offering raised more than three times what was expected. Nonetheless, its first-day performance was lackluster. Shares of the fund, KKR Private Equity Investors, closed down 1.68 percent on Euronext, the pan-European exchange, at $24.58. About 25 million shares traded hands, an eighth of the total listing

On social security

Given we just talked about it (in Fin 422):

Despite Warnings, Reid Hails 'Sound' Social Security System -- 05/02/2006: "Labor Secretary Elaine Chao warned that as the Baby Boom generation begins to retire, the system faces increasing strain: 'What we continue to see is a looming fiscal crisis facing these two programs,' Chao said in a statement.

It's not just Social Security, she said, adding that defined-benefit

Majority vs Plurality

While this may be useful for all classes, it is EXACTLY what we were talking about when Chris Kinslow was lecturing!

Company News | Reuters.com:

"Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shareholders, rejecting management's recommendation, on Wednesday voted to urge the No. 2 U.S. bank to require that directors be elected by majority vote.

At the bank's annual meeting near its Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters, holders of 56 percent of Bank of America shares said the board of directors should begin a process to amend its certificate of incorporation or by-laws to require a majority vote.

and:

"Bank of America had urged that shareholders turn down the proposal. It said the current system, under which directors are elected by plurality"

"cheat sheet"

Just a reminder: for all my classes I have the same policy for finals:

* you are allowed a cheat sheet (front and back 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper)
* you can bring "present value tables" if you so desire, but you have to have created them yourself (excel) and they cannot be copied from a book.

quick comments on the MBA 610 cases for the 5 week course

Since we did not make teams for this week, let;s push it back to next week. We will talk about it in class on Friday.

Thanks!

Financial derivatives

Derivatives lecture from 5 week MBA 610 class