A Knight of Firsts

The 22^nd Annual College of Business Hall of Fame was last Thursday night.  It is a night of celebration and pride.  My team puts a huge amount of time into reinventing this event each year, and it is always a special evening. 

This year turned out to be a year of firsts: Jaylen Brown was the first student to emcee the event. Jaylen rocked it. He was incredibly good. I’m sure he is going to get more than a few job offers from this event. I got President Cartwright to appear on stage by coming out of the corn. Rich Lapchick became the first faculty member to get the Legendary Knight award. Glenn Dial became the first inductee to also do a UCF graduation speech in the same academic year. Inez Long became the first African American woman inducted into our Hall of Fame. And, Barry Miller became the first inductee to surprise us with a million dollar pledge announcement on stage.

That is a lot of firsts for an event in it’s 22^nditeration but it shows progress.  Progress in our efforts to be more inclusive.  Progress in being a place worthy of investment.  Progress in being willing to laugh at ourselves a little without fearing we will be perceived as less than a serious academic institution. Progress in how we are preparing our students for the future. Progress in the kinds of faculty we can recruit to the College. 

It was a very good night.

Build it and they will come

I am finishing my tenth year as Dean of the College of Business at UCF.  When I came, my goal was to make the College an engaging place that would make us the choice of people who have choices.   I wanted to attract students, faculty, staff, alumni, and corporate partners who understand that learning is a social exercise, that the best education occurs when you get a chance to sit on a log next to someone who has something interesting to say irrespective of their title and that the only way to get the most out of your experience is to dive in.  In the immortal words of the one-hit wonders, The New Radicals: “You get what you give.”

Out of serendipity, April has provided a bit of a victory lap for all of the people who have helped me create this culture of engagement in the college.  Two weeks ago, we hosted our first FinTech Summit.  We brought together industry leaders and academics to talk about the changes going on in the financial services sector and how our new Masters in FinTech program developed in partnership with the Department of Computer Science would help prepare students and firms to thrive in this new world.  Two hundred people attended and our enrollment in the inaugural class is likely to hit capacity.  

Then last Friday, we held the Joust Finals in a room filled with students and friends of the College.  The event is presented by UCF College of Business alum Lou Lentine’s company Echelon Fitness Media and was judged by alums and friends of the College that included UCF Trustee Harold Mills and Sean Hayes of Voloridge Investment. The winner was Sam Baker, an economics major in the College. He has a company called WiggleBrew.  They produce a worm tea fertilizer that is odorless and doubles as a pesticide.  It could help to end fertilizer-induced red tides in Florida.

This Thursday, we will cap off this celebration of engagement with the 2022 College of Business Hall of Fame Induction at Rosen Shingle Creek.  We expect about 800 people to attend and honor Inez Long, Glenn Dial and Barry Miller.  All graduates of the college who have made an impact in their chosen professions and communities. When you take risks on the path to creating an engaging place, not everything works.  We have had to learn some lessons through failure, but many things did work and most of the time when we built it, they came.  

I can’t be more pleased with where we are today thanks to the efforts of Tiffany Hughes, Jessica Greene Dourney, Tina Hand, Kelli Morales, Foard Jones, Taylor Ellis, Sevil Sonmez, Sean Robb, Darrell Johnson, Erika Hodges, Jennifer Johnson, Kellie Wise, Lesley Crews, Josh Miranda, Susan Glenn, Sarah Drehoff, Kelly Dowling, Tara Kemmerling, Roy Reid, Jonathan Gabriel, Cameron Foard, Lonny Butcher, Lynn Becker, an amazing set of department chairs, our student ambassadors, and the entire faculty and staff of the college. There is always more to do, more progress to be made and more lessons to learn, but Thursday is about showing a little pride in what we have accomplished together. I will see you all there.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble! Joust Finals are Thursday

Cybersecurity and gardening will be among the business plans battling it out this Thursday for $50,000 at the Joust New Venture Competition finals. The Joust is UCF’s premier startup showcase event featuring students of all majors  delivering their best pitches to a panel of seasoned judges in front of a live audience. Think Shark Tank without Mark Cuban. The event is presented by Echelon Fitness Multimedia and hosted by the UCF College of Business’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. 

Several former Joust finalists have gone on to launch successful businesses after competing, so don’t miss your chance to see UCF’s entrepreneurial spirit in action. The Joust is open to the public and will start at 2 p.m., at the Celeste Hotel on UCF Main Campus. 

Read more about the finalists: https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-students-to-compete-for-50000-in-joust-business-competition/