Jenna E

Diversity & Inclusion

Every year the Human Capital & Leadership Club (HCAL) at the McDonough School of Business works with Deloitte to plan a Diversity & Inclusion Case Competition. The event features a key note speaker, a diversity and inclusion panel, and the case competition. Four schools are invited to participate in the competition and attend the event. 

I have been working with the President of HCAL to plan this year's case competition. The day is on February 15th and we are in full planning mode. It has been pretty exciting to work with Deloitte on this event. Dean David Thomas will be our keynote speaker. Professor Jose Guerrero is moderating a panel that includes a Deloitte PPD, Dr. Christopher Metzler, Sharon Wong from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and a Federal Inclusion Lead.

The importance of the event is starting to set in today. In doing a little research, I came across an article about diversity and inclusion in the Obama era. The article talks about the initiatives that President Obama has overseen and the President's goal for the federal government to "develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion..." I am looking forward to hearing what our panelists have to say about that and what they see as our (current business school students) role in creating an inclusive workforce in the future. 

New Year, New Semester, New Everything

I haven't started classes yet for my second semester and already everything feels different. I spent today planning future club events and preparing for case interviews. I have less classes this semester but a lot of club responsibilities and (hopefully) interviews.

Here are the classes I am taking this Mod (our semester is broken into two mods). I am pretty excited about them.

Leadership & Social Intelligence - This is a new hybrid course taught by three professors. The class focuses on leading people and change.

Analytical Problem Solving - Also taught by three professors, we will learn how to use quantitative modeling.

Operations - We will cover key concepts, models and tools, managerial issues, and current trends in global spread of production and supply chains.

Small Business Clinic - For this class, we will work in teams to support a local business. The businesses will present challenging projects for teams to analyze and build comprehensive solution. I am particularly excited about this class!

 

 

 

 

 

MOVember

In November, McDonough School of Busines students volunteered over 1,500 hours and raised over $30,000 by growing mustaches through Movember. The foundation funds programs that fight prostate cancer and raise awarness about men's health issues. 

A few pictures from volunteer events this month. 

   

 


The ladies in the blue cohort show their support of MOVember .

Election Season in DC

The election was last week and it was pretty exciting to be in the nation's capital for it. The topic came up in a few of our classes as well. Professor Pinkowitz introduced us to intrade.com, a prediction market where prediction are valued based on buying & selling habits. On Intrade you could buy shares of Romney or Obama and the market would pay $10 for shares of the winning candidate. Professor Pinkowitz took screenshots of intrade and CNN's election map on the night of the election to see how accurate the market predicted the election.

 

 

 

  It was also election season in the McDonough School of Business. The first year students ran for SGA board positions and will take over the board in January. The candidates went all out on campaigning and it was a fun week. There were chocolate campaign buttons, rap videos, jumping photos, and more. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I am off this week to my husband's parent's house in Michigan. 

MOV, Operations and Puppies

A lot of student recruiters get asked, "what is a typical day for you like?". There are no typical days; weekends, when we are out of class, are even less structured. While this is not "typical" let me give you a weekend in the life of a McDonough School of Business student. 

Thursday
On Thursdays, my cohort has Finance at 9:30 a.m., Firm Analysis & Strategy at 2:00 p.m. and Accounting at 3:30. Then every Thursday is kegs, a social for all Georgetown MBA students. Last week's Kegs was hosted by MBA Volunteers. We kicked off our Month of Volunteerism with this fun video and the SGA promoted MOVember by selling mustache-shapped lollipops.

 

Friday

The Georgetown's Operation and Management Association held their annual career day at the McDonough School of Business. The event began with two panels of Georgetown MBA alumni who currently work in operations or managment at various companies (Volkswagen, IBM, American Airlines, American Express, ATK, etc.). Recent alumni have been especially helpful in giving advice relating to classes and careers.

The event continued with a speech from Bruce Harris, Vice President and Chief Risk Strategy Officer at Volkswagen, and address from Rob King, Senior Vice President, Editorial at ESPN Digital and Print Media. 

Some pictures from the day, courtesy of Marco Veneziana.

      

Saturday
To start my volunteering for the Month of Volunteerism, I went to a dog and cat adoption site in Virginia and helped watch and take of the dogs. It was a fun afternoon and it was nice to volunteer with friends.

Some of my classmates with one of the dogs:
 Sunday
On Sunday. I joined a few classmates at a rooftop BBQ (we braved the cold weather in exchange for beautiful views) and then spent the day studying and getting ready for classes on Monday.

Midterms at McDonough

Last week was midterm/final week at McDonough. The first-years are currently on a semester calendar so we had midterms; second-years are on the mod schedule so they had finals (although it seemed like they had more projects and papers than tests).  Here is what we had:

Strategy/Micro-Econ - Before I started this class I did not think they could mix these two topics smoothly but they have. Our midterm had a lot of problems where we had to figure out the economic impact of two options and then make a strategic decision.

Finance - If you come to Georgetown for you MBA, please take a class with Professor Lee Pinkowitz. He is an amazing teacher and really pushes you to learn and understand. His midterm was challenging but there were no surprises. 

Marketing - No midterm here. We submited a team memo on a new product and marketing plan for Unilever. 

Accounting - In my opinion, our hardest midterm.

Statistics - Just a regular midterm here. 

This week is career week for McDonough. I am attending the Net Impact Conference. More about the conference and my career search soon. 

KEGS!

The McDonough School of Business has a weekly social event, kegs. There is a lot more to it than the name. Every Thursday a different MSB club or organization hosts the event and there is typically beer, wine, food, and activities. It is right in the Hariri building and only open to Georgetown MBA students. It is a nice way to relax at the end of the week (Thursdays at 5 are close enough to the weekend) and catch up with classmates I don't get to see during the week.

Two weeks ago there was a trivia contest. My team was tied for first!

This Thursday was a reality-themed kegs with a Top Chef cook-off and Jersey Shore hair contest. 

I also went to the Wine Club's tasting this week. Lots of good wine for under $12. It was a good event to meet a lot of second year students at well; they have been so welcoming.  The picture below was taken before most of the wine was drank.

 

 

Classes, Careers, Clubs, Oh my...

Any business school is a balancing act and the McDonough School of Business is no different. I am currently taking five classes, involved with six clubs, and searching for an internship. I am also trying to spend time with my husband (a picture of us on a rare date this week is below), go on an occasional run, and sleep. How do I manage? I prioritize and make sure that all of my time is spent productively. Currently, I am choosing this blog over sleep (it is 1:50 a.m. EST).

Today, I listened to a recorded Finance lecture while folding laundry. It works and my days go by fast. One thing I can't multi-task... sleep. Good night! 

The Club Decision

The McDonough School of Business offers 37 clubs for students. Clubs help with professional development, networking, and have social activities for members. McDonough held a club fair a couple of weeks ago and it was tempting to join every club but I limited myself. What I joined:

• Georgetown Wine Society - I am excited for a wine tasting in October.
• Georgetown Women in Business
• Human Capital and Leadership - McDonough has many function specific careers.
• Jewish Business Alliance - Not an official JBA event, but a few of us got together for Break Fast this week.

• MBA Volunteers - We are currently planning a Month of Volunteerism for November.
• Net Impact
• Nonprofit Internship Fund
• Outdoor Club - I am always up for a hike.

 

 

Going from a 9 to 5, to a, well.... 9 to 5

After working for 7 years, I started at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business this summer and a lot of friends have asked what the transition from work to school is like.  In true business school form, I made a chart.

Previous Work	Business School
Hours at job: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Average number of emails a day: 40 Number of projects worked on in a day: 3 Number of free meals in a month: 1 Number of coworkers: 6	Hours at school: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. or 7:00p.m. Average numbers of emails a day: 39 Number of cases or problem sets worked on in a day: 3 Number of free meals in my first month: 8! Number of coworkers: 250

The best unexpected benefit so far has been the friendships. There are about 250 students in one full-time class at the McDonough School of Business, and we are divided into four cohorts of about 60. Each cohort goes to each class together, studies together, and socializes together. I have met so many wonderful people here already.

 

A group from the Gray Cohort (my cohort) eating lunch and studying together.