Category Archives: Event Recaps

Annual BHP Community BBQ Kicks Off the School Year

Date
Posted by
Comments0
Annual BHP Community BBQ Kicks Off the School Year

BBQ

Last night, around 200 students attended the annual BHP Community BBQ, where they chatted over free BBQ at Scholz Garten and then competed in six rounds of trivia with representatives from BP, ConocoPhillips, Dell, Deloitte, Dropbox, PepsiCo and PwC.

Teams were asked to choose a team name. Some of the names that garnered the best reactions from the crowd were  “Sorcerer’s Prentice,” “Staff Infection” and “Dr. Konana’s Voiceover IP.”

Trivia rounds done by “Geeks who Drink” were witty and hilarious. Rounds included: “Bad YouTube Karaoke,” which required participants to identify songs that someone had completely botched and posted on Youtube; “Wallstreet Balderdash,” in which teams had to identify the true meaning of made-up words used by those working on Wall Street; and “Do Give Up Your Day Job,” a round which brought to light some interesting past occupations of famous celebrities.

The competition was fierce and in the end teams Deloitte and Lets Get Fiscal tied for first place, but a tie breaker question set team Deloitte apart as the first place winner. Deloitte team members included:

BBQ4

Top row (from left to right):
Arvind Sivakumar
Rabin Shetty
Sai Yeluru
James Abbott
Malorie Liljenwall (Deloitte rep.)

Bottom row (from left to right):
Mickey Li
Kevin Yu
Sophia Ding
Macy Huang
Lisa Feng
Nazifa Mim
Kevin Chiu (Deloitte rep.)

Special thanks to our sponsors: BP, ConocoPhillips, Dell, Deloitte, Dropbox, PepsiCo and PwC!

 

BHP Students Mingle with Professors at HBA Events

Date
Posted by
Comments0
BHP Students Mingle with Professors at HBA Events

Konana DWAPThe Honors Business Association (HBA) hosts Dinner with a Professor (DWAP) events throughout the year to connect BHP students with professors outside of the classroom. “After the DWAPs professors have more participation in class since students know the professors more which makes them more comfortable,” said Rachel Solomon, outgoing HBA Academics VP. “It also gives professors an opportunity to learn what we are doing outside of class and how what we are learning in the classroom is being applied.”

HBA hosted DWAP events with the Dean of the McCombs School, Tom Gilligan, and BHP MIS professors Ashish Agarwal and Prabhudev Konana in April. For both events students were invited into their homes and were able to share dinner with the hosts and their families. “DWAPs are very popular events,” said Solomon. “They always fill up. Students really enjoy the professors and want to spend time with them outside of the classroom. Professors and the dean have a lot to do, but they take time to be with the students for a night.”

Konana DWAP3The HBA MIS DWAP is a tradition now and an event that students look forward to every year. The event was held in the home of Ashish Agarwal and co-hosted by Prabhudev Konana. The two professors enjoy sharing Indian culture with the students and call their DWAP a Bollywood dance party and Indian feast. This year 70 students attended. Students really look forward to letting loose and having fun with the professors. “Dr. Agarwal and Dr. Konana want everyone dancing and they teach them dance moves. Everyone gets really excited to see the professors dancing,” said Solomon. Neal Makkar, a junior in the program, has been to the MIS DWAP multiple times and really enjoyed it this year. “I noticed my friends all enjoying the Indian food, some for the first time,” he said. “It was incredible to see how willing people were to learn the Garba dance style – the entire group participated!”

Dean Gilligan hosted a smaller group of 15 students at his house. “I was expecting it to be formal,” said Solomon, “but he kept it very casual.” Students who attended were treated to a short tour of the back of the house and the backyard. They had dinner with him and his wife and enjoyed learning more about them and sharing more about themselves. “He made us feel very welcome and at ease. It speaks to the openness and transparency of the school that he was willing to answer all of our questions and no topic was off limits,” said Solomon.

HBA hosts around four to five DWAPs a semester. The Business Honors Program is grateful to HBA for organizing these events and to the faculty and administrators who generously give of their time to host them.

Konana DWAP2

BHP Class of 2018 Connects at Discover BHP

Date
Posted by
Comments0
Discover BHP Co-Chairs Nicole Chu and Neal Makkar

Discover BHP Co-Chairs Nicole Chu and Neal Makkar

Written by Nicole Chu, BHP sophomore and Discover BHP Co-Chair 

This past Saturday, more than 100 admitted students and their families flocked to campus for Discover BHP, a day-long showcase of everything the Business Honors Program has to offer. My co-chair Neal Makkar (BHP/Finance ’15) and I had the honor of planning the event, and we are excited to report that thanks to the combined efforts of the BHP faculty, staff, and students, the day was a resounding success.

Neal and I received so much positive feedback from the attendees: parents raved about the BHP’s 100% job placement rate and the stellar academics, students rejoiced at the vibrant community and extracurricular opportunities, and both praised the friendly, professional demeanor of all the current students, faculty, and staff. I cannot count how many times a guest approached me to tell me that the event had effectively raised his/her opinion of the Business Honors Program, and that it was the people who made all the difference.

I could not agree more with that sentiment: it is the people who invest their time into the program that make the BHP one of the preeminent undergraduate business programs in the country. Moreover, having met them myself, I have no doubt that the latest batch of students will continue this legacy and raise it to still greater heights.

To the Class of 2018: Welcome to the BHP! We cannot wait to see the great things you will accomplish on the Forty Acres. Here’s a quick recap of the day for those who weren’t able to join us.

 

Admitted students getting to know one another

Admitted students getting to know one another

We started the day bright and early in the SAC Auditorium, where BHP faculty director Robert Prentice rattled off an impressive list of BHP employers to dazzle our guests. Following his opening remarks, a group of volunteers took the prospective students out for small group icebreakers and a tour of McCombs. Meanwhile, academic advisor Tisha Monsey and admissions director Paul Pritchett hosted a Q&A-style information session for the parents. Once reunited, students and parents participated in a series of panel discussions covering a wide range of topics: student life, careers and internships, and study abroad.

Lunch was my favorite part of the day—and not just because of the delicious meal. I simply enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the admitted students and their families in a relatively informal setting, fielding questions about my experiences in the program and sharing general college advice. After the meal, Jeffrey Schwartz (BHP/Finance ’07) delivered the keynote speech, in which he discussed how the BHP and UT prepared him for his career path, which has spanned investment banking, business development and entrepreneurship.

Students attending Jade DeKinder's marketing class

Students attending Jade DeKinder’s marketing class

Hunger abated, the high school seniors returned to the business school for a taste of BHP academics. Half of the students participated in a mock marketing class with Dr. Jade DeKinder, and the other half experienced Dr. Robert Prentice’s business law class. In the meantime, the parents met members of the BHP Parents’ Council in another interactive panel discussion.

For the final session, parents and students came together in the SAC Auditorium yet again to hear from our esteemed faculty. Some of our most beloved BHP professors were joined by Associate Dean Dave Platt for an entertaining and informative discussion.

Before Discover BHP officially ended, Neal and I had one final surprise for our guests. We had spent the day bragging about the breadth of extracurricular involvement by BHP students, so we figured we should spotlight some of that talent. Aware that BHP/MIS sophomore Pearce Illmer was the music director for the a cappella group One Note Stand, we invited the group to perform. They sang a soulful rendition of “Morning Comes” by Delta Rae, and then led our prospective Longhorns in “The Eyes of Texas.” One Note Stand was well-received by the audience, if the number of phone recordings I saw in the audience is any indication. It was the perfect way to end the day.

BHP Freshmen Take on Excel and Grammar at Annual Boot Camp

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Written by Anna Hiran

PivotTables, Oxford commas, what-if analysis, faulty pronoun references. What? This year’s MIS 301H and B A 324H boot camp was a shocking wake-up call for me and a good number of other freshmen in the BHP. Tuesday morning, I unknowingly said that I knew how to navigate my way through Excel: by that, I meant I knew how to enter numbers in cells, use the SUM function, and fill cells with whimsical colors. I was completely unaware of a whole other realm, a whole untapped world, hidden beneath the deceivingly simple-looking ribbon bar at the top of the screen. Professor Agarwal wrapped up the MIS section for the night with an application-based problem that demonstrated the incredible functionality of spreadsheets as well as my serious lack of Excel knowledge.

Once the clock struck 6:30 pm, we raided the pizza tables outside the auditorium and appreciatively enjoyed our free dinner. Pepsico, our generous class sponsor, sent representatives to reveal amazing technology they had developed to increase efficiency and conveniently sell products to stores using only an iPad and their fingertips. Much to our chagrin, that mental break ended too quickly.

Part two of our boot camp started off with the grading of our grammar diagnostic tests. As Professor Riekenberg provided explanations for the correct answers, it was made clear that I had the grammar of a second-grade student. My everyday e-mail typically consists of a random sprinkling of commas, capitalization errors, and an-obnoxiously-excessive-usage-of-hyphens. Ouch.

Quite honestly, the night was a bit painful because my ego was hurt, but we now have multiple reasons to be even more thankful for these first-year classes. It’s all about laying down the foundation so that we can successfully use technology to our advantage and send e-mails to prospective employers without sounding like cavemen. It’s apparent that MIS 301H and B A 324H will provide us with so much more than what we already know, and we’re all anxious to see what our professors have in store for us these next few months.

HBA Hosts Events to Connect Students with Profs Outside of the Classroom

Date
Posted by
Comments0


On Wednesday November 6, Honors Business Association students celebrated Thanksgiving early with a few “turkeys.” While no birds were consumed, fun was definitely on the menu as about 30 students gathered in the Texas Union Underground bowling alley for a PHIT (Professors Have Interests Too) with Dr. Burris and Dr. Prentice. The professors were eager to interact with students outside of the typical classroom environment, and students took full advantage of the informal networking opportunity to get to know two of the Business Honors Program’s finest professors. While some bowling balls may have ended up in the gutter, the event overall was a striking success!

Meanwhile, for one day only, FIN 357H students were able to forget about betas and the Capital Asset Pricing Model to focus on the beauty of the Texas Hill Country. At the annual Professor Hadaway DWAP (Dinner with a Professor), students were treated to a relaxing visit at the No Rules Ranch located outside of Dripping Springs. Away from the hustle and bustle of Austin, Professor Hadaway and her husband treated her students to a tour of the ranch and a wonderful meal. Due to the recent rains, students even got to see the rarest of sights – a waterfall in Texas! While it was easier for some students than others to put finance out of their heads for one day, all students agreed that the net present value of the DWAP was overwhelmingly positive.

–Written by Jace Barton, HBA Financial Chair