Category Archives: Program News

Professor Spotlight: Sekou Bermiss (MAN 336H)

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Professor Spotlight: Sekou Bermiss (MAN 336H)

Written by Audra Fields, BHP junior

Every Monday morning in MAN 336H, Professor Bermiss asks us what we did during the weekend. Some of us share our humorous or exciting weekend adventures, from hiking a mountain or going to parties, to studying all weekend long, but we never hear about his. We all know Dr. Y. Sekou Bermiss as the professor in the Management department who consistently dons business professional in every class he teaches. This week, however, I got the chance to sit down with him, sans the formal attire, and get to know him more, from classes, to career path, to love of Jay Z and his own weekend adventures.

 

What courses do you teach?

I teach Organizational Behavior for Honors (MAN 336H) and an Organizational Theory and Design seminar for PhD students.

But which class is your favorite?

This is tough, because I like them both for very different reasons. It’s like having to choose which child is my favorite! I get to do more fun stuff with MAN 336H because of the exercises and cases, and it’s more interactive. The PhD seminar is more about research, which is my passion. It is highly aligned with stuff I research and think about all the time.

What do you enjoy the most about teaching BHP students?

They have interesting experiences through their work and extracurricular activities and travels. It is really interesting to see how BHP kids see the world and organizations. While you guys are just now entering your professional lives, you have a lot of knowledge and intellect. I learn a lot from y’all. BHP kids can also be very insightful and creative if pushed, so we push y’all.

Rumor has it that you started out as a chemical engineering student before you went into management consulting. Tell me more about your career path and how you got into teaching.

Somewhere in junior or senior year of college, I liked chemical engineering, but thought the work was monotonous. I did a fluid catalytic cracking unit internship and was working on modeling design reactions with my 50-year-old manager, and realized I didn’t want to be doing that for 30 more years. Senior year, I applied for both consulting and engineering jobs. As a consultant, I pretty much learned everything on the job- the way organizations work, accounting, everything. Then, I took a leap of faith to spend my early twenties as a poor graduate student for five years. I’m glad I did it. Now, I’m a young-ish professor, and I love my job. I want to be at my desk until I die, and when I’m too old to walk, if I can still teach from a stool, I will. I love meeting young people and doing exciting things and researching what I want.

What are some fun facts about you?

  • I’m a huge hip hop music fan. My all-time favorite is Jay Z, but right now A Tribe Called Quest is my favorite, and on occasion I listen to Future. I love Kendrick’s old album, and I like his new album. I’ll need to listen to it for a few more days to decide.
  • I have two kids, aged 6 and 3, who are in bilingual schools. I think everyone should know at least two languages, maybe three or four. I have very elementary Spanish skills, and even less elementary French skills.
  • I’m originally from New York. I will always talk about New York sports! I’m a big Texas sports fan, too, and I always try to help any intramural groups on campus. I played basketball in college, so I understand trying to maintain the school-athletics balance.

What did YOU did this weekend?

Most Saturdays are packed with kid activities. My son does basketball and golf, my daughter does ballet. This past weekend my kids and wife were away most of Saturday at a conference so I came in to school to get some work done and meet with students that I’ll be teaching in Buenos Aires this summer.

Sunday’s are church in the morning and non-scheduled family time (read: trying to convince my kids to watch sports with me).

When and where are your office hours?

Mondays 1-4 in the spring. Afternoons, generally. I’m always available through email and anyone can stop by! I always welcome former and potential students, and just anybody. That’s why I’m here! And I have candy.

HBA Dinner with Professor Events Connect Students Outside of Class

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HBA Dinner with Professor Events Connect Students Outside of Class

Each year, the Honors Business Association (HBA) coordinates Dinner with a Professor (DWAP) events for BHP students. These are some of our most popular events. Students and professors enjoy getting to know one another outside of the classroom. For the professors, it is also a chance to share their interests and life outside of academia with the students. We thought we would recap some of the events we had this year. Thank you to parents who support these events by donating to the BHP Parents Endowment!

Dinner with Prof. Ashish Agarwal and Prof. Prabhudev Konana, April 2017

Freshmen attended our most popular DWAP with MIS 301H professors Konana and Agarwal. Prof. Agarwal hosts the event at his home. Around 50 students attend each year. Per usual, students were treated to Indian food and a brief dance party hosted by the two professors.

Dinner with Prof. Neuhann at Clay Pit March 2017

Students enjoyed family-style Indian cuisine at Clay Pit, talking about anything from travels, finance, to famous soccer players with their FIN 357H professor.

 

 

 

Dinner with Prof. Scott at Peached Tortilla, February 2017

These students “R” happy after enjoying a meal with their statistics professor at Peached Tortilla! If you aren’t in the calss, we might need to explain that the pun references the programming language R, which is used in professor Scott’s BHP statistics course. After dinner, the group went to Amy’s Ice-Cream for dessert!

 

 

Dinner with Prof. Hann at El Mercado, November 2016

BHP Students shared chips and queso with thFIN 357H professor Joe Hahn. Although he is not teaching the class this semester, he will be back teaching for BHP in the fall.

 

 

Dinner with Prof. Newman at Maudie’s Tex-Mex, November 2016

Students enjoyed a filling meal at Maudie’s with everyone’s favorite accounting professor, Dr. Paul Newman. Dr. Newman will be retiring this year after having taught at UT Austin since 1987. He will be greatly missed.

 

 

 

Dinner with Prof. Greenberg and Prof. Lukoff, November 2016

BHP Sophomores had a great time grabbing pizza with their STA 309H professors.

 

 

 

Dinner with Prof. McAlister and Prof. Peterson at Trudy’s, October 2016

BHP juniors made important connections with their marketing professors over queso and stuffed avocados. Do you see the Mexican food theme arising? It is always one of the students favorites!

 

 

 

Dinner with Prof. Greta Fenley at Gusto Italian Kitchen, September 2016

Amid plates of delicious Italian food, students got to know Prof. Fenley outside of the classroom and had the opportunity to share their backgrounds and interests.

Faculty Spotlight: Jedrzej Bialkowski – STA 375H

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Faculty Spotlight: Jedrzej Bialkowski – STA 375H

Written by Megan Tran-Olmsted

After building relationships with The University of Texas during his first visit in 2012, visiting professor Jedrzej Bialkowski was invited by the Department of Finance to teach and conduct research at UT for the Spring 2017 semester. With his breadth of knowledge in research areas such as microstructures and market risk management, The McCombs School of Business is lucky to have Professor Bialkowski for the semester!

Professor Bialkowski is teaching the Statistics and Modeling for Finance course (STA375H) to Business Honors Sophomores. The course serves as a hybrid between statistic skills learned in Statistics 309, market topics in Finance 357, and coding skills from MIS 301 – all courses required by BHP. The course seeks to help students utilize programs like SAS and @Risk to analyze market data and draw conclusions about financial performance. When teaching the class, Bialkowski routinely gives students real-world data from projects that he has worked on, allowing students to see the material learned in practice.

Jedrzej Bialkowski has been recruited by the world’s top universities and has been teaching for almost a decade after receiving several higher educational degrees. Professor Bialkowski was born and raised in Poland, but has received his education from universities around Europe. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, he pursued a master’s degree in mathematical finance, received his PhD in financial economics in Frankfurt, Germany and his post-doctoral degree in Paris, France.

Professor Bialkowski was then contacted by the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand for a research and teaching position within the finance department. After spending several years at the university, Bialkowski took an associate professorship at The University of Canterbury within the department of economics and finance.

When Dr. Bialkowski was choosing a career path, he briefly considered a career in financial services, but saw the benefits of academia as far greater. He says that his favorite aspect of teaching is that he can see students growing throughout the semester. Additionally, Bialkowski says that being a professor allows him to be the owner of his own time, something that he sees as invaluable.

In his free time, Professor Bialkowski enjoys traveling and has done so in several countries and across multiple continents. Though he was born in a country known for its chilly winters, Bialkowski says that he has an inkling for warm weather, and a particular weakness for the pacific island of Fiji. During class times, Bialkowski spends the last five minutes of class discussing notable places to travel within New Zealand, including famous beaches, museums, and even a bungee jumping spot that he ventured to.

If you spot him around McCombs, be sure to ask Dr. Bialkowski a couple of these questions:

  • Where are your favorite travel spots within New Zealand?
  • What are your favorite sports and classes that Gregory Gym offers?
  • Where else would you like to teach or live?

Stop by Professor Bialkowski’s office hours on Monday and Wednesday from 4:30PM – 5:30PM in CBA 3.440. He is eager to get to know students with interest in statistics, finance, and more.

BHP Advisor Tisha Monsey Wins Campus Advising Award

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BHP Advisor Tisha Monsey Wins Campus Advising Award

BHP Academic Advisor Tisha Monsey was selected as one of five winners of the campus-wide Vick Advising Award, administered by the Texas Exes. The award recognizes individuals who improve students’ overall experience at The University of Texas at Austin through outstanding advising. Tisha received nominations from nearly a dozen students for the award. Three of those students were able to attend the event last week where Tisha was presented with her award.

“I believe Tisha deserves this award because she is the perfect example of what advisors should be; kind, compassionate, present, and knowledgeable. Tisha is always looking out for us and very obvioulsy spends more than than she has to with us, which makes us BHP students all feel very loved,” one student wrote in her nomination.

“She works tirelessly to ensure both the mental health and academic success of her students. She cares deeply on a real and personal level. She is one of the reasons that my experience as part of a marginalized group on this campus has been so much better than anticipated, and most of all, she does all this without even realizing what a difference she makes,” wrote another student.

Tisha has been an academic advisor for BHP since 2014. Having worked at the University since 2009, she is very familiar with UT’s many resources and programs. She is passionate about helping students discover new opportunities and make sense of their experiences as they navigate their academic and professional paths. In addition to her role as an advisor, Tisha leads the BHP Leadership Kickoff, Peer Mentor Program, Freshmen Seminar class, Sophomore Socials, and Research Interest Group. BHP is indeed fortunate to have her on staff. Congratulations Tisha!

Students Compete in International Case Competition at USC

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Students Compete in International Case Competition at USC

In February a BBA team of three BHP juniors and one iMPA junior competed in the Marshall International Case Competition at USC. Only 17 top-ranked international and U.S. business schools were invited to participate in the competition. Although the McCombs team did not make it to finals, they performed well and placed second in their prelim room.

Teams of students represented schools such as University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, and Washington University in St. Louis. International competitors included Copenhagen Business School, University of Auckland, and National University of Singapore. The format for the competition was a 15-minute presentation with 10-minute Q&A. Teams had 24 hours to read the case and develop their solutions.

This year’s case focused on Intuit, a software company that creates financial tools for consumers and small businesses. Intuit’s most popular products are TurboTax and Quickbooks. The case asked teams to predict the needs of small businesses in 2026 and help Intuit prepare to meet those needs. Teams could recommend adaptations of Intuit’s existing products, suggest a new product offering, pitch a merger/acquisition, or come up with other ideas.

Eric Saldanha, BHP junior, explained the McCombs team’s solution. “We argued that predictive analytics would be the future of business technology,” he said. “With the rise of Big Data, businesses will have massive quantities of data to mine. However, understanding and analyzing that data will be a gargantuan task that Intuit can help with. With recent developments in machine learning and rosy expectations for future growth, we recommended that Intuit make investments in machine learning now so that it is the go-to provider of predictive analytics software for small businesses in 2026.”

The team had a phenomenal time seeing the Los Angeles area, and meeting teams from domestic and international schools. They were able to spend time in Santa Monica and visit The Getty Museum. One of the organized outings for competitors was to a barbecue restaurant in L.A. for dinner. The Texas team was asked many times by other teams how the barbecue compared to Texan fare. The team happily told them Texas barbecue was better.

The competition was a great experience for the four students who represented McCombs. “We learned a lot from the other teams and how they approached the case,” said Saldanha. “For example, non-U.S. teams placed a lot more emphasis on international markets and the needs of businesses in developing economies.” The team relied on each other’s strengths to come up with their solution in the allotted 24 hours and to confidently present it to the judges.

Student travel to case competitions is supported through generous donations to the Business Honors Program. Thank you to our alumni, whose support allows students to have enriching experiences such as this one. If you would like to make a gift to the BHP Alumni Endowed Excellence fund, click here.