Faculty and Student Accomplishments

Faculty Accomplishments

• G.N. Naidu (FIL) and Askar Choudhury (MQM) had their paper, “Country Betas and Potential Gains from Diversification in the European Union,” accepted for presentation at Academy of Finance meeting for  March 2006 in Chicago. 
• Carson Varner (FIL) wrote an article which appeared in the September 26th issue of Illinois Farm Bureau Farm Week “Making a Case Against 1031 Exchange Purchases” and was interviewed on the same subject on the Illinois Farm Bureau radio program “RFD Today” in November.
• S. J. Chang (FIL) made a presentation on November 5 at the North Park University International Symposium in Chicago.  His presentation title was "Cultural Spirit of Korean Business Entrepreneurship."
• Caroline Craig (ACC) is the recipient of the 2005 Arthur H. Winakor Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year award, sponsored by McGladrey & Pullen, LLP, a long-time supporter of the Department of Accounting at ISU.

Student Accomplishments

Forty-nine highly-qualified students submitted their applications for the 2005-2006 Caterpillar Student Excellence Fund Scholarship. ”All applicants showed characteristics of excellence and are among the highly qualified, highly motivated, highly caring members of our student community,” said Norris Porter who reviewed all the applications. A total of seven scholarships were awarded. Each winner will receive $1,000 after the 10th day of the spring 2006 semester.

Caterpillar Excellence Fund Scholarship winners for this academic year are:

• Chelsey Brewer, BS/MPA
• Ryan Cunningham, Financial Accountancy
• Courtney Marx, Marketing
• Laura Meade, Finance & Economics
• Derek Meiss, BS/MPA
• Milana Shekhtman, International Business
• Micaela Small, Marketing

Schmitt Wins Outstanding Thesis Award

Michelle Schmitt won the College of Business Outstanding Thesis Award for 2005. Leon Schjoedt (MQM) and John Lust (MQM) were co-chairs of her thesis committee. Schmitt was named the 2005 Outstanding MBA Student of the Year and completed her degree in May. While at ISU, Michelle was active in the MBA Association and served as Schjoedt’s graduate assistant. He directed Michelle in an independent study focusing on the recent developments in personality research and how it applies to entrepreneurship. Michelle presented her paper last January at the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). “The audience, which consisted of entrepreneurship researchers from around the world, was very impressed with Michelle’s presentation.  Several professors from top universities inquired if she was interested in joining their PhD program in entrepreneurship,” reported Schjoedt. The paper is currently under review at Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal. 

In her award-winning thesis, Michelle examined how the demands from work and family roles create a conflict and how this conflict influence job satisfaction for small business executives.  She conducted a rigorous review of the literature, analyzed the data using moderated regression analysis, and discussed her findings in relation to the literature and to future research needs.  A paper based on Michelle’s thesis has been accepted and will be presented this coming January at USASBE.

Schmitt currently works as a Claims Processor at State Farm Insurance and is active in a variety of local service organizations.