Professor R. Bruce Money has been appointed chair of the Business Management Department, succeeding Michael Swenson, who held the position for seven years. The change was effective on 1 July 2009.

Money was selected after Marriott School deans sought input from faculty members in the department and consulted with administration. Before his appointment Money served as an associate professor of marketing and international business.

“Bruce will serve with distinction in a very strong department,” Marriott School dean Gary Cornia says. Swenson served the department for seven years—one more than usual—before stepping down. He has worked at BYU since 1989.

“We are grateful for the many long hours Michael has contributed in his role as chair,” Cornia says. “We all owe a debt of gratitude to him.”





BYU’s business and law schools are among the top fifty in the United States, reports U.S.News & World Report in its “America’s Best Graduate Schools” issue. Other BYU graduate programs and specialties also rank in the top one hundred in their categories.

The Marriott School is ranked twenty-ninth for the second year in a row, tying its highest ranking ever from U.S.News, while the J. Reuben Clark Law School is ranked forty-first—up five spots from last year.

The law school is ranked seventeenth in the legal writing specialty—up five spots from last year—and tenth for graduates with the least debt. The Marriott School’s graduate accounting program is ranked eighth, maintaining its previous ranking.

“These rankings continue to shine a bright light on the quality of our students and the education they receive,” says Gary Cornia, Marriott School dean. “We are honored to be recognized with so many other topflight business schools. Even so, we believe the best measure of success is the influence for good our graduates have on their organizations and on society.”

This year’s rankings come from data from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and 11,000 academics and professionals conducted in fall 2008.

The Romney Institute of Public Management maintained its No. 51 ranking among top public affairs programs in the nation.

Finance professor Steve Thorley celebrates after finishing a leg of the 188-mile 2009 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back.

“Bernie Madoff with our money.” “Honk if you’re paying your neighbor’s mortgage.” “We’re too big to fail.” Not exactly the slogans you’d expect to see at an intensive long-distance run, but these and others could be found on vans supporting the Marriott School Subprime Securities team at the 2009 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back.

In the 188-mile run from Logan, Utah, to Park City, Utah, runners climb 14,562 feet over everything from suburban sidewalks to mountainous dirt paths. A team of twelve divides up the race, with each member running three legs. Subprime Securities finished fifth out of forty-six teams in the men’s corporate category and forty-first out of all 162 men’s teams. Team members say they were pleased—and a little surprised—with the result, considering the diversity of ages within the team. The youngest member was twenty-three while the oldest was half a century his senior.

A Marriott School team ran in last year’s race, and Sterling Bone, the 2009 team captain, says he wanted to build on previous successes by increasing participation from different areas of the Marriott School. Members from nearly every part of the school ran on the team, including Bone and fellow professors: Jeff Larson from marketing, Scott Summers and David Wood from accounting, Steve Thorley and Phil Bryson from finance, Jim Hansen from information systems, and Scott Thompson from ROTC. Two students, marketing undergraduate John Peterson and economics undergraduate Ian Wright, also ran on the team along with assistant dean Ron Seamons and National Advisory Council member Lloyd Hansen.

Team members say working toward a common goal through difficult challenges helped them understand and appreciate each others’ places within the Marriott School. The faculty on the team especially appreciated the chance to get to know a member of the NAC because of the council’s role in supporting the school.

“We’ve worked on projects with the faculty to improve curriculum and recruiting,” Hansen says, “and I think the better we know the people whom we’re working with, the better we can accomplish our professional goals.”

Former Marriott School dean and BYU president Merrill J. Bateman presents MAcc student Annie Iden with the Bateman Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Two students and one faculty member were honored on 2 April 2009 at this year’s Merrill J. Bateman Awards, the only schoolwide award selected entirely by students.

Each year the Bateman awards are given to one undergraduate student, one graduate student, and one faculty member for their support of the Marriott School, service to the community, professional development activities, and participation in networking.

“This is a great honor because it shows that those you are in the trenches with and with whom you associate daily appreciate what you do and who you are,” says Jarem Hallows, a senior business management student who received the award for outstanding undergraduate student. “I didn’t understand how big this award was until I saw the other finalists and read their bios. It’s overwhelming.”

Earl K. Stice, professor of accounting, received the award for outstanding faculty member, while Annie Iden, a second-year MAcc student from Riverton, Wyoming, was named outstanding graduate student.

Former Marriott School dean Merrill J. Bateman, for whom the award is named, addressed the large audience in the Tanner Building and spoke about the need for continued service beyond church responsibilities.


BYU is among the top schools to offer MBA students the most bang for their buck, according to Forbes magazine’s biennial list of best business schools. The BYU program placed sixteenth for return on investment in the publication’s 24 August issue, two spots ahead of its position in 2007, the last time Forbes published the list.

“Our students are known for having a rock-solid ethical foundation and an understanding of the value of work,” says Gary Cornia, Marriott School dean. “Our program combines those valuable characteristics with the technical skills needed to succeed. As a result, businesses and firms respond in increasingly positive ways in terms of opportunities and compensation.”

BYU MBA graduates earned $41,000 more over five years by attending graduate school, breaking even after nearly four years. Their average salary five years after graduating was $105,000, compared to $45,000 before entering the program. The BYU program also had the lowest tuition of any school in the top twenty.

Forbes compiles the rankings by comparing the salaries of MBA students before school and five years after graduation. The magazine reports the total return on investment after subtracting what a student’s salary would have been and the total cost of attending, including tuition and foregone compensation.

Stanford ranked first on the list, with an $85,000 return on investment, followed by Dartmouth at $80,000, and Harvard at $79,000.

Published by the Marriott School at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2009 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. All communications should be sent to Marriott Alumni Magazine, 490 Tanner Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Email: marriottmag@byu.edu. Telephone: (801) 422-5083. Fax: (801) 422-0501. The views expressed are those of the various authors and not necessarily the Marriott School. Change your mailing address here.