The Marriott School at Brigham Young University announces ten MBA candidates as its 2004 Hawes Scholars. The honor, which carries a cash award of $10,000, is the highest distinction given to MBA students at the school. The 2004 Marriott School Hawes Scholars are Brian Baker, of Provo, Utah; Brent Dykes, of Vancouver, British Columbia; Nathan Furr, of Boston, Mass.; Michael Hennessy, of Boston, Mass.; John Higginson, of Provo, Utah; Jessica Johnson, of Lafayette, Calif.; Jason Marx, of Hyde Park, Utah; Gretchen Olson, of Paradise, Utah; Melissa Randall, of Provo, Utah and Whitney Seamons, of New Canaan, Conn.

Brigham Young University professor Warner Woodworth and MPA student Shon Hiatt received the Best Paper Award for the Business Division at the 2003 Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Conference. Their paper, “Socioeconomic Impacts of Microfinance in Mexico and Ecuador,” will be published in an upcoming issue of Utah Academy Journal.

A Marriott School undergraduate team recently placed first and a graduate team placed second at the national Deloitte Tax Case Study Competition—beating out other top accounting schools including University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois and University of Georgia. For the seventh time in the twelve-year history of the competition, both Marriott School teams placed among the top three in the graduate and undergraduate division—an unparalleled accomplishment. Robert L. Gardner, the Robert J. Smith professor of accounting, advised the undergraduate student team consisting of Chad Hungerford, from Rock Springs, Wyo.; Paul Rasmussen, from Houston; John Werlhof, from Chico, Calif.; and Jaron Wilde from Ventura, Calif.

By combining creativity with ingenuity and resourcefulness, a team of MBA students from BYU’s Marriott School of Management won the 2003 Thunderbird Innovation Challenge, coming in first out of 154 MBA student teams from around the world. The five second-year MBA students—who beat teams from Duke and Harvard—pocketed $20,000 for their inventive ideas and were named “The Most Innovative MBA Team in the World.” “It was an honor for us to meet and compete with talented MBA students from around the world,” says Scott Porter, an MBA student from Las Vegas, Nev.

Like a good husband, David Bateman listened when his wife complained about inefficient software used at the apartment complex where she worked. Then, like a good entrepreneur, the Brigham Young University business student started a company to make the most of the situation. Bateman's company, Property Solutions International, Inc., and the business model he helped develop worked so well it won Fortune Small Business magazine's first nationwide business plan competition.

In an economy characterized by receding retirement funds and a volatile stock market, a group of BYU MBA students beat the odds – and 18 other universities - to earn a 32 percent return on their portfolio. Sponsors of the competition, brokerage firm D.A. Davidson & Co., awarded the Marriott School's Peery Institute with a $7,000 check for successfully managing the company's $50,000 investment portfolio throughout last year.

What ever happened to the guy in your accounting class with the tapered jeans? What about the girl with the loud laugh who skewed the curve? Have you lost track of friends from a study group? A new service provided by BYU’s Marriott School may hold the answers. After more than 18 months of planning, designing and programming, the school has launched the alumni portals Web service.

A class of Marriott School students has established the university’s first-ever endowed scholarship funded by a single class. With the help of matching contributions from the BYU Annual Fund campaign, the students contributed enough to form a scholarship endowment of $30,000. Students in the management suite class, a combined religion and business management course, donated $5,000 to the university.

Brigham Young University honored two professors in the Marriott School’s Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy at the 2003 University Conference. Wm. Gerard “Gerry” Sanders received a Young Scholar Award and Kristen B. DeTienne was named an Alcuin Fellow. “Professor Sanders is visible nationally and internationally as one of the rising stars in his field,” says OLS Chair Michael Thompson.

Students from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University helped successfully launch the Pete Suazo Business Center, Salt Lake City’s newest business support facility for Utah’s Hispanic and underserved communities. As part of the Marriott School’s Service-Learning initiative, graduate students Jessica Johnson, Geoff Howard, Marcelo Ontiveros, Adam Stevens, Adrian Araoz, Brenda Sandoval, Marcie Holloman and Miguel Romero played an integral role in the center’s formation and launch.

University officials announce the creation of the William G. Dyer Institute for Leading Organizational Change. The new institute, housed in the Marriott School of Management, will further faculty research about organizational change and allocate resources to facilitate student research projects and field studies.

In the midst of accounting scandals and the aftermath of 9/11, a study by a Brigham Young University professor and other accounting experts provides organizational guidance through a revolutionary risk-management framework that helps companies prepare for corporate catastrophes. The study, intended for all organizations regardless of size, provides a “how to” process for identifying, measuring, prioritizing and responding to risks.

The Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University is pleased to announce the 2003 Staff and Administrator Excellence Awards. This year’s recipients include: Pamela Castillo, controller; Tad Brinkerhoff, Global Management Center executive director; Darlene Burgi, Military Science department secretary; and Joan Young, undergraduate management program director.

Brigham Young University officials announce the creation of the Center for Economic Self-Reliance to oversee and coordinate the university’s ongoing initiatives to help families throughout the world become economically self-reliant. The new center will bring together the annual Microenterprise Conference, Journal of Microfinance and research and fieldwork support. Formation of the center was initiated by a $3 million contribution from Bob and Lynette Gay, recent recipients of BYU's 2003 President's Award for their ongoing support of BYU. "The university is very pleased to announce the creation of the Center for Economic Self-Reliance to be housed in the Marriott School of Management," says Sandra Rogers, BYU vice president for international affairs.

Brigham Young University’s Romney Institute of Public Management honored John C. Darrington with its 2003 N. Dale Wright Outstanding Alumni Award, one of the most prestigious distinctions given by the institute. The Romney Institute presented the award at a banquet Friday in Salt Lake City. The award is given annually to an alumnus of the BYU Master of Public Administration program who demonstrates extraordinary service and leadership in the work environment, is actively involved in community volunteer activities and maintains a high standard of excellence.

Students at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management selected two of their classmates and a professor to receive the 2003 Merrill J. Bateman Awards. These honors, now in their second year, are the only awards chosen solely by business school students. Student leaders joined President Bateman and Dean Ned Hill to recognize Aaron Ashby and Nick Newton with Merrill J. Bateman Outstanding Student Awards and Professor Steven Thorley with the Merrill J. Bateman Student Choice Award.

Brigham Young University information systems students earned top marks in their first appearance at the National Collegiate Conference (NCC) in West Lafayette, Ind. Two of the six students from BYU’s Marriott School of Management scored among the top three in individual competitions. Ryan Caldwell, a junior from El Paso, Texas, placed first out of 200 students on the information systems core examination and second on the Web development examination.

Despite being one teammate short, arriving at the competition with only five minutes to spare and having to begin planning their case in a car by flashlight, a team of three students from BYU’s Marriott School recently placed second at an international business ethics competition. The team consisting of Isaac Appiah, Rick Bingham and Marcie Holloman competed against four-person teams from 14 other universities at the Net Impact 2003 International Case Competition hosted by the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brigham Young University’s business and law schools are among the top 50 in the United States, reports U.S.News & World Report in the magazine’s April 14, Best Graduate Schools issue. The Marriott School of Management is ranked 29 for the second straight year, and the J. Reuben Clark Law School is ranked 31, moving from the 37 spot it held last year.

Brigham Young University’s Romney Institute of Public Management named Utah State Treasurer Edward T. Alter as the 2003 Administrator of the Year. Alter has been treasurer since 1980. Addressing public management students and faculty at a banquet held in his honor, Alter said, “I have a brief plea to all of you to keep statesmanship and civility in mind as you serve in the public arena. We need to be the ones who are polite and who are civil and who are gracious.” Romney Institute Chair Robert Parsons says, “Ed Alter exemplifies a man of vision, integrity and hard work.