Internationally recognized logistics expert, Dr. Thomas Speh has been named the 2007 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Speh is the James Evans Rees Distinguished Professor of Distribution at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University.
Speh’s colleagues cite the innovative spirit he has brought to the science and practice of warehousing and logistics. He is the only American on the Advisory & Communications Board for the European Union’s “BestLog” project, creating best practices for logistics.
He earned a B.S. and an MBA from Miami University as well as a Ph.D. from Michigan State University and has been on the faculty at Miami since 1976.
Accessible and involved faculty, small class size, and each student's opportunities to apply what's learned in class to an ongoing internship and international consultancy helped Miami University's new MBA program achieve a spot in The Princeton Review's list of "Top 10 Business Schools With the Best Classroom Experience."
It's the first time that The Princeton Review has included a "best classroom experience" assessment as part of its comprehensive evaluation of MBA programs nationwide. The Miami MBA program was ranked 8th in the classroom experience category.
Other schools in the top 10 include Indiana and Harvard universities, the universities of Virginia and Chicago, the Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship (Austin, Texas), Millsaps College and Claremont Graduate University.
"Miami University prides itself on the quality of its teaching," said Roger L. Jenkins, Dean of Miami's Farmer School of Business. "Our faculty members in the Farmer School are excellent examples of this. The passion they bring to their subjects and to the education process has a transforming effect on students."
Jenkins also emphasized the interdisciplinary, integrated nature of the MBA curriculum. During the 14-month Miami MBA program, students study business processes and the cross-functional nature of business operations within and beyond organizational boundaries. They meet with leaders of national and international companies to discuss how they create efficiencies through the value chain. Then, through ongoing internships and a required six-week international consultancy, students tackle assignments that require an understanding of interrelated functions.
MBA director C. Brad Bays said that students in his program work closely with faculty and considerable resources are devoted to making the classroom experience a dynamic one. "Our MBA program is deliberately small and very personalized for optimal learning," he said.
The Farmer School closed its MBA program in 2004. In May 2005, it accepted the first class into its new accelerated program.
The rankings, part of The Princeton Review's The Best 290 Business Schools: 2008 Edition, were released this month.
Members of the Class of 2007 have departed for their capstone experience – internships in China, Sweden and Great Britain. Working in small teams, they are completing projects for companies such as Alcoa, DHL, Eaton, Havi Foods, PPG, and IKEA. Follow the blogs of two students:
Four members of the MBA Class of ’07 will be traveling to Montreal, Quebec, January 8-13 to compete with 29 other top international universities in 26th John Molson MBA International Case Competition.
Lori Wagner, Russ Detwiler, Jason Fults, and Matthew Robbins, pictured here with Brad Bays - team coach, will be participating in a round-robin tournament challenging the competing teams with five demanding business cases. After the round-robin, nine remaining teams advance to the semi-finals, then three to the finals.
In each round, teams are given three hours to analyze a business case and develop a solution. The teams present their solutions to a panel of five judges.
After in intense week of challenges and presentations, the competition closes with a gala banquet and one of the teams being awarded the prestigious and coveted Concordia Cup.
Best Wishes to Team Miami!
Robert Walter, Chairman of Cardinal Health, held a roundtable discussion with Miami MBA students on November 15. Walter was visiting Miami as part of the Farmer School of Business Executive Speaker Series.
Walter said that his entrepreneurial journey has taken him “from the dining room to the operating room.” It’s a characteristic understatement from this visionary who founded Cardinal Health, now an $81 billion manufacturer and distributor of health care products and services currently ranked 19 on the Fortune 500. The company, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio employs more than 55,000 people on six continents.
On Monday, June 26, 15 newly-minted MBAs celebrated their successful completion of Miami’s redesigned program. The students entered the accelerated, 14-month program in May, 2005 as its first class.
Farmer School of Business Dean Roger Jenkins congratulated the group on their hard work and willingness to trust the content and quality of a new program.
“Your class, like the Star Trek voyagers, dared to venture boldly where no one – at least, no one at the Farmer School of Business -- had gone before,” he said.
Sam Mitchell (Miami ’83), President of Lexington-based Valvoline Oil Co., was the speaker. The students named marketing professor Thomas Speh as Teacher of the Year.
As of mid-July, 91 percent of the class had received a job offer and 82 percent had accepted a job. The new graduates’ mean accepted salary (including signing bonus) was $69,125, which represented a 50 percent increase compared to the students’ average salary at the time of their matriculation.
Highlights of the program’s inaugural term included:
