Spears School of Business - Archive
You would think that the two Oklahoma State University students who started a business selling a gum that promotes feelings of calmness would have done well at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with all the fear surrounding it. But like nearly every business in the U.S. caught up in the crisis, the founders of startup Bubble Calm ran into all kinds of hitches following their launch on the last day of February 2020.
Visiting Munich, Germany, in the fall means a trip to the world-famous Oktoberfest, the huge celebration where a nation comes together to share its love of beer. For Cindy Crenshaw-Martin, vacationing in Munich with friends in 1980, the fun she expected walking through the festival’s main entrance vaporized before it began. Instead, fire and carnage would change the course of her life.
Growing up in the 1970s outside Boston, Brian LeClaire was raised by education-focused parents who instilled a strong work ethic in their three sons. Dad Leo LeClaire was an electrical engineering major who went to college on the GI Bill after enlisting in the Marines after high school. Mother Barbara was a nurse. From an early age, LeClaire said, the importance of education was emphasized in the household.
Business Groundbreakers: Mary Logan
For Mary Logan, the world beyond Lawton, Oklahoma, seemed like such a big place though she hadn’t seen much of it when she arrived on the Oklahoma State University campus in 1969. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew a world of opportunity awaited and that OSU could open the door for her.
Business Groundbreakers: Patricia Tilford
Leaving home for the first time to attend college is exciting, emotional and sometimes scary. For Patricia Tilford, leaving her hometown of Tulsa to start her freshman year at Oklahoma State University 65 miles away was beyond emotional, considering the social upheaval the United States faced in the 1950s. A 1956 graduate and valedictorian of segregated Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Tilford began her studies at the OSU business college on a campus integrated only a few years earlier.
Business groundbreakers: Betty Murrell Hove
Betty Murrell Hove arrived on Oklahoma State University’s campus as a business student in 1960. She gave no thought to being a groundbreaker or an inspiration for future students, but through her determination and strength of personality, that’s exactly would happen a few years later when she became the first woman at OSU to earn a Master’s of Business Administration degree.
It’s good that Elise Wade is not the least bit squeamish. Someone has a few broken ribs, no big deal. A cracked collarbone that needs emergency surgery, nothing she can’t handle. A three-inch gash over the eye that’s going to require several stitches, she won’t blink an eye. How about a broken arm dangling at a person’s side? May as well be a hang nail
Gracie Szakin had few concerns in early March. She was midway through her final semester at Oklahoma State University, preparing to put the final touches on the relatively easy 13-hour semester she had orchestrated so she would be able to spend extra time with friends.
Dr. Bryan Brockbank and his family were looking forward to a spring break trip to St. Louis to visit relatives and tour some historic church sites in the area. The family had planned the trip for months, and anticipation was building with less than 48 hours before they were to depart. But all of that changed on March 12.
OSU accounting student Bethanie Cannon receives $10,000 PCAOB scholarship
Recent Oklahoma State University accounting graduate Bethanie Cannon is the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship awarded by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The merit scholarship benefits students who are likely to become accountants and auditors.
Spears Business names inclusion officer
The Spears School of Business has selected Dr. Alexis Smith Washington to lead a new school initiative to support and make central the importance of diversity and inclusion in educational programs, resources and opportunities for all business students, faculty and staff. Dr. Ken Eastman, dean of Spears Business, has named Washington, an associate professor of management, the school’s new senior inclusion officer.
Spears School of Business hosting Contract Management webinar series
The Spears School of Business will host a three-part Contract Management webinar series from September through October. The webinar series will give attendees an introduction to the essential skills needed to be a successful government contract manager.
Spears gender, diversity scholar recognized
Oklahoma State University professor Dr. Alexis Smith Washington, with co-authors, has been awarded the 2020 Saroj Parasuraman Award for the best peer-reviewed journal article in the field of gender and diversity by the Academy of Management. Washington, associate professor of management in the Spears School of Business, won for novel research published last year examining a paradox in the perception of black female executives as professionals.
OSU alum leads NYC hotel through COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed hundreds of thousands of American health care workers on the frontlines of the crisis, and joining them are scores of lesser-recognized people supporting those nurses, doctors and others. One of those is an Oklahoma State University graduate who found himself working and living in the middle of what became the nation’s worst coronavirus hotspot of New York City.
OSU, OU to offer online Executive Development Program for State Officials
The OSU Spears School of Business 15th annual Executive Development Program for State Officials has been moved online for the month of September. This program, hosted in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma, is designed for leaders in state government to equip them with the tools needed to more effectively lead their departments and agencies for increased effectiveness.
Four OSU teams place among the top eight in SAS Global Forum Symposium competition
Four teams of Oklahoma State University business analytics students placed in the top eight at the SAS Global Forum Symposium, which recently came to a close after nine months of competition.
OSU entrepreneurs present winning business plans
The COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t prevent Oklahoma State University student entrepreneurs from competing in and winning awards in a virtual 2020 Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup and finishing in the top four of an international college business plan competition through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which also featured teams competing remotely.
Making the Most of the Circumstances
Chandler Goodman considers himself an opportunist, so when the Oklahoma State University senior found himself sitting at his parent’s home after the family’s Oklahoma City business had been classified non-essential and closed on March 26, he sprang into action.
Retired accounting professor recipient of Don Herrmann Accounting Ph.D. Award
Retired Brigham Young University accounting professor Dr. Kevin Stocks is the recipient of the 2020 Don Herrmann Distinguished Accounting Ph.D. Alumni Award presented by the Oklahoma State University School of Accounting.
Pandemic and oil glut could cost Oklahoma 10,000 energy sector jobs
Oklahomans are feeling widespread pain because of the nation’s economic shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic and a resulting glut in the demand for oil. Economic recovery in the state will be slow through this summer and into the winter, according to economists at Oklahoma State University, who predict that as many as 10,000 jobs could be lost in the energy sector alone.
Spears School of Business will host personal finance webinar series
The OSU Spears School of Business will host a six-part Personal Finance Webinar Series during the months of May and June. These events will occur through webinars and will have availability for questions and discussion through video chat.
Spears Business students named Outstanding Seniors
Five seniors from the Spears School of Business have been named 2019-2020 Outstanding Seniors by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association. The Outstanding Senior award recognizes seniors who show excellence through academic achievement, campus and community involvement, academic, athletic or extra-curricular honors, scholarships and work ethic during their time at OSU.
Spears Business accounting student selected for postgraduate program
Spears School of Business accounting student Preston Lewis has been selected to participate in the Postgraduate Technical Assistant Program by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. He is the first person from Oklahoma State University to receive the honor from the national organization.
OSU mourns death of former Sen. Tom Coburn
Former Oklahoma Sen. Thomas Allen Coburn died March 28 at his Tulsa home after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 72.