Moody Business News: May 2020

Each month, we will share news and accomplishments of Moody College of Business faculty, staff, and students.

May 2020

Programs, Events, and Engagement

• Fourteen students in the Finance 485 student managed investment portfolio class, taught by Praveen Das, virtually presented their stock analysis to members of the UL Lafayette Foundation Investment Committee on May 5.
• The Advanced Professional Sales class presented their final presentations to the executives at Global Data Systems (GDS). Each group was given a GDS product to create a sales and marketing plan to recommend to GDS.
• The Personal Selling class conducted a 15-minute role play scenario to sell a product to a buyer. Sixty students were set up with buyers to sell to them (virtually).
• Scott Gibson from Stuller provided Sales Management students with a Predictive Index Test that Stuller gives to new hires. After the students took the test, Scott Gibson returned to another class session and went over the results and meanings of the PI test. The results informed the students of their management style, sales style, leadership style, and more. The students found this information valuable for when they create their cover letters and to be able to describe themselves better during job interviews.
• Josh Covey was a guest in the Advanced Professional Sales class. The students wrapped up a seven week workshop on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Josh also gave the students career advice.
• The UL Lafayette Sales Team, under the direction of Valerie McGehee, competed in a Sales Management Simulation (SMS) virtually over the past two months. Each week the students had to create a plan to hire, fire, train, and build a territory to increase their market share against other companies (universities). The top two universities in each industry received an invitation to compete in the SMS competition at the International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC) in Orlando, Florida in November 2020. Moody Business placed second and was invited to compete for the World Cup of Sales.

Awards and Accolades

• Stephen Barnes was appointed to the Louisiana Economic Recovery Task Force. Read more at https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/article_5184c924-859d....
• Stacey Bergeron was recognized as the University's 2019-2020 Advisor of the Year by the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership for her work with Tri Delta Sorority.
• David Reid has been elected as Member at Large on the Executive Committee of the Louisiana State Conference of American Association of University Professors (AAUP). He is also a candidate for Member at Large of the Executive Committee for the AAUP National Committee. The election will take place in June of 2020.
• Brian Bolton and Josh Bendickson have been elected to serve three-year terms on the UL Lafayette Graduate Council.
• The Moody College of Business recently awarded $44,500 in Faculty Research Grants to the following faculty members. Funding has been provided through the generosity of endowed chairs Brian Bolton, Reed Nelson, and Gary Wagner to emphasize the value of and their support for high-quality research and publications.
  • Josh Bendickson, Straight Outta Detroit: Embracing Stigma as Part of the Entrepreneurial Narrative
  • Ignatius Cahyanto, Visualizing Resilience: Assessing the Impacts of the 2018 Tsunami and Covid-19 on Tourism-Reliant Communities in Indonesia
  • Ron Cheek, The Effect of the COVID-19 Crisis on Entrepreneurial Activity in Louisiana & the U.S.
  • Chase Edwards, Born on the Bayou: Louisiana’s Centuries-old Solution to Coastal Relocation & Economic Development
  • Javier Portillo-Elias: Do Cultural Districts Spur Urban Redevelopment? Evidence from Louisiana
  • Colleen Wolverton, A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Expectations About Remote Work During a Disaster
• 2019-2020 Moody Business Faculty & Staff Awards were presented to the following individuals:
  • The John T. & Sandra B. Landry Endowed Award for Teaching Excellence, Recipient: Oliver “Buster” LeBlanc
  • The Colonels Philip & Jean Piccione Endowed Award for Research Excellence, Recipients: Sarfraz Khan and Zhiwei Zhu
  • The Robert “Bob” Merrick Endowed Advising Award, Recipient: Stacey Bergeron
  • Outstanding Staff Award, Recipient: Heather DeValcourt
  • Faculty Service Award, Recipient: Becky Dubois
  • Dean’s Achievement Award, Faculty Recipients: Denise Benton, Lucy Henke, Valerie McGehee; Staff Recipients: Jeremiah Fisher, Angel Littlejohn, Jena' Victor

Research, Innovation, and Publications

• Ignatius Cahyanto had his paper, “Exploring the Host-Guest Interaction in Tourism Crisis Communication”, accepted for publication in Current Issues in Tourism.
• Zhiwei Zhu had his article, “Logistic-based Network Stability Study of Industrial Coupling Symbiosis Applied to Oil-gas-based Eco-Industrial Parks”, published by the Journal of Cleaner Production. 
• Ignatius Cahyanto had his paper, “Risk Perception, Media Exposure, and Visitor’s Behavior Responses to Florida Red Tide”, accepted for publication in the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing.
• Zhiwei Zhuhad had his article, “The Influence of Leader Empowerment Behavior on Employee Creativity”, accepted by Management Decision.
• Stephen Barnes provided expert comments to New Orleans City Business for the article “Economist predicts more job losses in Louisiana”.
• Mary Luquette had her article, “A positive attitude is especially important in times of crisis” published by The Daily Advertiser.
• Gary Wagner provided expert comments to The Courier (Terrebone Parish) for the article “Opinion: A surge in oil prices? Compared to what?”, which originally appeared in The Advocate.
• Stephen Barnes provided expert comments for The Advocate article “Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans” unemployment rates high above national average: report". His comments were also included in the Houma Today article “More than 2,000 locals filed new jobless claims last week”.
• Gary A. Wagner and Moody Business students Gina Campbell, Moody Business Outstanding Master’s Graduate and Andre’ Boudreau, Outstanding Graduate for the Department of Management, provided comments for The Advocate article “Getting a degree in a pandemic: Meet 4 UL students whose career plans have been altered by COVID-19”.
• Gary A. Wagner released the inaugural Louisiana Economic Activity Forecast 2020:Q2 which reports key economic indicators for Louisiana and the nine metro areas. View the report and learn more about the Louisiana Economic Activity Forecast. Data from the report was included in The Advocate article "How long will Louisiana's coronavirus recession last? It's 'going to be a challenge'" and "Jobs in health care, industrial trade to be in high demand post-pandemic, higher ed officials say".
• Mary Luquette had her article "How to rebound after coronavirus economic shutdown" published by The Daily Advertiser.
• Gary A. Wagner and Stephen Barnes were cited in The Washington Post article "For Louisiana, pandemic a ‘2-black-swan event’ battering economy".
• Stephen Barnes provided expert comments for The Advocate article "Why Louisiana new business creation may be bucking a nationwide slump amid coronavirus".