Congrats to Isenberg Women in Business for a Fabulous Conference!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the 2017 Women of Isenberg Conference, organized by the Isenberg Women in Business Society at the Isenberg School of Management. The conference took place at the Campus Center of UMass Amherst. The conference is now an annual conference, with the inaugural one taking place in 2014. I had the pleasure of being a panelist at the second conference in 2015.

As we registered for the conference and picked up our elegant badges, we were greeted by a sign, and by members of the conference organizing committee.

The conference with about 350 attendees, mostly women, and a few very welcome males, including my Finance colleague, Professor Nikos Artavanis, was a huge success.

I was very much looking forward to the conference, since I had nominated two of my former Operations and Information Management students, now alumna, Johanna Zuber and Zheng Ding, as panelists, and they were selected. Johanna spoke on the Networking panel and Zheng on the Mentoring panel. Johanna and Zheng had been in my Logistics and Transportation class at the Isenberg School of Management and, after working in big companies, are now both at startups in NYC.

The organization of the conference was truly outstanding and the Isenberg Women in Business Society is an undergraduate student club so kudos to the officers, its members, and to all the volunteers for a great day.

There were keynote talks, multiple panels, and a lunch that was exquisite. I had the salmon, salad, mushroom risotto, with roasted veggies (beets, squash). It was served efficiently buffet style and then we brought our food back to the large room to listen to a very interesting panel on career challenges with four professional females from Pratt and Whitney. One, who works on global supply chains, had arrived from Poland at 2AM!

The full list of keynoters, panels, speakers and panel members, can be accessed here.

It was a terrific time to catch up with alumnae and some staff plus faculty.

I very much enjoyed all the panels that I attended and the discussions along with the Q&A. There was a great deal of energy and style present and support for one another at this special conference.

Plus, the treats during the afternoon coffee break were simply exquisite. I thought I was back in Paris.

The advice offered throughout the day will, I am sure, benefit all attendees, as well as the new acquaintances made. The nice canvas bag with amenities inside is a nice memento of a very rewarding day.

 Congrats to Isenberg Women in Business for a Fabulous Conference!

Research, Scholarship, and Mentoring

I remember when I was an Assistant Professor and would ask senior faculty during conferences whether they had any advice for me. Time and time again, I would hear that one should develop and educate students since they would become one's network and colleagues in the future. I took that advice to heart and nothing gives me greater pride than comments and compliments from colleagues as to the mark that some of my former students (either undergraduate or graduate, including doctoral ones) have made. Obviously, not everyone can "make it" since sometimes life interferes and not everyone is made for the time and effort and work involved that academia, in particular, demands.

Professor Bin Jiang of DePaul University in Chicago took on the challenge of identifying "stellar scholars" in the field of Production and Operations Management, as evidenced by citations to their research. He then went further and asked them numerous questions regarding how to identify important problems and how to conduct research. The result was a paper on how to do research, which has very valuable advice. This article was published online in the Foum of the Journal of Operations Management. It was an honor to be included in the group of stellar scholars.

Speaking of "mentoring," UMass Amherst was the recipient of a grant from the Mellon Foundation, to establish a Mutual Mentoring Initiative and more advice and information can be obtained from the website where a very nice photo of some of my former students can also be found.