He has presided over more business graduations than almost anyone in his long time position as Dean. Holding the title for three consecutive terms (12 years), he is officially the faculty’s longest serving Dean.

It is a long time to serve in this role, and Dr. Coleman has decided it was long enough. His term ends on July 1, 2011, and he will be handing over the reins to the newly appointed Dean, Dr. Robert Austin.

Fostering relationships of trust and mutual respect among faculty members was extremely important to Dr. Coleman, and by doing so he has been instrumental in developing the faculty’s now innovative environment. During his tenure as Dean, Dr. Coleman has been at the helm for a lot of major changes in both the BBA and MBA programs.

Changes in the BBA program included tightening admission requirements, continuing experiential learning programs such as the Student Investment Fund and the Export Partnering Program, implementing new programs such as co-op and the aviation concentration, as well as developing the entrepreneurship field into a full concentration. “Special thanks to Martin Wielemaker and Andrew Gaudes are due”, says Coleman, “for their work in building the entrepreneurship program and especially for their efforts in creating the Activator program.”

The biggest change in the BBA program by far, however, was the complete program overhaul that took place in 2002-2003. The overhaul gave students the option to take majors instead of just concentrations. This was made possible by reducing the required courses (in all fields) by half and giving students more room in their third and fourth years to take the courses they want to take. Today, the majority of graduating students have completed majors.

In the MBA program, changes included implementing professional development classes to help prepare students for professional work environments and learn about corporate social responsibility, and adding more joint programs such as Sport and Recreation Management and Engineering Management.

Dr. Coleman also oversaw the development of new international programs, such as the BBA program in Singapore, as well as the MBA programs in Poland and Ukraine.

When asked what his best memories were while serving as Dean of the faculty, Dr. Coleman said, “First and foremost, my best memories are of seeing all the students come through the program and succeed.” There are many students that have gone on to do great things. Another great memory he mentioned was seeing the major changes listed above take place, and seeing the faculty’s culture change from being very conservative to more open and innovative.

Now that his time as Dean is coming to an end, he is looking forward to the future. Starting immediately on July 1, he is taking a six-month leave where he will go for a vacation backpacking through the Appalachian Trail with his wife, Michele, and spend six weeks teaching leadership in Trinidad and Tobago.

After the six month period is over, Dr. Coleman will be starting his new position with UNB as the Assistant Vice-President Academic. There he will be working on developing the international strategy for the campus and assisting with the implementation of UNB’s Strategic Plan.

Although he will no longer be the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, he is not going very far away. In fact he will still be teaching at least one class each semester. So, we’ll most likely be seeing him at many more graduation ceremonies to come!

A team from the University of New Brunswick has found a solution to this problem, and their innovative idea won them top prize in the 2011 New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s (NBIF) Breakthru Business Plan Competition.

Scenesharp at the Breakthru competition

The team, composed of 4th year undergraduate business students Jordan DeWinter and Pablo Alvarez,won the competition’s grand prize, raising more than $145,000 for their company, Scene Sharp.

In addition to the $145,000, their video (click to watch) won the Viewer’s Choice Award, receiving almost 70% of all votes. This award, sponsored by CBC television, means they will be heading to Toronto for the set of CBC’s Dragon’s Den to pitch their idea. Watch for them on the show airing next fall.

DeWinter and Alvarez became part of this project through the International Business and Entrepreneurship Center’s (IBEC) Activator program, which matched them with Scene Sharp’s founder, Dr. Yun Zhang. Dr. Zhang is a UNB professor of geodesy and geomatic engineering, and has been with the university for over 11 years.

Dr. Zhang’s experience is extensive. He is the inventor and developer of 11 patented and commercially licensed technologies, which are being used by leading industry, government, academic and military organizations globally across the five continents, including NASA, US Department of Agriculture, Google Earth, Natural Resources Canada and Department of National Defence, Canada.

The lens and chip technology behind Scene Sharp is the latest innovation of Dr. Zhang and it has worldwide implications for a camera’s effectiveness.  It can detect the 3-D location of a moving object and provide an image that is three times sharper than anything currently on the market. A sharper image isn’t the only benefit, though. The chip technology also records only when motion is detected, meaning a lot less storage space is wasted on uneventful video.

Alvarez certainly got it right when he commented, “this award is an amazing thing not only for us, but for New Brunswick as well”. The continued success of UNB students and faculty as well as organizations such as NBIF can only make the province’s future brighter.

Most people don’t realize it, but New Brunswick has come a long way in raising the level of innovation and the calibre of small businesses. In fact, the NBIF Breakthru competition is the richest entrepreneurship competition in Canada.

The competition fosters entrepreneurial efforts not only in New Brunswick, but throughout Canada as well. Year after year there is stiff competition vying for the $285,000 cash and in-kind professional services that are available to be won.

Thanks to this competition a UNB team has received funding to give their company a head start, and potentially make New Brunswick and the world a safer place.

The question that was on everyone’s mind is, who will be replacing him? The answer to that question is Dr. Robert Austin, who will begin a five-year term on July 1.

While Dr. Austin is a new comer to the faculty, he is not new to UNB. He is a Fellow of the Wallace McCain Institute, has been an Adjunct Professor in Engineering and has taught classes at Renaissance College.

Dr. Austin has an extensive professional and academic background. He earned a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master of Science from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Swarthmore College. Dr. Austin’s professional experience includes holding teaching positions at both Copenhagen and Harvard Business Schools, and research and planning positions at Ford Motor Company.

With his connections to business schools abroad and to business leaders in the province, along with business academics throughout Canada, Dr. Austin is well positioned to advance our Faculty of Business Administration and help make us “the best teaching and learning institution in the country integrating and balancing research and education”.
You will get to learn more about our new Dean in our next  issue of FBA Connections!

Now playing on the Toronto Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent, Boyce is still not used to the spot-light. “There is definitely a rush every time I go on the ice,” explained Boyce. “I grew up watching Saturday night hockey, and now I’m the one on the ice actually playing. It is an exhilarating feeling.”

Making it to the National Hockey League (NHL) was no easy task for the 26 year old, PEI native. He  played for several years in the juniors with the Ontario Hockey League without getting drafted, but he loved the game too much to stop.

Boyce made the decision to come to the University of New Brunswick and continue playing while also getting a quality education. What he never expected, was that his time at UNB would help him turn pro and help the university win a CIS National Championship.

Scouts had their eyes on Boyce as he played two seasons with the Varsity Reds recording 65 points in 53 games played, and earning the rookie of the year award and Male Athlete of the Year honours for his efforts.

Boyce admits that he would never be where he is now if it wasn’t for UNB. “It was a valuable buffer period that allowed me to develop and improve my game,” says Boyce. “My years there were unbelievable. I truly do wish I would have played a couple more years there, but as they say, timing is everything. [The Leafs] wanted me to sign my first year, but I waited one more year. They wanted to sign me again, so I couldn’t turn it down twice.”

Boyce isn’t finished with university, he still believes that education is extremely important. He takes online classes while he plays during the regular season, and once the off season hits he heads back to New Brunswick to take some intersession and summer session courses.

When fall rolls around, Boyce will be concentrating on his game, and trying to help lift up the Toronto Maple Leafs in the same way. Watch for him on the ice brandishing the number 47 and making his dream a reality.

Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC) is a not-for-profit organization that provides help and support for those Canadians living with neuromuscular disorders.  Over time, persons with neuromuscular disorders may lose the use of their hands, feet, legs, speech and eventually their ability to breathe.  These disorders can be fatal and there currently is no cure. As a result of the generosity of donors, Muscular Dystrophy Canada is able to make a real difference in the lives of people affected by muscular dystrophy.

This year, in an effort to raise money and awareness for Muscular Dystrophy Canada, the MBA Professional Development program conceived and implement a unique event called 11 Minutes / 11 Muscles.  It takes 11 muscles to talk.  Inspired by the TED talks featured on ted.com, students in the MBA Professional Development class flipped this around to ask people, if you only had 11 minutes to talk, what would you say to inspire?

The Honourable Graydon Nicholas speaking at 11 Minutes / 11 Muscles

11 Minutes/11 Muscles gave some of New Brunswick’s and Canada’s most interesting people 11 minutes on stage for a series of captivating talks that ranged from local to international and even galactic issues.

The event took place on Friday, April 1, 2011, at the brand new Fredericton Convention Center, and despite the blizzard like conditions outside, it was a huge success with over 280 people in attendance. Between ticket sales and a silent auction, students raised just over $8,500 in support of Muscular Dystrophy Canada. It was all made possible thanks to the generous support of over 20 local businesses and organizations (Click here to see a full list of our sponsors).

The speakers were (click on their names to view their speeches): Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick; Freeman Patterson, photographer and writer; Rachel Pulfer, international program director, journalists for human rights; Stanton Friedman, nuclear physicist, ufologist and one of the original investigators of the UFO Roswell incident; Brian Duplessis, executive director, United Way; and David Adam Richards, author, playwright  and St. Thomas University writer in residence.

Rudra Adhikari, one of the MBA students who worked the event, commented, ” This is a historical event for Fredericton. We’ve brought together some very distinguished speakers and some of Fredericton’s business leaders for a great cause. Everyone was supportive, and I think a lot more people are aware of MDC and the great work they do.”

The Professional Development Program and How They Got Here

The Professional Development program is a yearlong course dedicated to providing practical knowledge and skills development among current MBA students. Two themes the course focus on are corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship. The project this year involved designing a fundraising event for a nonprofit in the first semester and implementing it in the second.

The professional development class had three goals in mind as they developed the concept for 11 Minutes / 11 Muscles and brought the event to fruition: the first was to provide MDC with financial assistance; the second was to increase awareness of muscular dystrophy; and the third was to lay the foundation for MDC to continue the 11 Minutes / 11 Muscles event in the future and even in other locations across Canada.

Muscular Dystrophy Canada was extremely grateful for the support from the MBA class and the Fredericton community. Jeff Sparks was the opening speaker for the event and has been with MDC for over 25 years. Sparks remarked, “I think the program was absolutely amazing.  It helped to raise awareness and funds for our cause, while requiring very little effort of our volunteers who struggle daily managing their disorders.”

After raising thousands of dollars and already having people wanting to come back next year, it is clear the students have achieved their goals. As MBA student Qiaobing Mei put it, “This is just the beginning. I hope it will continue on and grow, and that I can do more to help.”

All in all, the 11 Minutes / 11 Muscles speaker series was a very special night that put the spotlight on a very serious and debilitating disorder. As it carries on over the next few years it will keep raising awareness and creating lasting memories. MBA student, Dave Kell, noted, “This was a unique experience, and I’ve learned quite a bit. I’m definitely going to remember this event for the rest of my life.”

Zaineb Survery, from Kingston, Ontario, graduated with a BBA degree in 2009 and recently found herself back on campus for Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, or more simply, Congress 2011. She works for TD Bank as a Financial Service Representative, but attended the conference voluntarily as part of her vacation. In fact, she was one of the presenters at Congress 2011. Social economics is kind of a side project and a passion for her. She even created an organization called the Canada Pakistan Trade Promoter, whose objective is to mobilize investments and trade relations by addressing socio-economic problems in both countries through business solutions.

Congress 2011, co-hosted by UNB and STU, was the largest multidisciplinary academic summit in Canada and one of the largest events ever held in the city of Fredericton. It was promoted as a “meeting of the minds” and played host to scholars from over 70 disciplines. More than 6000 people attended this year’s weeklong conference.  The goal of the conference was to advance humanities and social sciences, and increase the visibility of scholars and their research.

Zaineb did not come back to UNB just for Congress though. She wanted to return to UNB to reconnect with her mentors, particularly her UNB professors. “It was very important for me to let them know what I learned in their class I was still applying in both my research and practice,” she stated.

It’s clear that Zaineb has applied what she learned. Having attended and presented at Congress at such a young age and only two years after earning her BBA degree is extremely impressive. Not only that, she also has a very big goal. She wants to help shape the world into a place where everyone has a meal to eat every night, where a third of the crops in developing nations aren’t wasted to spoilage, and where farmers around the world can get the maximum yield from their crops.

Zaineb came to Congress to share her research with the people who could help make a difference. Although it was “slightly overwhelming – and at the same time fascinating,” she explained, “my experiences at the Congress were wonderful. The opportunity to listen to and converse with researchers from the academic, corporate, and government sectors was a great reminder that the best teachers out there are ones who are students themselves and constantly learning.”

Zaineb gave a presentation entitled, ‘Economic Implications of Canada’s Multiethnic Communities and Agribusiness Sector‘ to a well-attended group of academics. The main point of her presentation and paper was about social entrepreneurship in the agricultural industry.

Her presentation suggested that both Canada and emerging countries would benefit from mutual trade. She voiced some interesting points about how Canada is uniquely positioned for these opportunities, with a huge multicultural community and advanced agricultural services (because of our climate). If Canada exported it’s agricultural services to countries like Pakistan, it would help alleviate the current global food security threat by making food more affordable and available worldwide.

Without a doubt, the issues that Zaineb described are extremely important, especially as food prices increase and worldwide food reserves continue to decrease. Congress helped to spread the word, and hopefully enough people heard it.

A lot more people like Zaineb will be needed to take the risks. Only if enough come forward will her dream become a reality and what we know today as the global food shortage threat will just become a distant memory.

There were several professors nominated this year for the faculty’s Excellence in Teaching Award, but in the end it was Robert Maher and his commitment to going above and beyond to help students, that received the honour.

Professor Maher winning this year’s award is no surprise for second year accounting student, Leslie Hinton. She remarks, “He puts a lot of time into his class, and you can tell by how prepared he is. On top of that he really seems to enjoy what he teaches, and that makes the whole experience better for everyone”.

The faculty created the award many years ago to support faculty excellence in teaching. Each year, the faculty honours one professor for his or her outstanding teaching performance.

The choice of the award recipient belongs to the students. At the end of each academic year students in the BBA and MBA programs nominate the professor who they feel is most deserving of the Award. A committee of current BBA and MBA students, plus an alumni representative, then selects the winner from among the nominees.

Robert Maher is an accounting professor, and has been with the Faculty of Business Administration since 1988. This isn’t the first time that Maher has won the award: the faculty previously recognized him in 2003 with a teaching award, and in 2004 the university recognized his contributions with a UNB Merit Award.

While remembering his first year and how much of an impact professor Maher has had on him, fourth year entrepreneurship student, Kyle McDowell commented, “When I first came to the university, I thought I had a good understanding of the fundamentals of business, but I never had a true appreciation for it until I took Professor Maher’s intro to business class. He made the entire class want to get involved. We would read news articles each and every day just so we would be able to discuss them in detail for the next class. Sometimes half our classes would be spent just discussing the week’s top issues.”

The Faculty of Business Administration celebrated UNB’s 182nd Encaenia with a reception and awards ceremony to honour the accomplishments of this year’s graduating class.

Of the class of 2011, 137 students graduated with BBA degrees and 23 students graduated from the MBA program.

On the international front, an additional 65 students graduated from the BBA program in Trinidad and Tobago along with 26 students from the BBA program in Singapore. This year 13 students also graduated from the BBA program in Egypt.

During the Faculty of Business Administration’s awards ceremony the following graduates received prizes for their academic achievements:

MBA Encaenia Prizes:

E.D. Maher Graduate Student Prize in Administration: Ms. Meaghan Donahue. Awarded to the graduating MBA student with the highest GPA.

MBA Society Graduation Award: Ms. Meaghan Donahue.  Prize of $800. Awarded to the graduating MBA student with the highest cumulative GPA.

MBA Society Graduation Award: Mr. Timothy Frazer. Prize of $600. Awarded to the graduating MBA student with the second highest cumulative GPA.

MBA Society Graduation Award: Mr. David Richards. Prize of $400. Awarded to the graduating MBA student with the second highest cumulative GPA.

Activator Fellowship(s): Mr. Timothy Frazer. Prize of $4,000. Awarded by the International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre to students who demonstrated excellence in their role as Team and Co-Team Leaders while in the Activator Program.

BBA Encaenia Prizes:

Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick Silver Medal: Ms. Xiaoling Zhang. Awarded to the most outstanding graduating BBA student, based primarily on performance in the last half of the program.

Faculty of Business Administration Award: Mr. Franz D.H. Muljo. Prize of $300. Awarded to the graduating BBA student with the second highest cumulative GPA.

Faculty of Business Administration Award: Ms. Nadezhda V. Kurdasova. Prize of $200. Awarded to the graduating BBA student with the third highest cumulative GPA.

Business Administration Society Outstanding Student Award: Mr. Jordan Thompson. This award is awarded by the business society to an outstanding fourth-year BBA student in recognition of participation in campus
activities, scholastic standing, character and attitude

Activator Fellowship(s): Mr. Jordan deWinter and Mr. Robert Keleher. Prize of $4,000. Awarded by the International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre to students who demonstrated excellence in their role as Team and Co-Team Leaders while in the Activator Program.

During the three-year period, known as the great recession, the student investors outperformed many professionals who are still trying to get their clients’ portfolios back to their pre-2007 highs. Not only were the students able to protect the value of their portfolio, they managed to grow it. At year-end 2010, the students had well surpassed their 2007 high of $2.3 million achieving a yearend balance of $2.6 million, all from investment returns.

Specifically, the total Fund return for the one-year ended Dec. 31, 2010 was 10.7% or 56 basis points above the benchmark established by the program’s founding partner, the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation (NBIMC). During the Great Recession the total fund performance was 5.2% above the benchmark set by NBIMC.

“It’s very satisfying that we are not a one-trick pony having consistently performed well over a 13 year period,” said program director, Glenn Cleland.

The outperformance is due to the students’ tactical asset allocation decision and fixed income decision. As a result of a detailed economic scenario analysis the students were underweight equities versus their equities benchmark from March 2007 to March 2009. They subsequently went overweight equities in March 2009 because the dividend yield on the TSX/S&P 60 was greater than the ten-year bond yield.

Their fixed income outperformance was due to being overweight provincial and municipal bonds vs. the program partner’s benchmark.

The Student Investment Fund program began in September of 1998 when the NBIMC gave the Faculty of Business Administration’s program $1.0 million of real money to invest in the capital markets. The fund continues to grow and reached $2.7 million in January 2011.

(NOTE: The Centre for Financial Studies has just published a report called “Investment Education for the 21st Century” which summarizes the strategy of the Centre for Financial Studies and celebrates the SIF’s stellar portfolio performance from 2008-2010. You can view this by clicking here.)

Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year established the Futures Fund Scholarship for Outstanding Leadership to honour and mentor Canadian university business students each year who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their academic and extra-curricular initiatives.

The award program provides exceptional and deserving students with $5000 grants to further their educational ambitions. Ten new schools from across Canada are chosen each summer to receive the scholarships. In addition, recipients receive an all expense paid trip to Toronto to attend the Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year Awards Gala where they are presented with their scholarship.

This year’s Award Gala took place in November at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and was attended by some of the country’s top businessmen. Attendees included Ed Clark, the CEO of TD Bank, who won this year’s CEO of the year award; Paul Godfrey, President and CEO of the National Post; John Wallace, the President and CEO of Caldwell Partners; as well as several executives from many other Canadian firms.

“Going to Toronto and attending the Gala was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” commented McDowell. “Not only did I get a scholarship to help pay for my education next year, but I’ve also networked with a lot of professionals who are willing to help me with my entrepreneurial goals. I am very grateful, I couldn’t have asked for more”.