By Eric Miller

First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Miller and I am the President of the MBA council. On behalf of the MBA council, I would like to inform you about some of the recent and upcoming events brought together by members of the council and others involved with moving the council’s mission forward. The council’s mission is:

To establish the Boston University Graduate School of Management as a premier educational institution by creating a stronger network among, and value added experience for, students (past, present and future), faculty, administration and the professional community.

With these goals in mind the council was busy over the summer break. Thanks to the help of Professor Michael Shwartz we will now have student representation on the Program Development Committee (PDC). This is the committee responsible for setting the standards for the curriculum.

With the help of the all-new GPO staff we were able to revamp the first year student orientation schedule to create informative, value added, community-building activities. The events were run and organized by students for students. Included for this year was a fantastic volunteer day on the Esplanade organized by the Students for Responsible Business’ Jodi Lief and Anna McQuiston. Over 150 first and second year students worked together to clean up the area directly behind the SMG building on the banks of the Charles River. They planted bulbs, cleared the riverbanks of weeds, trash and debris, and even got to use POWER TOOLS! I even got the chance to ride on a trash truck. (A lifelong dream of mine!)

A second year student panel organized and run by Alvaro Echevarria, the Vice President for Student Relations, followed the cleanup. These panels allowed time for first years to raise issues and questions about the upcoming semesters. The event was an unquestionable success as second year students Sunny Stastny, Tobby Gabriner, Jeff Lippincott, Mark Prince, Heather Karki, Andrew Wolk, Katherine Linhares, Abu Husain, Didier Mena, Minal Herdal, Anna Mc Quiston, Neil Ghezzar, Carol Elder, Elizabeth D. Edwards, Jeremy Wallman, Jammes Mumma, Sussannah Morgan, Veridiana Martussi Sid Maravuda, and Gil Heiman answered questions such as:

• What was the most challenging aspect of your first year as an MBA?
• What was the biggest surprise?
• How did you interact with other students? (teams, clubs, the pub, study groups etc.)

During the panel discussions, representatives of all the clubs and organizations spoke to first year students and described to them their missions, activities, and accomplishments. The Students for Responsible Business unveiled their 1998 Case Competition promotional video to rave reviews.

Finally, finishing off the day, was an MBA Council sponsored picnic catered by Tennessee’s Barbecue held on the same area that was cleaned up earlier by the volunteers. Each club set up tables to promote, advertise, and gather names for their club lists. Unfortunately, the weather brought the event to an early end. In spite of the rain a good time was had by all and no one left hungry.

Up next on the agenda for the MBA Council, in conjunction with the clubs and Career Center, is planning a series of panel discussions organized and coordinated by Michele McArdle and Nicole Drepanos. The goal is to facilitate "theme nights", where each club invites professionals to speak to us about jobs in their particular industry. More importantly, each panel will consist of professionals from a wide variety of industries to better represent the broad spectrum of career interests of our student body.

Second year students Anna McQuiston and Stacey Adams came to council with a proposal for an MBA Olympics. So now, with council funding, the event has been planned for October 10th and teams of 10 will compete in a series of events.

Finally, the Council is pulling together a winter formal, location and time to be determined, for all of the MBA community. If you have any ideas or suggestions or would like to help organize the event, feel free to submit them to Igor Shoifot, Vice President of Social activities at [email protected].

Have a great semester and feel free to stop by any council meeting Mondays at 4:15 p.m. in the council office in room 305.