IN THIS ISSUE
MBA Alumni Business Conference Wrap-Up
Texas Evening MBAs Win Competition
Carolyn Miles Named Director
of Corporate Relationship Management

Don't Miss These Exciting Upcoming Dates!

Summer Chapter Receptions	June 2007	Read more...
3rd Annual MMA Awards Celebration	September 28	Read more...
Reunion 2007, Classes of 1997 and 2002	November 9-11	Read more...

CLASSES OF 1997 and 2002: Save the Date! Mark your calendars for November 9-11, 2007 to reconnect with your classmates at your reunion. We look forward to seeing you in Austin in November!

3rd Annual McCombs Charity Auction
Big Hats, Big Hair: Texas Hold'Em
To benefit:  Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas    
Date:  April 19th, 2007
Time:  7:30pm ~ midnight
Location:  Ringers Sports Lounge (415 Colorado St.)
Over 400 members of the McCombs community will attend "Big Hats, Big Hair."  This annual event brings students, faculty and alumni together to raise money for BBBS.  Moreover, 100% of the proceeds benefit this valuable charitable organization. 
The evening will feature a silent auction, a poker tournament, a caricaturist, henna painting and live auction for you and a group of friends with specific professors. Bring your McCombs pride, your energy and your big hats and hair for a great evening with the McCombs community! Tickets will be available at the door. 
This is a 21+ event.

Alumni Return to McCombs for the Second Annual MBA Alumni Business Conference
The hottest global business issues were discussed at the second annual McCombs MBA Alumni Business Conference, March 22-23. Professors Michael Brandl, John Doggett and Prabhudev Konana spent the morning sharing their lasted research and findings on China and India and then debated the issues at a lively roundtable discussion. In the afternoon, Professor Vijay Mahajan focused on Challenges and Opportunities in the Developing World and Professor William Cunningham talked about Global Corporate Governance. Alumni from a wide range of classes (1970-2006) attended the conference and traveled from all over the country and the world—Munich, Germany; Phoenix, AZ; Santa Barbara, CA; Houston, TX; Fairfax, VA; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Washington, DC; Mexico City, Mexico; Seattle, WA; Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Naucalpan, Mexico; and Vienna, VA. The conference offered an additional day for alumni to meet with career coaches and to network with attendees at a welcome reception. For more information, visit the conference web site.

"Mad Money" a Hit With McCombs Students

Austin has long been known as the capital of the Republic of Texas, but for a couple days this week Austin—or at least the campus of The University of Texas—became the official center of Cramerica, a nation headed by Jim Cramer and populated by fans of his hit stock-picking show “Mad Money” on CNBC. The effusive Cramer brought his passion for investing and for engaging college students (plus a whole lot of sound effects) to Austin as a part of the show’s “Back to School” tour, which culminated with a taping at the Hogg Auditorium March 20 in front of 800 students, mostly from the McCombs School of Business. Get the full story.

Texas Evening MBAs Win Venture Competition at Carnegie Mellon
Texas Evening MBA students Divakar Jandhyala (above right) and Ranjit Nayak (below right) won first place at Carnegie Mellon University’s McGinnis Venture Competition, which aims to bring new technologies to market through entrepreneurship. Teams from 26 top international and U.S. business schools participated in the competition March 15-17. The McCombs School team placed in the technology track, winning $25,000 cash and $20,000 in business services as well as an automatic bid in the Global Moot Corp competition on May 2-5 in Austin. Jandhyala and Nayak’s winning idea is eVapt, Inc., an early-stage software startup focused on delivering operational efficiency solutions to the rapidly growing Software as a Service (SaaS) market. Get the full story.

Wharton Wins MBA Open MIC Challenge
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania won first place as well as $5,000 and access to the South by Southwest trade show at the second annual MBA Open Music Industry Challenge March 16. Rice University took second and New York University placed third. The challenge, hosted by the Sports, Media and Entertainment Association at the McCombs School, allows MBAs from the nation’s top business schools get an up-close look at the music industry.

Carolyn Miles Named Director of Corporate Relationship Management for McCombs 
She speaks the corporate language, having worked with energy companies and clients, such as the New York Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs. Add that to her knowledge of McCombs from her two-year service as senior associate director for MBA Career Services, and Carolyn Miles is a natural fit as the Office of Resource Development’s new director of corporate relationship management. Miles received her master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Indiana University. Prior to coming to McCombs, she managed public policy issues for high-level clients at Public Strategies, Inc., advised companies on strategic communications surrounding issues of investor relations and mergers and acquisitions for The Abernathy Macgregor Group, and worked as an energy consultant with Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Get the full story.

Nine Faculty Members Awarded 2006-2007 McCombs Research Excellence Grants
The McCombs Research Excellence Grant program recognizes and promotes research excellence in the McCombs School by supporting influential and high-quality faculty research projects. The grants are awarded based on competitive project proposals and can be used to cover substantive research expenses (such as data-gathering costs, graduate assistantships and database purchases). Criteria for awarding the research grants include the novelty and likely academic impact of the proposed research, potential to significantly enhance the research reputation of the faculty and the school and prospects for facilitating collaboration among faculty members. Get the list of awardees and their research projects.

Koehler Discusses Lack of “Science” in Forensic Science at Faculty Research Presentation
Don’t believe everything you see on CSI. That was the message delivered by Jay Koehler in his presentation for the Faculty Research Speaker Series March 27. Actually, Koehler is more concerned with the work of real-life forensic scientists than with the fictional ones found on the hit CBS television franchise. “Forensic science isn’t quite as good as most of us have been led to believe,” said Koehler, a professor in the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management.
Get the full story.

Spring Exec Course focuses on Responding to Market Dynamics
Texas Executive Education programs challenge your thinking and add value to your professional life. Coming up this Spring: Responding to Market Dynamics, May 10-11. This program gives offers you a foundation for designing market-based strategy and provides a set of tools useful in developing a path toward profitability that is synchronous with changes in the market. For complete course description and registration information please visit us online call us at 800.409.3932.

MBA Events of Interest
5th Annual Hedge Fund Symposium
April 13, 2007  Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel
The University of Texas MBA Hedge Fund Symposium, a free one-day conference will feature:

 To register for this free event visit the MBA Hedge Fund Organization.

WSJ Career Fair in Chicago
April 19, 2007
The Wall Street Journal’s career site, CareerJournal.com, is hosting their Executive Diversity Career Fair in Chicago on April 19. The fair provides opportunities to meet with top companies seeking senior-level talent and is free of charge. It will feature free seminars on interviewing, networking and negotiating more effectively. A free resume critique will be offered at no charge throughout the event. For more information and to see a list of participating employers visit www.careerjournal.com/diversity/.

Annual Chapter Summer Receptions:
Welcome the incoming MBA class of 2009
Enjoy an evening of networking and fun with MBA alumni, current students and friends.  Click here for more information.

Atlanta, June 13	Los Angeles, May 31
Austin, June 28	Monterrey, Mexico, June 14
Beijing, China June 8	New York City, June 12
Boston, June 19	Peru, June 20
Chicago, June 1	San Antonio, June 21
Dallas, June 7	San Diego, June 14
Denver, TBD	San Francisco, June TBD
Houston, TBD	Seattle, June 21
India, June 15	Tokyo, Japan, June 23
London, June 6	Tulsa, June 19
	Washington, DC, June 13

IN THE NEWS
U.S. News Releases Annual Graduate School Rankings
U.S. News & World Report, March 30, 2007
U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings of graduate programs March 30. The full-time MBA program at McCombs was ranked No. 18 for the third year in a row. The Department of Accounting was ranked No. 1 in the specialty section after being listed at No. 2 last year. Other programs and departments at McCombs were ranked as follows: executive MBA, No. 14; MBA for working professionals, No. 5; entrepreneurship, tied at No. 8; finance, tied at No. 14; information systems, No. 3;international, tied at No. 14; management, No. 19; marketing, tied at No. 10; and productions/ops, tied at No. 15.  Get the full story.

McCombs MBA Students Meet with Minister of Indian Railways in New Dehli
The Hindu, March 17, 2007 
During the 50-minute interaction with MBA students on a global trip for the McCombs School, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad “bowled them over with his rustic humbleness combined with witty humour” while sharing the success story of the Railways. Prasad interacted with the students in a mix of Hindi, English and Bhojpuri often giving them examples of how the Railways managed to turn around and post a huge profit this year. Get the full story.

New Century files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
CNN Money, April 3, 2007
New Century Financial Corp. said Monday it will immediately cut 3,200 jobs, or 54 percent of its work force, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The Irvine, Calif.-based company also said it agreed to sell its servicing assets and platform to Carrington Capital Management LLC for $139 million, subject to bankruptcy approval. Greg Hallman, a lecturer on real estate finance at McCombs, said the New Century bankruptcy put an exclamation point on the era of investing in securitized subprime debt. “It’s probably over for the time being,” said Hallman. “That market worked for as long as investment banks provided funding. The banks have cut the money off.” Get the full story.

Texas Lawmakers Seek to Avoid New Accounting Rule
The New York Times, March 12, 2007
McCombs Accounting Professor Michael Granof has been a critic of proposed Texas legislation that would allow government officials to sidestep a new national accounting rule that takes effect this year. The rule calls for state and local governments across the country to report obligations for future costs for medical and related benefits that their employees will receive when they retire. Texas, however, is looking to opt out of the process. “Our legislature does crazy things,” said Granof in The New York Times. “We have a law for blind hunters. This is probably the dumbest bill since that.” In an op-ed published in the Austin American-Statesman (March 13, 2007), Granof wrote, “The pending legislation is especially pernicious because it will undermine the authority of the independent accounting board to objectively establish standards. Each state will then be free to set its own rules. Just imagine how reliable financial statements will be when it is the politicians who determine our accounting principles.” Read the New York Times story. (requires a subscription)

Research from McCombs’ Griffin Finds Hedge Fund Returns Unimpressive
BusinessWeek Online, March 19, 2007
John Griffin, associate professor of finance, and his co-author have some bad news for proponents of hedge funds in their new paper “How Smart Are the Smart Guys?” After reviewing the quarterly stock holdings of about 300 hedge fund firms against equity mutual funds from 1980 through 2004, the researchers found that hedge funds failed to deliver except during the Internet bubble. On average, hedge funds outperformed mutual funds by 1.4 percentage points per year, but three-quarters of the outperformance was due solely to inflated technology profits during 1999 and 2000. The remainder without those years is statistically insignificant. The hedge fund returns are also measured before fees, so after the hedge funds’ greater fees, the outperformance would be even smaller. Get the full story.