I enjoy wine, and I enjoy chocolate – in moderation. I never had thought, however, that these two things could be paired for an amazing taste experience. That all changed this past Friday when Traci Gentry, Director of Global Chocolate Innovation at The Hershey Company taught our students how to formally taste chocolate, how to describe the flavor nuances like a professional, and how to pair premium chocolate with readily available wines. The tasting included chocolates from Hershey’s extensive brand portfolio, including Cacao Reserve, Scharffen Berger, and Dagoba. My favorite was the “Raging Bull Zinfandel & Dagoba” pairing. Dagoba, an organic dark chocolate had (of all things) a chili pepper finish to it that was a very pleasant surprise and a great match to the spicy of zinfandel. For our students it was another experience and an example of the learning that happens outside of the class room on Friday nights when you are enrolled in the Smeal EMBA program.
Archive for June, 2008
Chocolate & Wine Tasting
Sunday, June 29th, 2008Penn State, Smeal EMBA – Networking and Graduation
Monday, June 16th, 2008What a great week! Tuesday we had an alumni networking event hosted by KPMG at their world headquarters in Manhattan, and Friday we had an event at the Ace Center, a few miles outside of Philadelphia. On Saturday the members of the Smeal EMBA class of 2008 celebrated their completion of their MBA’s with friends, family and faculty in State College. At each of the networking events we had more than 50 attendees – from multiple years and multiple disciplines. At the celebration we had more than 400 attendees to support the graduating class of 50 students. Joe Paterno spoke briefly, congratulating the graduates and welcoming their families. Connections to the past and the future were “happening” everywhere and I, while tired from traveling and attending all the events, was proud once again to be a Penn Stater!
Will I get a return on my investment with the Smeal EMBA?
Monday, June 9th, 2008I get that question almost every week. And my answer is always the same – yes! But I always follow up with this – but it depends mostly on your own personal calculations for investment and how you want to calculate return. For most, the concept of ROI comes down to tuition cost versus increases in salary. For those people I provide this – 40% of our students report a salary increase of more than 10% (annually) since they received their MBA’s from Smeal. This is pretty substantial, when you consider that the Hay Group reported that US salary increases in 2007 were a mere 1.7%.
I tend to think that when looking at ROI there is more to the “R” than salary – just as I think the real investment in an executive MBA is more than the tuition (think time & effort). Our students agree, and when asked what they cite as an alternative on the “R” side of the equation they add things like promotions, new opportunities, confidence to perform better or start new ventures, increased ability to lead, or an increased ability to give back to society.
To learn more visit our website www.smealemba.com!
Integrity – Is there anything else?
Thursday, June 5th, 2008I was pretty excited during an interview with a candidate this week when I asked him what has made him so successful, and his first answer was integrity. Later that night I went through my notes of my interviews for the week and found that while most of the prospective students I spoke with counted integrity as something that made them successful, no one led with it.
I found that exciting for a number of reasons, but mainly because it is further evidence to me that integrity is making a come back. Not only is it making a comeback in corporate america – it is becoming a focus at business school across the nation. But no where is that focus larger than at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business where since 2006 our MBA students and EMBA students have been signing an honor code – agreeing to integrate honesty, integrity, and accountability as foundational elements of the Smeal MBA experience. Today, as new MBA and EMBA students enter the program, they pledge to adhere to the tenets of the Smeal Honor Code and to hold their classmates accountable, too. To learn more about honor and integrity at Smeal click here.
How long have you wanted an MBA?
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008One of the things I often hear from people I meet is how they have wanted to pursue an MBA for years but haven’t because of a whole host of reasons Are you one of those people? If you are, you are not alone.
In fact, if you are one of the people who has been thinking about getting an MBA for more than three years you are in the norm. In a recent survey our students indicated that they had been thinking about getting an MBA on average for three years. The range Smeal EMBA had been thinking of getting an MBA ranged from one year to thirty years. WOW! Thirty years…imagine not finding the time do something for thirty years, and then having the drive and determination to follow through! Or imagine thinking about an MBA for one year, and then having the ability to pull the trigger and do it!
My follow up question to all of our respondents was “what finally made you do it?” What we found was interesting, and we added a page to our website to capture their sentiment. It’s called “Too Busy?” and can be seen by clicking here.
My question for you is how long have you wanted to pursue an MBA? I guess my second question is – how much longer are you going to wait?
Welcome to The Smeal EMBA Team Blog
Sunday, June 1st, 2008This is the first blog entry for the Smeal Executive MBA team. My name is Jake Ray and I am the Managing Director of the Smeal EMBA program. In addition to having the honor of working for the Smeal College of Business I am also a graduate of the Smeal College. In fact I was in the first graduating class of the executive MBA program in 2004. At the time I was working in the steel industry – living in Florida, on assignment in Portland, Oregon and commuting to Philadelphia on weekends for class. It was a busy time for me, but I wouldn’t trade my experience, network and learning for anything. The Smeal EMBA program changed my life – at work, and at home, and as the Director of the program I invite you to learn more about the program and the many offerings we have that help students accomplish their goals. If you have a moment read through the posts or visit our website (www.smealemba.com) to learn more. If you want, call me at 866 999 3622 to learn why I believe this EMBA program is truly one of the best in the region.