News

From leading and founding clubs to interning to managing investment funds, this double-major senior in Finance and Economics does it all. Elizabeth Blemings bleeds gold and blue and represents what the John Chambers College of Business and Economics is all about.

Elizabeth is a part of the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF), a fund run by a team of student analysists who manage real money and discuss markets in real time. The team goes to New York City each semester, connecting with WVU alumni in industry and to meet with different financial institutions.

Niko Stilianoudakis always knew economics was the right program for him. Now a senior honors student in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics who is also double-majoring in mathematics, he is building his portfolio quickly.

Last year, Niko was hand-picked to study in the first-ever Applied Regional Economics Research class, an advanced undergraduate class where students were selected prior to the Spring 2018 semester to research assigned regions, compile data and present a statistical analysis to business leaders in their respective regions. Their research involved economic forecasting for various areas of West Virginia and are part of official statewide data compiled by the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research. Because of that success, Niko is now a BBER Witt Scholar, doing research for the entity that is at the heart of economic forecasting and studies for the state of West Virginia.

There isn’t time to waste for Michala Luck. Beginning at WVU as a biomedical engineering major, Michala transferred as a freshman to the John Chambers College of Business and Economics Global Supply Chain Management program. She is now in her junior year — and loving it.

A co-founder of the WVU Chapter of Global Business Brigades, Michala is part of a team that goes to Panama once a year to teach financial literacy. The purpose of the trip is to help Panama residents break the cycle of poverty and focus on holistic growth that connects with underserved communities. 

For David Sills V, the road to West Virginia University was anything but typical. And, as it turns out, his departure will be just as unique.

When you combine West Virginia’s rural disbursement of residents with its less-than-affluent, average demographic, the present day result is that the state has become a desert. That is, a “food desert,” where a large percentage of the state’s population resides significant distances from supermarkets and reliable food sources.

Virginia Franke Kleist, Ph.D., has been named the new Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Research and Academic Operations at the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. The announcement was made to faculty and staff at WVU’s business school by Javier Reyes, Milan Puskar Dean, on Nov. 28. The appointment is effective January 1, 2019.

Supporters of West Virginia University donated more than $6.2 million on November 14 during the University’s second annual Day of Giving, more than doubling last year’s total. And on just its fifth day with its new name, the John Chambers College of Business and Economics made the day count that was promoted as “One Day to Give Back.”

WVU’s business school raised $1,878,033 on the strength of 365 separate gifts, leading the University in both the amount raised and the total number of gifts. The total donated to WVU was $6,243,176 through 3,001 gifts during the 24-hour online giving event.

Every student and member of the faculty and staff at West Virginia University will have access to a digital subscription of the Wall Street Journal through the end of the academic year, thanks to a sponsorship by the John Chambers College of Business and Economics. 

The business school worked with WVU Libraries and the Wall Street Journal to make the sponsorship happen. 

You may not know it, but West Virginia University is home to one of the most storied and historically significant programs of its kind in the nation. 

The Master of Science in Industrial Relations and Human Resources  program, commonly known as MSIR and housed in the WVU College of Business and Economics, was the focus of a 60th anniversary celebration over the weekend in WVU’s business school. For the program that became fully operational in 1958 — only seven years after WVU created the College of Commerce that would become B&E — program alumni and students came together to celebrate MSIR’s history, success and evolution. 

A team of graduate students from West Virginia University showed its knowledge of industrial relations and human resources by winning the graduate student division of the inaugural West Virginia SHRM Classic Case Competition. The team, all of whom are students at the College of Business and Economics, won the competition during the WVSHRM annual conference in Bridgeport Oct. 8-9.