Mallory's Winter Break Plans

The moment our semester ended, it seemed every one of my classmates took off in a separate direction. Some drove directly to the airport to spend the holiday with their families, several went out to celebrate the completion of our first semester, one embarked on his belated Honeymoon, a few continued to catch up on Graduate Assistantship work, and some found the nearest pillow. We were all very ready for a break in action after months of diligent hard work.

We’ve been finished with classes for about a week now, and looking to the remainder of the break, I find myself with so much to catch up on. I started my first recreational book since August last night—“Shooting from the Outside” by Tara VanDerveer. The nightly holiday features of ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas marathon are offering a relaxing shift from the stresses of the semester. My bedroom is beginning to look presentable, and I’ve made a small dent in my list of Christmas cards.

The great thing about our 34-day break from classes is that it’s long enough to get our feet back under us and still have time to get ahead for the spring semester. As one of the few members of our class who is still foggy about my future career goals, I will be conducting a series of informational interviews in the coming weeks. Molly Kinard, our amazing Career Management Director, has helped me create a list of contacts in my industries of interest in both the Marketing and Human Resources fields.

By the time classes start back, I hope to have a more focused outlook on what I am looking for in my career and in a summer internship. I also plan on perusing the Internet for discounted textbooks and registering for our upcoming courses. I may even be an over-achiever and browse through some Wall Street Journal articles.

More than anything, I think our entire class will be using this break to catch up on time with our families and to enjoy the holiday season. And, I’m sure our class will all be back on January 9, well-rested and ready to tackle another semester of exciting challenges!

Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Elizabeth is a fellow first-year MBA pursuing a concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. She holds a graduate assistantship at UT's Anderson Center. Below are her insights on current events affecting Entrepreneurship.... 

The holidays are right around the corner, followed by the new year. As we enter 2013, many in the entrepreneurial community are looking toward a new wave of legislation that is to come into effect – the JOBS Act as it pertains to equity-based funding.

Before entering as a student in the UT MBA program, I was unaware of events, laws, and issues pertaining to US innovation. I knew I wanted to pursue Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) as a concentration but was largely unaware of the landscape surrounding this exciting field. Thankfully, the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation has opened my eyes to the myriad opportunities that abound for aspiring entrepreneurs, both at the University and beyond.

What else does the Anderson Center have to offer? It has been my experience that they have dedicated faculty and staff members who stay abreast of the most current issues (like the JOBS Act referenced above), accelerator programs, business competitions, a summer camp, seed funding, mentorship, and a breadth of connections that span the country. UT aims to become a Top-25 institution, and I believe that the E&I Program is doing its part to aid the University at large in achieving its goal.

Mallory's Lunch with a CEO

I secretly love when my friends ask, “How was your week?” It allows me to respond nonchalantly, “Not bad…I had lunch with the retired CEO of Nestlé.” J Our MBA Career Services department sponsors a series of lunches with “Executives in Residence”—a group of extremely impressive business people with deep ties to the University of Tennessee. This year’s lineup includes the current CEOs of Radio Systems, Dominion Virginia Power, McCormick, Brightstar Care, and the current VP of American Express.

On Tuesday, I had lunch with a retired CEO of Nestlé, Joe Weller. And, I successfully fought the urge to ask for his autograph! His perspective was incredible, as he discussed everything from company loyalty and consumer behavior, to health trends and social responsibility. He was funny, too—even pointed out that one member of our class looks like Paul Ryan!

I enjoy hearing the success stories of alumni who have left the University of Tennessee and gone on to such high levels of success. It’s incredible to think that many years ago he was a student on this very campus!

Habitat build!

Every so often one of my fellow MBA classmates will be a "guest" blogger for the the Program. Today, we are lucky enough to hear from Mallory, who had an awesome time lending a hand for a Habitat for Humanity build last weekend...

Saturday was my first experience building a Habitat House! I had heard about the Habitat for Humanity organization during college, but had never been involved in the process until now. The Tennessee Organization of MBAs (TOMBA) sponsored a Blitz Day on Saturday, and dozens of UT MBA students showed up to help with the opening phase of volunteer work.

We started work at 7:15 a.m., but I wouldn’t take my Saturday morning back for anything. The family who will be living in the finished house introduced themselves to our class, and it was inspiring to know how much our volunteer work would positively impact their lives!

I had never hammered a nail before. Luckily, some of the more experienced volunteers were around to teach us the basics and to coordinate our efforts. Seven bent nails aren’t too bad, I guess! J The coordinators really knew what they were doing. The entire day was expertly scheduled, so there was no standing around! By the end of the morning shift, we had four walls and two scaffolds in place. It’s incredible how much 40 people can get done in a single morning. Later that night, I saw pictures on Facebook of the second shift of TOMBA members…standing on the newly-built roof! Needless to say, we were all a little sore the next day. Who needs a treadmill when you’ve got Habitat for Humanity!

I look forward to continuing work on TOMBA’s Habitat House over the next few weeks. So proud of my class for demonstrating the true “Volunteer Spirit!” Go Vols!

Today was all about…. Opportunity.

Boy do they keep us MBA-ers busy! In the last week I have: completed two marketing analyses, a group-based economics case study, taken a statistics test and an accounting exam, and to cap it all off, the UT MBA program hosted a job fair for first year students to attend… whew!

The job fair fun began at 8:30am… it was 3 hours of mingling between two packed floors of fellow MBA students, alumni, and companies looking to recruit from the UT MBA program. The program has alumni connections with companies all over the country, which is a huge perk, and certainly one of the reasons I chose the program. I had the opportunity to speak with tons of companies from a variety of industries – from finance, to consumer goods, to healthcare – the job fair had something for everyone. I still can’t believe that I am starting to seek out a summer internship position after just 8 weeks in the program, but it’s wonderful to know that the career services management here in the MBA program really does have my back. And, to ensure today's success, the career management group organized a little practice session last week. Second year MBA students acted as the “interviewer”, walked through our resumes, and asked us some tough questions; the real job fair was much less nerve wrecking because of that practice!

After an exhausting, and quite frankly overwhelming morning, there was light at the end of the tunnel: Donnie Smith, CEO of Tyson Foods and UT alum, was the featured guest speaker for the first year MBA class. What an incredible experience! He was so passionate about what he does and how he runs the company … the audience was captivated. Mr. Smith had such personality, very unlike the stereotypical C-level executive. He led a very interactive discussion, and the majority of his presentation was based on questions we asked. It was the perfect end to a chaotic day… I left energized and inspired about what my UT MBA degree will help me accomplish.

Welcome!

Hey! I’m Kim, a first year MBA student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I moved to Tennessee in September of 2011, after living in Boston for 10 years. I have an undergraduate degree in Communications/Public Relations and have work experience in television, public relations, politics, and health care. Based on my background, you most likely realize it has taken me some time to decide on an appropriate and fulfilling career, but I know my choice to join the full-time UT MBA program has been one of my best decisions. Currently, I am planning to pursue a Marketing concentration but find the world of Entrepreneurship and Innovation fascinating as well. For the next 17 months, I will keep you up to date with the exciting (and sometimes anxiety-ridden) weeks of the Program… so stay tuned!