One UAlbany, One School of Business

Tulips bloom on the academic podium

 

Days before spring break, on March 11, the first COVID-19 case was identified at UAlbany, a student who had visited the Massry Center for Business.  The building was closed for deep cleaning, and School of Business faculty and staff were instructed to work remotely. It was surreal, a harbinger of what everyone’s lives would become.

Since then, classes have gone online, with faculty taking up the mantle of online instruction. The University and School of Business have focused their attention on supporting students, the community and New York State.

Students are always the priority. The Student Emergency Fund grew, thanks to gifts from alumni and others, to meet the increased needs of displaced and out-of-work students. The Purple Pantry provides students in need with four days of groceries each month. The School of Business Office of Career Service transitioned to solely online platforms.

Extracurricular activities have gone virtual including the annual Student Research Conference and the Capital Region Semi-Finals of the New York Business Plan Competition (story in the summer issue of UAlbany Business e-news).

“It is a challenging time. The University and the School have undertaken massive efforts to ensure the safety and education of our students while maintaining a strong School of Business community.  Compassion is evident through student interactions with faculty and staff. Everyone is dealing with great uncertainty,” said School of Business Dean Nilanjan Sen.

University Efforts

On-Campus COVID Testing Site

UAlbany is hosting a COVID testing site located in the Colonial Quad parking lot adjacent to the Massry Center for Business. When it opened on April 6, it was the first state-run COVID-19 mobile testing site in upstate New York.  It tests at-risk individuals by appointment. The university recently opened an antibody testing site in the SEFCU Arena, which will administer tests for state employees who are first responders.

Printing Protective Gear

Nearly 100 volunteers, including UAlbany students, faculty, staff and community partners, have collaborated to print more than 2,000 face shields for donation to frontline health workers and emergency first responders. Along with the face shields, UAlbany departments and research labs are offering PPE inventory as well. More than 23,000 gloves, 2,000 face masks, 2,000 N95 respirators, 720 surgical gowns and 100 towels have been donated.

Research

UAlbany was commissioned by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to lead the state’s research efforts regarding the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority populations. The School of Public Health’s Maternal and Child Health Program is reviewing the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy, and leading an observational study examining hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and chloroquine as possible treatments for COVID-19. The School of Public Health is also offering their expertise to the state’s COVID-19 contact tracing initiative.

SUNY awarded $151,000 to the UAlbany RNA Institute to fund research on the host-viral interactome in COVID-19.  
The SUNY Research Foundation awarded seed funding to ten UAlbany collaborations that address challenges that confront society due to COVID-19. The projects range from the impact of weather to decision-making by older adults during the pandemic to improving testing for the virus.

Help is on the Way

Student emergency medical technicians from the University’s student-run Five Quad Volunteer Ambulance Service have focused their efforts on Rockland County, where need is greater.

When the New York State Writer’s Institute had to cancel the remainder of their spring speaker series, they transitioned to  The Conversation, a daily offering mini interviews with Gregory Maguire ’76, Nikki Giovanni, Rick Riley, Roz Chast, T.C. Boyle, James Howard Kunstler and many others.

For more on the university’s pandemic efforts, visit One UAlbany. 

The School of Business and the New Normal

Shift in Admission Requirements

The School of Business has proactively responded to the expected shift in admissions. The Graduate Management Admission Test is no longer required of applicants to graduate programs. The School of Business has approved a proposal to temporarily lower the undergraduate grade point average necessary for acceptance into the school from 3.25 to 3.0.

“When we learned that GMAT testing had been suspended worldwide on March 18 as a result of COVID19, we realized that making timely applications to our nine graduate degree programs would no longer be feasible, said Janet Marler, School of Business associate dean for graduate studies.

“Our graduate program directors, in consultation with the graduate affairs council, quickly reassessed its admissions requirements and in late March, the School of Business announced revised admissions criteria that included a GMAT test waiver for Fall 2020 applications. What we have seen since is an increase in applications across all programs with little evidence of any decline in applicant quality.”

The reduced undergraduate GPA applies to current students and transfers into the school.

"We understand the many challenges that students encountered completing their coursework in the spring and may encounter again in the fall. We hope this temporary change to the School of Business admission requirements will encourage intended business, accounting and digital forensics majors to continue to pursue their academic and professional goals," said Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Dennis Caplan.

Weekend MBA Webinars

The Weekend MBA program is sponsoring webinars open to the public. The first was “Managing Change During Uncertain Times” presented by Peter Giulioni, long-time management consultant and a former senior partner at Deloitte Consulting who also instructs and provides executive career services to our MBA students. Giulioni advised, “Put your oxygen mask on first,” before reaching out to others. Watch here.

Upcoming Zoom Webinars

  • Leading in a Crisis with Dr. Martha Asselin, director of the UAlbany Center for Leadership and Service, will be held on Wednesday, May 27.
  • Mindfulness 101:  Tools You Can Use with Kim Perone, CLC, Success, Bereavement & Resilience Coach and Mindfulness Trainer, The Center for Clarity, Compassion & Contentment, will be held on Tuesday, June 30. 

Further sessions include privacy & security, digital marketing, and career planning. Contact Weekend Program Director Don Purdy for more information at [email protected]


Dean's Research Webinars

Maintaining the school’s culture of research, a series of faculty brown bag lunches transitioned to Zoom. Thanks to Assistant Professor of Marketing Hillary Wiener, this spring, School of Business faculty began presenting their research in an informal setting.  Assistant Professor of Digital Forensics Devi Bhattacharya recently presented "How Common is Common? Evaluating News Brand Overlaps through Social News Propagation Networks." Previous presenters include Associate Professor of Accounting Kinsun Tam on audit quality and Assistant Professor of Digital Forensics Lee Spitzley on multicultural group communication.

Of note: Wiener recently received a Terra Award in recognition of her marketing class’ survey measuring student value of sustainability initiatives