Olin Business School

When a company decides to turn to a call center to handle its customer service, company heads assume that signing a contract is the best way to get the best service. Not necessarily, says Tava Olsen, associate professor of operations and manufacturing management in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Olsen and a colleague at the University of Toronto, found that some contracts allow call centers to meet their obligations half-way, leaving their clients — and their client’s clients — on hold.

When both husband and wife hold college degrees, it is the husband’s degree — and the husband’s degree alone — that typically determines whether a “power couple” will move to another city for career purposes, suggests a new study by economists at Washington University in St. Louis. The study is bad news for young women seeking gender equity in salary and career opportunities.

Over a handful of classes, M.B.A. students developed programs for selling merchandise featuring National Park System logos.

A gift of $1.2 million was augmented with $300,000 from the University’s Sesquicentennial Endowed Professorship Challenge.

Photo by Mary ButkusMore than 50 students put on their best suits and tried out for the reality television show The Apprentice.

Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will deliver an address entitled: “Innovation: How it will impact the United States in a Global Economy” on Friday, Feb. 18, 2005.

Its first holder will be Barton H. Hamilton, professor of economics, of management and of entrepreneurship in the Olin School of Business.

Alumnus Robert Frick and his wife Barbara have established a professorship in the Olin School of Business. Todd Zenger, authority on business strategy and organizational design, will be formally installed as the first holder.

Photo by Mary ButkusThe “Super Ad Bowl” Feb. 6 was an opportunity to watch and evaluate the advertisements broadcast during the Super Bowl.

Photo by Joe AngelesResearch opportunities for undergrads like David Corley (left) will be facilitated by the University’s new Office of Undergraduate Research.Under Director Henry Biggs, it will help place students in research positions, promote their findings and award scholarships.