Olin Business School

Calling all entrepreneurs! WUSTL’s two annual business plan competitions are ready to get underway. The kick off event for commercial and nonprofit business plans takes place September 16 in conjunction with an Assembly Series speaker, Matthew Bishop who will talk about capitalism and philanthropy.

In its 15th year, the “Work, Families and Public Policy” series, a schedule of Monday brown-bag seminars presented on campus biweekly through Dec. 6 will give faculty and graduate students of St. Louis-area universities an array of opportunities to lunch and learn. The series features one-hour seminars on research interests including labor, households, health care, law and social welfare by faculty from local and national universities.

First year MBA students at Olin get a head start on the school year with a two week boot camp that involves serious academic work, team building exercises, career counseling and socializing. Jackson Nickerson, PhD, the Frahm Family Professor of Organization & Strategy, greeted the class with this challenge: “I dare you to take full responsibility to transform your thinking and change your life forever.”  Nickerson teaches a course in critical thinking custom-designed for Olin students.

The health care industry needs managers with a strong foundation in business and public policy. A new dual degree from WUSTL is designed to prepare students to meet the challenges of complex companies across the health care spectrum. Details of the new MBA/MPH graduate program offered by the Brown School and Olin Business School are announced today.

The new era of healthcare reform is demanding a new hybrid in leadership: executives who can bridge the worlds of business and public healthcare policy.  To meet the growing needs of an ever more complex health care sector, Washington University in St. Louis is launching a new dual degree program.  The MBA/MPH degree will offer the best in business administration and public health to prepare tomorrow’s leaders in the field of healthcare.

A $500,000 gift from Wells Fargo to fund scholarships and internships for WUSTL undergraduate business school students has been announced by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Olin MBA students are taking their classroom skills to the boardroom. Nine MBAs have been selected to serve on the boards of social service agencies supported by the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Students will get real-world experience while helping the community they live in.  

“Scotch” comes from a word meaning water of life, and the industry is the life blood of the Scottish economy. That makes scotch whiskey an excellent case study for Olin Business School students. A10-day research trip to visit Scotland’s distilleries got off to an adventureous start as the students had to skirt volcanic ash and airline strikes to reach their destination.

To complete a course in entrepreneurship, Olin Business School students traveled to Budapest, Hungary for some hands-on work with new ventures. Their consulting projects not only benefitted the eastern European entrepreneurs, but helped students gain a better understanding of the global marketplace and their career futures.

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will share findings from the recent report by the Committee on America’s Energy Future in a talk June 7 at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City. Wrighton served as vice-chair of the Committee on America’s Energy Future, a group sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a scientist, researcher and respected authority on global energy options.