Top Researcher to Head New Risk Center
Glenn Harrison was named the inaugural director of the new Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR). Created by the Robinson College of Business in conjunction with the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, CEAR is the first research center of its kind with the goal of bringing worldwide economic experts together to find solutions for complex risk issues. Harrison received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA, where he also received a master’s degree. Harrison has published more than 140 academic papers.

Robey Wins LEO for Lifetime Achievement
Daniel Robey, John B. Zellars Professor of Computer Information Systems, received a LEO Award for Lifetime Exceptional Achievement in Information Systems. The award is presented annually by the Association for Information Systems Council and the International Conference on Information Systems Executive Committee. The LEO recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to research in and/or the practice of information systems.

On the Prowl

Seventeen of Robinson’s top graduate and undergraduate students took the ultimate field trip earlier this year, trading classroom for boardroom as part of the college’s Panthers on Wall Street program. The group spent time on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, met with executives at nine leading financial services and consulting firms, and joined Dean H. Fenwick Huss at an alumni reception. This was the second year for Panthers on Wall Street, which is a joint project of the college’s Board of Advisors, Career Management Center and Office of Development.

Sweet Victory
A team of students representing the college was first runner up at the Americas Regional of the Global Investment Research Challenge on March 18 in New York, besting competitors including MIT and Wharton’s San Francisco EMBA program along the way. Faculty advisor Jonathan Godbey, a clinical assistant professor of finance, and practitioner mentor Stephen P. Davenport, CFA, vice president and head of equity risk management at Wilmington Trust, coached the team through its series of wins. The Global Investment Research Challenge is an initiative of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.

Ethics Advocate Award Winner
Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH, president and CEO of CARE USA, received the 2009 Ethics Advocate Award from the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility, a unit of the Robinson College. The Ethics Advocate Award honors an individual who has been an effective agent of change for ethical purposes in a particular field or in the business community at large. Dr. Gayle is the seventh individual to receive the Ethics Advocate Award.

Finding a Calling in Haiti by Rhonda Mullen
When the January 12 earthquake hit Haiti, all Elena Bargo (BBA-Marketing 2009) felt in the neighboring Dominican Republic where she was on vacation was a slight tremor. But in Leogane at the epicenter of the quake, a 10-year-old orphan didn’t fare as well. When the child entered a building to save a young friend, she was buried under tons of rubble for three days. Bargo met the girl when she began volunteering at the Leogane orphanage in the aftermath of the quake. Once the “life of the orphanage,” the child was living in constant pain, feeling traumatized and isolated. But through the attention of Bargo and other volunteers, she began to come back to life. Soon Bargo and her young friend were doing physical therapy exercises together, laughing, singing, even dancing the tango.
“You don’t find your career. Your career finds you,” says Bargo. She first volunteered with relief teams sponsored by the nonprofit organizations MOSCHTA and MUDHA. A certified professional rescuer, Bargo traveled with 30 volunteers in the days just after the earthquake, including medical professionals and sanitation experts, who provided aid to more than 8,000 people. Since those first weeks after the quake, Bargo has worked on an emergency evacuation plan through MOSCHTA and MUDHA to move the 80 children of the Leogane orphanage to a safer area. As State of Business went to press, the Dean’s List student was hoping to secure a position in the next phase of the recovery: building camps with better facilities and sanitation for the nation’s internally displaced persons. “The process will be rigorous but rewarding,” writes Bargo from Haiti. Rewarding also describes Bargo’s continued work with the orphans, who she’s dubbed her “rugrats.” Bargo writes, “Every night I have the pleasure of hearing the children all sing joyous songs during their prayers. The sound of their voices asking God to bless their lives is remarkable.”