Having trouble viewing this email?  Click here
May 2020
Dear Fellow Deans,

During this challenging COVID-19 outbreak, we have been settling down in a surreal world of virtual learning — while striving to maintain the richness of our on-campus experiences. I share here a few examples of how we are defying the disruptions that the coronavirus has wrought. 

Best regards and stay safe,
Rajib Sanyal, PhD
Dean
IMPACT— Scholarly Work Informs News Stories
The expertise of our faculty is often sought by the news media to help us understand current issues. 

Here are a few examples from just the past few weeks:

Robert Goldberg , clinical associate professor of finance, was quoted in U.S. News & World Report on   "What the Federal Reserve's Interest Rate Cut Means for Consumers."

MaryAnne Hyland, PhD , professor of human resource management and associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services, shared her expertise in a story about the proper etiquette for calling in sick to work, "A Guide to Calling in Sick," in U.S. News & World Report.

Zachary Johnson, PhD , associate professor of marketing, had comments included in a Newsday story, “Building future sales with humanity amid pandemic.”

Fan Liu, PhD , assistant professor of marketing, was interviewed by the Associated Press, and her comments on the implications of wearing masks to thwart COVID-19 were picked up by more than 200 newspapers, including The New York Times . Read it here .

David Machlis, PhD , associate professor of economics, was interviewed by The Jerusalem Post in two articles that discussed his work to combat hatred, intolerance and anti-Semitism. One is titled "Educating the Educators about the Holocaust" and the other is "March of the Living: Education is the way to prevent."

Dr. Machlis is co-founder and vice chairman of March of the Living, the largest annual international, experiential Holocaust education program in the world.

Mariano Torras, PhD , professor of economics and chair, Department of Finance and Economics, weighed in on states going bankrupt in a story in Newsweek , " Has a state ever gone bankrupt? "
INNOVATION— Experiential Learning
Our annual Business Plan Competition, an event that draws on and rewards our students’ entrepreneurial zeal, was conducted virtually by Zoom. Five finalists competed for cash prizes. In addition to the written plan and its presentation, the competition also featured an “elevator pitch” component. The five judges were business professionals. The event was emceed by Michal Davydov , a finance senior. First-prize was won by Abie Rawad Akhand , an accounting senior, for his proposal, Eden — an all-inclusive online marketplace to enable clients and professionals to conduct e-commerce via integrated communication technologies.
Abie Rawad Akhand, first-prize winner
ENGAGEMENT— Asset: Alumni
More than ever, our alumni remain a vital resource, keeping our flag aflutter in this world ravaged by COVID-19. Like many of you, we have been keeping them informed about changes at the Willumstad School, engaging them to mentor our students and ensure that their internship and talent needs are being met, and arranging for them to be guest speakers in classes, to facilitate seminars on resiliency and tenacity, and to serve as judges in our Business Plan Competition — all virtually, because of pandemic-induced pivots.
This e-newsletter is prepared by the Office of the Dean of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University.