Huntsman Hall Will Have Plenty to Say When it is Completed

By Ken Snyder

When it comes to brand position among business schools, there’s nothing like a brand-new building to reinforce the message that we are all about excellence and on our way to becoming a top-tier institution. In some ways, the building will communicate that message faster and more effectively than dozens of speeches, press releases, or marketing materials. 

We think that one of the first things people will notice entering from our side of the campus will be Huntsman Hall. We think that Huntsman Hall will prove to be a great first impression of Utah State University. We are proud of what USU is all about and our building will leave no doubt that we are true Aggies. 

 

We’ll have an Aggie-blue theme inside the facility that will be repeated throughout the building, often in subtle ways like having an Aggie-blue podium and Aggie-blue chairs in our classrooms. Even some of the paintings on the wall will reflect this, with Aggie-blue themes and motifs reinforcing our connection to this great university, its traditions and its forward momentum.

Huntsman Hall will represent what is best about Utah State and what’s best about the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

Huntsman School 2014 Whitesides Scholar Athletes

Congratulations to this year's Huntsman School of Business Whitesides Scholar Athletes.


Nikolas Allred, Football, Business

Trevor Andersen, Men's Track & Field, International Business

Jarom Baldomero, Football, Accounting

Kaitlyn Betts, Gymnastics, Business Administration

Michael Bills, Men's Track & Field, Accounting

Parker Bluth, Men's Track & Field, Business Administration

Spencer Butterfield, Men's Basketball, Business Administration

Paul Clark, Football, Accounting

Ben Clifford, Men's Basketball, Finance/Economics

Sara Cobb, Soccer, Accounting

Brennan Coburn, Golf, Business Administration

James Croasdell, Men's Basketball, Economics

Kyle Davis, Men's Basketball, Business Administration

Joseph Gough, Men's Track & Field, Marketing

Austin Groll, Men's Track & Field, Business Administration

Cole Lambourne, Men's Track & Field, Business Administration

Bryan J. Larsen, Football, Business Administration

Trent Loveless, Football, Accounting

Jeff Manning, Football, Business Administration

Alexander Marsaw, Football, Business Administration

Daniel Mosman, Men's Track & Field, Finance

CJ O'Neal, Men's Track & Field, Business Administration/Marketing

Michael Okonkwo, Football, Finance

Travis Parrish, Football, International Business

Fredrick Peterson, Men's Tennis, Business Administration

Jennifer Schlott, Women's Basketball, Marketing

Travis Seefeldt, Football, Management Information Systems

Nick Steingreaber, Men's Track & Field, Finance

Annie Thomas, Softball, Business Administration

Andrew Whiting, Men's Tennis, Business

Connor Winters, Football, Business Administration

Michelle Yasukochi, Gymnastics, Accounting

GoPro Marketing Competition

By Sierra Hoffer

I had no idea what to expect from my first marketing competition. I signed up anyway, thinking that this could lead to a new line on my resume, or maybe the opportunity to rub shoulders with other professionals in the marketing field. While both those things did happen, I can honestly say I am a better marketer because this is experience, and that alone is worth it.

After a great presentation from Cohen Summers, a representative from GoPro and a Huntsman School alumnus, I met the members of my group. There was a slight rush of panic when we realized how daunting the task was. What is the problem they need solved? What do I need to do?

Our first meeting was dedicated to identifying the exact problem that we needed to solve. It seemed that even after years of marketing classes, I was at a loss as to where to start. Personally, this was my biggest hurdle. If I were to give anyone advice, it would be to start at what you know. After that we then assessed the brand, created a SWOT analysis and pushed forward.

Winners left to right: Ben Vera, Bryan Groll, Jason Porter, Sierra Hoffer, Cohen Summers.

After we grasped a broad understanding of what was asked of us, it was off to work. Our group dedicated anywhere from 3 to 5 hours every day for the entire week to the project. If you are thinking of participating in a marketing case competition, understand this from the beginning: you have a hefty task in front of you, but enjoy the journey.

Our group really dived into brand personality. Anyone can project numbers to increase sales, but what we wanted to accomplish needed to be specific to GoPro. We created a great plan that embodied preparation, execution, and sustainability. This wasn't enough; we wanted to be better, different, and special. This is where understanding the brand really came into play. Our "secret" wasn't that we were smarter or had more time to dedicate, it was that we embodied GoPro's mantra, "We aren't a camera company, we are a content company". How do you implement this in the case of GoPro? You create content. Our group’s solution to GoPro's case was to create GoPro experts and have them teach others. What better way to demonstrate this then to film us (using a GoPro) teaching others how to use a GoPro?

A marketing case competition is not easy, but it will be worth it. Even without winning, I would have felt just as accomplished. You dedicate a lot of time, there is a lot of uncertainty, but it is a lot of fun. I met some outstanding marketers, and it was a great honor to work with Cohen. I am truly grateful for this experience and that I "took charge of my education." All those years of marketing classes go to waste if you are unable to practice them. I would recommend participating in a case competition to any business student, and I personally will forever seek out opportunities to challenge myself. I am extremely grateful to my team and GoPro, without whom I would not have had this experience. I am also very appreciative of the executive council of HMA and Dr. Bone for giving us students this opportunity.

Teacher Recognized for 19-Year Winning Streak with Huntsman IMA Chapter

By Steve Eaton

Frank Shuman has been on a roll. In fact, he has been part of a winning streak is as old as some of his students.

While he has been the Huntsman IMA advisor, the chapter has won the “Gold Level Award of Excellence” 19 years in a row, the longest winning streak in the nation. To achieve the Gold Level Award, student chapters must document community service they have done and meet other high standards set by the organization.

Frank Shuman with Huntsman student, Michael Bills

Each year the organization recognizes just four chapters as being outstanding. The Huntsman IMA students have won that designation five times. In another national IMA competition last year the Huntsman chapter took first place in three out of three “best practices” categories.


This year those at the IMA are giving Shuman one of their highest honors, a sort of advisor-of-the-year award for the entire organization. Shuman was recently notified that he will be getting the Ursel K. Albers IMA Campus Advocate of the Year Award.

Shuman said he was pleased with the recognition but quick to credit the students for his award.

“I am honored but I feel like I am just the coach of a winning team,” he said. “For me, the most rewarding thing has been to see these students growing and developing as leaders.”

While Shuman, who is a principal lecturer at the Huntsman School, has been honored, in part, for the chapter’s success, many of the students he has worked with say he has helped them with their own personal victories too.

Michael Bills, president of the Huntsman IMA chapter, wrote a letter of recommendation, explaining why he felt that Shuman deserved the advocate of the year award. He wrote that when he had just returned from a two-year mission he had to miss his first week of school, including Shuman’s class in managerial accounting. He was trying to remember what he had learned in his last accounting class before he left on his mission and struggling to keep up in the class. It was frustrating enough that he was considering changing his major. He went to Shuman for assistance.

“Frank was very helpful and encouraging, and was more than willing to spend extra time with me to help cover the material that I missed or didn’t understand,” he wrote. “Also, because I started school late the book store was sold out of the managerial accounting textbook, so Frank let me borrow his copy until I was able to purchase one.”

This is not the first time Shuman has been recognized for his work with students. He was also named the School of Accountancy Teacher of the Year in 1994 and 2007, and the Jon M. Huntsman Advisor of the Year in 1995 and 2013.

A Student's Day with a SEC Accountant

By Trevor Lund

I had the opportunity to go to lunch and attend class with Jon Duresh, a senior employee in the office of the chief accountant at the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). My time with Jon was well spent as he told story after story regarding his time at the SEC and answering my many questions. Jon spoke a lot about the regulation and different decisions the SEC is making. He also spent a substantial amount of time speaking about the role the SEC plays with the other regulatory bodies in accounting.

Jon spoke about how to manage risk, which he stated was one of the main roles of an auditor but that also applies to just about any profession. The following are a few things that I took from his experiences.

1. Understand the business purpose of the transaction or event; you have to understand why the transaction is taking place. You cannot come to a conclusion until you understand why it is taking place.

2. Have objectivity in evaluating authoritative guidance; be able to understand the standards.

3. Consider broader application of GAAP.

4. Consider what investors and regulators think- you must consider what the regulator thought about when the regulation was written.

5. Has materiality been considered properly?

6. Are the disclosures completely transparent- you can blow it but enforcement will have a hard time if the disclosures are very written well and are very transparent.

A few more items he shared that I thought were important and would be beneficial for our students were: USU students can compete with students from around the country, we need to be aware of much more than what’s going on in accounting and we need to be aware of what’s going on in the news.

Trevor Lund

A Bright Future for Huntsman Hall May Cause You to Remember Timbuk3

There was a song that was popular in 1986 by a one-hit band Timbuk3 called: “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.”

It’s a song I may relate to better than you because I’m probably older than you are; because I spend a lot of time thinking about the bright future of Huntsman Hall, and because I happen to know that Huntsman Hall will be wearing shades when it is done. 

Huntsman Hall will eventually wear shades.

From the beginning we wanted our new building to be full of natural light. All those windows, however, can present some challenges for a building facility in a valley that experiences four distinct seasons. You see, a major job for Huntsman Hall will be to try to find a way to keep the temperature consistent, while using up the least amount of energy possible. The shades will help it do exactly that.

Take a look at the artist rendering that I have included with this post. Do you see the red arrow? It is pointing to one of the horizontal slats that will wrap around the building. Far from being decorative, the shades will play a key role in our energy conservation efforts.

There are some sophisticated computer models that have gone into determining just exactly how wide those shades should be and exactly where they should be placed to help us maximize their impact in the summer and winter. Without these shades, a lot more money would need to be spent on heating and cooling the building. We think those funds can be better invested in saving energy. And it is one of the key tools we are using to meet LEED requirements.

Maybe someday in your future you’ll be sitting in a classroom and looking out the windows at the Huntsman Hall shades. Perhaps by then you will have download this old rock and roll classic so you can sing along:

 

Ken Snyder is cool even without shades.

“I’m doing all right, getting good grades,

The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades.”

And who knows, maybe if you listen closely, it will seem that Huntsman Hall is singing along too.