House cleaning

The MIT Sloan campus is quiet this time of year. Many students are dispersed across the globe, meeting with industry and government leaders on Treks. Some are immersed in MIT's Independent Activities Period (IAP). Others are just taking a breather. The holiday lights are down (well, most of them), and the exhilaration of New Year's Eve has spawned the lull between the year's new beginning and the real beginning -- classes begin Feb. 5.

Seems like a perfect time for a little house cleaning -- miscellaneous news, stray observations, a little of this, a little of that. So here goes, in no particular order:

• Kendall Square is quiet, but that doesn't mean students are sipping lemonade on a beach somewhere. Treks and IAP keep them plenty busy. Plus, if any students are sipping lemonade, it's well deserved considering the frenetic pace at which they go about schoolwork, activities, and the job search during the semester.

• We added a bunch of RSS Feeds to the MIT Sloan website, including feeds for press clippings, faculty publications, events, and a feed that encompasses all our feeds -- kinda like a super-size feed (without the trans fat).

• It seems like yesterday that Sloanies were huddled around TVs to watch the finale of The Apprentice Season Four to see if Randal Pinkett, a graduate of MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program, would win a coveted position with the Trump Organization. In contrast, this season's Apprentice -- Celebrity Apprentice -- seems awfully silly. Granted it's for charity, but I just don't view Randal Pinkett, who has a number of advanced degrees, through the same prism as Stephen Baldwin. I mean, Stephen was great in The Usual Suspects, but captain of industry he ain't.

• My podcast partner Michelle Choate and I interviewed Senior Associate Dean Alan White for a podcast episode on MIT Sloan's international initiatives. Alan is in the fortunate position to have witnessed the dramatic changes in China over the past 30 years. He traveled to China for MIT Sloan in 1979. Then, he said, there were few cars in Beijing, everyone dressed the same, and business (including business schools) was under the purview of the government. Business schools didn't even have placement offices, because the government determined the career path for all graduates. Now, well, you know. Look for the episode in a few weeks.

• Recent additions to the MIT Sloan website:
  • Internship allows MBA student Devorah Cohen to explore the business side of the entertainment industry
  • New Assistant Professor Michael Grubb offers a different take on corporate disclosure models
  • MBA student Abdur-Rahim Syed ‘peeks behind the curtains’ at eBay
  • Podcast: MBA student Megan Ford on her experience in TV and movies and her career behind the scenes
  • Recent faculty publications
• Save the date:
  
  • MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference, Feb. 9
  • MIT Private Equity Symposium, April 4
  • MIT Sloan Sales Conference, April 25
  • $100K Entrepreneurship Competition winners announced, May 14
  • Reunion 2008, June 5-8

That's it for now. Oh yeah, and classes begin Feb. 5. Did I say that already? OK, I'm ready for the spring semester.

- Posted by Scott Rolph