Gerstacker Students, French School Collaborate on Business Plans
Caroline Dobbins makes her part of the presentation during the Elkin Isaac Student Research Symposium. (D. Trumpie photo)
What better way to prepare American students for the globalized marketplace than to work with students from other countries to develop a business plan? Caroline Dobbins, '12, was one of eight students in Albion College's Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management who had the chance to do that through a partnership between the institute and École supérieure de Vente (SDV), an international business school sponsored by the Versailles, France, Chamber of Commerce.
Less than two years after graduating from Albion, Mallory Woodrow, '10, is establishing herself as a social media expert for business.
The director of social media at Netvantage, a search engine marketing firm in East Lansing, saw her Jan. 25 blog post on Social Media Examiner, a popular online resource for businesses, generate nearly 4,000 shares through various social media platforms. Woodrow's post offered nine detailed tips for successfully integrating social media onto business Web sites.
Woodrow has also contributed to Entrepreneur magazine and is quoted in The New Media Driver's License: Using Social Media for More Productive Business and Marketing Communications, a recently published book by Racom Communications that is being used as a text in college classes.
Britons Balance Soccer, Study of Monetary Policy
Evan Malecke and Andy Bieber spent many long nights in the Gerstacker Institute lab during the fall semester.Albion College students are noted for their ability to juggle their academic and extracurricular pursuits, though the balancing act performed by Andy Bieber and Evan Malecke this fall may stand alone.
Both concentrating in the Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management, they went to class until about 4 p.m. each day when they would go to practice or matches as midfielders for Albion’s men’s soccer team. After soccer, the juniors would have just enough time to grab dinner and clean up before spending hours sifting through papers and debating economic policy with members of Albion’s Fed Challenge team as it prepared for its Nov. 16 regional competition in Chicago.
Though they were eventually named alternates to the Albion group that won the regional to advance to national competition against heavyweights such as Harvard University, Rutgers University, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Washington, D.C., Bieber and Malecke both tout how participating increased their understanding of the amount of influence the government has in moving the economy forward and created connections with professionals off campus.
“We are truly fortunate to have attracted Emily Nolan as Gerstacker Institute director,” Randall said. “She has relevant experience in both higher education and the business world, and will bring creative ideas on how we might expand our current programs. Additionally, her global business perspective will be an invaluable resource for our students and faculty.”
