Professors educate students on research
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, a number of professors spoke about their research to a group of about 45 students. The Research Panel took place in the Welles-Brown room in Rush Rhees Library from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The professors were from a number of different departments and spoke on a wide variety of subjects.
The first professor was Douglas Brooks from the Department of Religion and Classics, a top scholar of South Asian religions. His research, done with Paul Muller-Ortega, explored the ancient tradition of Tantra. It specifically questions the one-sidedness of tantra study and how its focus has shifted over the past 25 years.
Another speaker was Carmala Garzione from the Earth and Environmental Sciences department. Her research concerned the startling fact that mountain ranges rise to their height in as little as two million years. The results, which were found using two pioneering methods, go against past scientific findings by suggesting that they rise much faster than scientists had always thought.
The third speaker was David Goldfarb from the Biology department. Through his research, he discovered that in order to survive, cells “eat” their own nuclei. While it has long been known that cells recycle their parts by “eating” them, scientists thought that the nucleus was immune. However, according to Goldfarb’s research, cells manage to take apart their own nucleus piece by piece and leave important parts untouched.
The fourth speaker, Joanna Scott from the English department, received the Ambassador Book Award for Fiction for “Liberation,” a novel that she recently wrote. The main character in her book, Adriana Nardi, played a large part in her last novel, “Tourmaline,” which also received critical acclaim.
Simon School earns top rankings in magazines
The Simon Graduate School of Business was ranked No. 28 among the top 30 U.S. business schools by Businessweek magazine. The school also ranked No. 38 among the world’s top 100 business schools, up from No. 40 in 2006, in an annual survey by the Financial Times of London.
The ranking for Businessweek is based on the quality of MBA students at the school, and it is only one of a number of increasing high rankings that the school has received in the recent past.
There are many different factors that play a part in determining the ranking. Graduates from schools across the company, as well as MBA recruiters, grade areas such as communication, teamwork, teaching quality and career service. Simon was in the top 20 percent of almost every category.
Of the top 50 schools, the Simon School is the most improved business school in the rankings over the last three years, according to Dean and Professor of the Simon School Mark Zupan. The school has also increased in size at a quicker rate than many other schools.
Zupan’s strategy is to focus on the fundamentals, such as the quality of students and faculty. He stressed that his basic philosophy was to focus on the long run and not be swayed by short-term fads. He thought that one of the most important things that set the school aside from others was the Early Leaders program, which recruits students who are less than three years out of college.
Simon School has received similar rankings in other publications. They were ranked No. 6 on the regional list of business schools in the 2006 Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey of corporate recruiters and No. 7 for overall investment in Businessweek.
Wrobel is a member of the class of 2010.
