ߣߣÊÓƵ

This program immerses students in current topics in financial accounting, management accounting, tax policy, governmental and nonprofit accounting, auditing and assurance services, and information systems through presentations and events with legislators, regulators, policy makers, and other professionals. Students travel to New York City and Washington D.C. over the winter term. The program has included trips to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), the Securities Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ.

Contact: Amanda Pyzoha, 513-529-3372

Students work in teams to develop solutions to current accounting, auditing, and tax issues. As a recent example, teams examined how audit and assurance professionals can help organizations move to more and better environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures by bridging knowledge gaps and leveraging technology. Teams work alongside professional advisors and faculty to research an issue, propose a solution, and present their solution to a panel of Deloitte professionals. Winning teams may advance to regional competitions or the national competition at Deloitte University near Dallas, TX.

Contact: Jonathan Pyzoha, 513-529-3913

Students choose a topic that interests them and work alongside a distinguished professor on a research project, with the goal of publishing an article in a practitioner or academic journal. Students may also attend conferences to present the results of the research and have opportunities to interact with professionals at EY and other organizations. Previous research topics have included fraud, ethics, data analytics, and cybersecurity.

Contact: Tim Eaton, 513-529-2132

Master of Accountancy students participate in a two-day workshop facilitated by actors from Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. The engaging and eye-opening sessions challenge students to consider what leadership skills are critical in today’s dynamic, fast-changing business world; the importance of empathy, listening, and creativity in helping others develop solutions to pressing challenges; and how they can develop those skills in ways that are true to themselves.

Contact: Anne Farrell, 513-529-6200

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Challenge Case Competition engages teams of students in developing alternatives for a variety of real-world business decisions and presenting them to a panel of PwC professionals. For example, recently teams were asked to analyze the challenges faced by a fast-growing workout equipment company in a dynamic post-pandemic business environment.

Contact: Qing Burke, 513-529-6217

This program immerses students into a consulting career context in which they work together as one firm that visits three clients and then serves on an engagement for one of them on strategic risk management interdisciplinary challenge culminating in a presentation to executives. Students travel to Chicago over the winter term. The program is held in conjunction with the William Isaac & Michael Oxley Center for Business Leadership and is supported by EY with a consulting workshop and hosted session in its office and a Celebration Dinner.

Contact: Brian Ballou, 513-529-6213

Master of Accountancy students take the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment and then participate in a workshop led by Certified Gallup Strengths Coach Dr. Megan Gerhardt. The workshop emphasizes the importance of effectively leveraging one’s individual strengths and teaming with those who have different strengths to drive high performance.

Contact: Anne Farrell, 513-529-6200

Enjoy networking events with professionals, skills development workshops, and community service with students in accountancy and other majors. Accountancy-related student organizations include Beta Alpha Psi, the National Association of Black Accountants, Women in Accounting, the Accounting Association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and the ߣߣÊÓƵ University Investment Banking Club.

Contact: Amanda Pyzoha, 513-529-3372

The College Fed Challenge is an annual competition hosted by the Federal Reserve Board and co-sponsored by several Federal Reserve regional banks. The competition charges teams to assess the current health – and risks – of the U.S. economy and to then advise the Federal Open Market Committee concerning the policy tools that should be deployed to support healthy growth. The competition has two rounds. In the first round, all participating teams construct a video presentation detailing their findings and recommendations. In the later rounds, advancing teams engage in a 15-minute live Q&A with economists from the Federal Reserve System.

Contact: Nam Vu, 513-529-3969

The writing of Honors papers allows students to gain real academic experience by researching, producing, and then presenting professional, scholarly written work to a faculty and student audience. The paper is written on a topic of shared interest between the student and faculty supervisor, and is a collaborative experience. In the past, several of these papers have eventually been published in scholarly journals.

Contact: Jing Li, 513-529-4393

The Econ Games is an inter-university team competition that incorporates economic topics and skills with data analytics to analyze real-world problems. Workshops are held throughout the year, and a corporate sponsor challenges the teams to help them solve a business problem. The competition also includes student presentations to the sponsors and networking with additional businesses.

Contact: Carla Nietfeld, 513-529-2842

Economics students are frequently involved in conducting economic analyses and reports through classes and independent study for corporate, non-profit, and government clients. Recent projects include an analysis of the cryptocurrency market and an evaluation of a federal health services grant. During these projects, students typically meet regularly with the clients, and engage in data collection, visualization, and interpretation, writing for a non-technical audience, and policy analysis.

Contact: Jenny Minier, 513-529-4937

The Altman Institute’s John W. Altman Summer Scholars Internship Program has placed hundreds of entrepreneurship co-majors at companies over the past decade. It provides immersive, practice-based learning for students in startups and high-growth companies, angel groups and venture capital firms, tech startup accelerators, social ventures, and corporate innovation groups across the U.S. where student interns provide value to host companies by working on high-impact projects. Unlike traditional internship programs in which students are left “on their own” during the internship period, the Altman Institute’s John W. Altman Summer Scholars Internship Program wraps course curriculum and content around the internship to enhance the learning experience for students. Students complete a semester-long preparation course in technology, innovation techniques, and soft skills training prior to their internship period, and students receive coaching from entrepreneurship faculty, visit innovative companies, and create a portfolio of completed projects and outcomes throughout the entirety of their internship experience.

RedHawk Launch Accelerator, based in Union Hall in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district, is the Altman Institute’s seed stage startup accelerator for student-led startups with high growth potential and provides seed funding to startups in each cohort. RedHawk Launch Accelerator’s most recent cohort consisted of six student-founded and led businesses. Graduates from the Launch Accelerator have raised more than $30 million in follow-on funding. They include several notable companies: Portland-based OROS, a leading materials technology company that markets advanced thermal materials and high-performance, low-impact outerwear sold in more than 140 countries around the world; Minneapolis-based Avari XR, an XR platform for pediatric palliative care and therapy; and Cincinnati-based Bloxsmith, the first Web 3.0 marketplace for developers building games in the metaverse, among others.

Established in 1999, the Altman Institute’s $500,000 RedHawk Venture Fund is one of the first undergraduate student-led seed stage venture capital funds in the U.S. and today stands as one of a small handful venture capital funds in the nation that is run by undergraduate students. RedHawk Ventures invests up to $25,000 into promising ߣߣÊÓƵ University student- and alumni-founded startups and high growth companies. Student-members work closely with founders through the entire venture funding process, including investor pitch presentations, valuation and investment syndication, term sheet preparation, and post-funding management and growth.

Ranked among the Top 20 University-Sponsored Collegiate Entrepreneurship Competitions (#19 overall) by George Washington University Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2020, the $20,000 RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition is held bi-annually at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters. It provides student-founders completing our RedHawk Launch Accelerator Program as well as our Startup Launch and Technology Commercialization courses an opportunity to pitch startups to angel investors, venture capitalists and accelerator directors in a Demo Day-style format. Over the past five years, hundreds of students have pitched almost 200 startups to investors, accelerator directors and ecosystem builders. Five startups landed spots in nationally ranked tech startup accelerators, and ten startups have raised more than $15 million in venture funding, including OROS, Apex Sports, and Nomful.

The Altman Institute’s $200,000 Arthur D. Collins Jr. Social Impact Fund is the first undergraduate student-led impact investment funds in the nation. The fund aids recent ߣߣÊÓƵ University alumni and current students who launch social ventures by providing access to a source of investment capital (debt or equity) to fund the launch and growth of ventures with an explicit social purpose (i.e., environmental, health, education, etc.) and benefit. In the fall of 2019, a strategic partnership with Wharton Social Impact Initiative and the Bridges Impact Foundation established the first undergraduate experiential learning program for Social Impact Investing in the nation as part of The MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) Program.

Social Innovation Weekend (SIW) is a 50+ hour weekend event that brings students from departments and programs across campus and professionals from key public and private stakeholder organizations at the national, state, county, and local city level together to solve significant societal issues. In the past, ߣߣÊÓƵ students have tackled weighty societal issues like high rates of infant mortality, opioid addiction/ addiction recovery, and food insecurity and urban food deserts. The Altman Institute has partnered with ߣߣÊÓƵ University’s Global Health Studies and Social Work programs, the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, the Institute for Food, Sociology/Gerontology, Nutrition & Dietetics, Kinesiology and Health, Comparative Religion, American Studies, Student Success Center (campus food pantry), and the Western Program on Social Justice, among others. In addition, students who participate in SIW have the opportunity to work side-by-side with industry partners from 20+ organizations in the public and private sectors. Past industry partners and sponsors include Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, Kroger and Kroger Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, 80 Acres Farms, Cincinnati City Council, Blue Manatee Literacy Project, Family Promise of Butler County (FPBC), City of Cincinnati, Office of Environment and Sustainability, Master Provisions, and The Foodbank, Inc., among others.

Sponsored by Techstars®, the largest accelerator network in the world, Startup Weekend ߣߣÊÓƵ is a 50+ hour weekend event, during which groups of student founders, developers, managers, marketing experts, engineers and more pitch ideas for new startup companies, form teams around those ideas, and work to develop a working prototype, demo, or presentation by Sunday afternoon. Over the past decade, hundreds of ߣߣÊÓƵ University undergraduates and future founders started their companies at Startup Weekend ߣߣÊÓƵ. Examples include Portland-based OROS, Cincinnati-based KCD Cosmetics LLC, Nomful, Inc., Minneapolis-based Akinda Co., and Covington-based Apex Sports, among many others.

Taught by guest lecturers, panelists, and speakers from investment firms across the country, including angels and institutional investors from Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Houston, New York City, and San Francisco, the Venture Capital Immersion Program introduces students to the venture capital model, firm thesis and management structure, fund logic, funding rounds and stages (e.g. Seed, Series A, etc.), due diligence process, quantitative and qualitative deal analytics and valuation strategy, term sheets, venture debt, equity crowdfunding, and the general implications of taking on outside funding (e.g., dilution and cap tables, board composition, follow-on funding, and so on). Participating firms in the past include Allos Ventures, Arthur Ventures, CincyTech, Cintrifuse, FTV Capital, Hyde Park Angels, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Mercury Fund, SaaS Capital, Square 1 Bank, and SVB, among others.

World Creativity and Innovation Week/Day (WCIW) is the largest university-led celebration of creativity and innovation in the world, celebrated annually by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and creatives in more than 500 celebrations across 127 countries worldwide, varying from meetings and conversations to workshops and festivals to TEDx presentations and innovation pitch competitions, and more. World Creativity and Innovation Day (WCID), held on April 21, is designated by the United Nations as an International Day of Observance to raise awareness of the crucial role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.

As part of WCIW, Creativity City, creative-thinking students from across the ߣߣÊÓƵ University campus come together to build a week-long “city” on the ߣߣÊÓƵ campus. Students live and share their creativity with games, activities, and teachings about applied creativity and innovation with thousands of faculty, staff, students, and community members.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Each student will be tested on their analytical, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills. They gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst.

Contact: Xi Liu, 513-529-1503

The competition provides an opportunity for students to provide an analysis of a commercial real estate investment and pitch their valuation and deal structure to panelists from the real estate industry. The competition gives students insights on how market and environmental factors affect valuation, as well as how to structure the financing of the investment. The competition is open to all ߣߣÊÓƵ students who work in teams of three or four students to present their analysis.

Contact: Joel Harper, 513-529-1560

Finance students have two outstanding opportunities to network, learn, and build their résumés each year through the Chicago Finance Week and Wall Street Week experiential learning programs. These programs give students access to the fastest rising and most influential speakers and ideas in the financial world. A select group of finance students travel to the windy city each August for Chicago Finance Week. Students are exposed to the best ideas in the Chicago financial environment during presentations and discussions. Executives and ߣߣÊÓƵ alumni from leading firms like Bank of America, Allstate, William Blair, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse interact on a personal level with students. The Wall Street Week program takes place each January and reveals the inner workings of New York City’s financial district to our students. Students gain a comprehensive knowledge of the intricacies of U.S. financial decision-making. About 25 students attend each year—most of them finance majors.

Contact: Kirk Bogard, 513-529-4221

The Department of Finance offers the Investment Banking Case Competition, sponsored by William Blair and Company. This competition showcases teams of students who have an interest in investment banking private equity, commercial banking, corporate finance, venture capital, and consulting careers. It is an excellent opportunity to develop and highlight students’ business and presentation skills. This case competition is open to all undergraduate students at ߣߣÊÓƵ University regardless of major or division. Members of the highest ranked teams will also be given priority consideration in the Mergers and Acquisitions course offered in the spring.

Contact: Tom Boulton, 513-529-1563

The competition provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge of the financial markets and to pitch an investment idea to industry professionals. The investment idea is evaluated as a long position with a 3–12 month investment horizon. Teams of two–four students put together stock pitch presentations; finalists present their ideas to the Cleveland Research Company. The winning team represents ߣߣÊÓƵ University at a national stock pitch competition. The finalists compete at the University of Michigan MII Intercollegiate Stock Pitch Competition.

Contact: Tom Boulton, 513-529-1563

The Student Managed Investment Fund currently assists in the management of a significant amount of ߣߣÊÓƵ University’s endowment fund. This course is an experiential learning opportunity that takes concepts learned earlier through the various courses at ߣߣÊÓƵ University and applies them to current market scenarios. The Student Managed Investment Fund provides experience in running an investment business where students perform administrative tasks and participate in managing a real-dollar portfolio. Through sector and industry research, analysts make investments in stocks, ETFs, and options.

Contact: Xi Liu, 513-529-1503

A corporate case competition sponsored by FIS provides an opportunity for students to model the real decision-making process used by corporations and businesses. The competition focuses on the estimation of cash flows and profitability of a corporate investment, analysis of the valuation of the investment, and factors that could change the valuation through alternate structures or strategies. The case is judged by panelists working in the corporate finance area and is open to all ߣߣÊÓƵ students. Students work in teams of three or four and those teams that reach the final stage present the analysis to the industry panelists.

Contact: Joel Harper, 513-529-1560

The Center is an interdisciplinary effort that deeply involves students from across the university in hands-on learning through client-based, data-focused projects. To become proficient in analytics and data science, learners must move beyond the abstract classroom use of analytical methods. Integral to the Center is The EY Analytics Learning Lab. The EY Analytics Learning Lab develops problem-solvers with modern data analytic and computing skills and hands-on experience applying those skills in practice. The EY Analytics Learning Lab gives our students, faculty, and staff the cutting-edge resources they need to learn, practice, and refine their analytics and data science skills. In addition, the lab provides professional growth opportunities by leading innovative initiatives, interfacing with external partners, and managing complex projects.

Contact: David Scoville, 513-529-2279

The Information Risk Management, Security and IT Audit course teaches the foundations of information security and assurance, including the principles used to formulate managerial strategy and select technical solutions. An ongoing project with PwC involves students evaluating the IT control environment and performing an evaluation, or audit, of the controls’ operating effectiveness in support of an external integrated audit.

Contact: Skip Benamati, 513-529-4826

The IT Project Management class teaches Project Management in IT contexts through a combination of traditional classroom discussions about project management techniques and the management of a large, complex IT project for a corporate or university client.

Contact: Skip Benamati, 513-529-4826

The Business Analytics practicum is the capstone experience in the Master of Science in Business Analytics. This two-semester course spans a winter and spring term. Students work in teams using the advanced business analytics skills gained in the program to provide end-to-end solutions to challenging business problems for partnering organizations. They use their data engineering and data modeling skills to develop solutions. This program grounds students in business foundations and communication skills to provide actionable insights and solutions to our client partners. Students use advanced visualization, data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning to deliver value to organizations. Students work on a variety of technology platforms including R, Python, Tableau, PowerBI, and others.

Contact: Allison Jones-Farmer, 513-529-4823

The Business Analytics practicum course provides students with a semester-long opportunity to utilize the skills gained in the Business Analytics minor and co-major. Students provide cutting-edge analytical solutions to clients using visualization, data mining, predictive modeling, and any other analytical techniques required to extract business solutions from large data. The students are able to work with software such as R, Python, Tableau, PowerBI, and others. Students work in small teams and present their solutions to partnering organizations.

Contact: Skip Benamati, 513-529-4826

The Center for Supply Chain Excellence works with the Supply Chain and Operations Management program to foster student engagement, corporate partnerships, and cutting-edge research. For our corporate partners, the CSCE is a “one stop shop” for access to fresh talent, faculty research, and knowledge-sharing industry forums. For students, the CSCE provides opportunities to engage with industry partners, participate in case competitions, and experience relevant issues in supply chain management through our Supply Chain Executive Speaker series and company tours.

Contact: Monique Murfield, 513-529-3783

Human Capital Consulting is designed for students interested in careers in general management, consulting or human resource management. The course blends classroom work with client interaction, allowing students to explore how various aspects of human resources can be quantified and connected to other measures of organizational performance. Most projects involve collecting and analyzing data and providing recommendations based on that analysis. Some clients have already collected the relevant data and provide it to the students. Other projects involve student-collected data, including surveys, interviews or focus groups. The projects are designed to meet class educational objectives and help solve an actual business problem for the client. Human Capital Consulting has completed projects for numerous clients, including: Macy’s, United Airlines, Cintas, Fifth Third Bank, Cleveland Cavaliers, General Electric, E.W. Scripps, Nestlé, Emerson Climate Technologies, The Kroger Company, Great American Insurance, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, InterContinental Hotels Group, Aon Corporation, Plastic Moldings Corporation, Schneider Electric, and the City of Dayton.

Contact: Xiaowen Huang, 513-529-2017

The William Isaac and Michael Oxley Center for Business Leadership engages and challenges tomorrow’s adaptive leaders through innovative core programming to develop graduates equipped to lead tomorrow’s best organizations. The Center focuses on values-based leadership, which embraces authenticity and inclusivity, to create a holistic, integrative, practical, relationship-based business leadership approach. Student Fellows are vital to the work environment at the Center for Business Leadership. They work with faculty, professionals and peers to pursue innovative, interdisciplinary activities focused on creating and sustaining long-term value for organizations. They organize conferences, meet with executives and set up events for the Center.

Contacts:
Megan Gerhardt, 513-529-4235
Dan Heitger, 513-529-6208

Supply Chain Management is a senior-level course that integrates concepts from all supply chain and operations management courses to provide a strategic view of how firms holistically design and operate their supply chains ranging from global to local levels. An integral part of the course curriculum is an applied project where teams of students work with local, regional, and national private and public organizations to analyze supply chain issues. Project topics include but are not limited to: procurement, logistics, warehouse operations, inventory, supply chain risk and resilience, as well as regulatory compliance. These projects provide real-world experience and sharpen students’ understanding of the integral role of supply chain and operations management in creating, enhancing, and sustaining value of firm products and services. The participating companies benefit from gaining an outside, unbiased, evaluation, and alternate solutions supported by faculty expertise to an existing business problem. Past participants of client-based projects in the supply chain and operations management curriculum include many well-known companies, including: Dover Corporation, DHL Logistics, Cintas, Honda of America, Bon Secours Mercy Health, LSi Industries, and many more.

Contact: Henry Jin, 513-529-2158

The Supply Chain Craft Brewery Field Study is a winter term program designed specifically for Supply Chain Management students interested in the Supply Chain processes associated with the rapidly evolving U.S. brewing industry. The program explores industry leaders and suppliers in three major US brewery centers: the rocky mountain area (Denver, Golden, and Fort Collins, CO), the northwest (Portland and Bend, OR, and Seattle, WA.) and the growing eastern corridor (Asheville, NC).

Contact: Peter Salzarulo, 513-529-4232

Highwire Brand Studio is an innovative experiential learning capstone focusing on developing branding strategies and tactics to address opportunities faced by real-world client companies. Each semester senior students from marketing, communication, design, and other university majors compete on disciplinary-diverse teams to develop the best overall recommendation for the client’s branding challenge. Clients partner with Highwire Brand Studio in order to tap the unique perspectives and experiences of ߣߣÊÓƵ’s top students and commonly use student-developed strategies and tactics in their subsequent marketing and branding efforts. Recent clients have included P&G’s Pringles, Olay, and Pantene brands, Nestlé’s Purina and Toll House brands, Speedway, Pepsi, Microban Europe, New Chapter Natural Vitamins, Hasbro, Kellogg’s, Pop Tarts, and the Nuxhall Foundation. Deliverables for these projects included strategies and tactics for brand positioning, brand naming, brand design and visual elements, promotional programs, in-store merchandising and display materials, social media programs, and product packaging.

Contact: Tim Greenlee, 513-529-1204

For university and business honors students, the high-touch 200 and 400-level classes include a semester-long client project. During the semester, student teams work on a project chosen by the client. Company representatives check in with the students during the semester and give them feedback on their ideas, strategies, and tactics. At the semester’s end, the teams present to a group of company executives. For the past 30 semesters the 200-level class has had Abercrombie & Fitch as its client. The 400-level class client is E&J Gallo. The student groups have three check-ins with the client during the semester to help them with research, ideas, strategies, and tactics. The final presentations are made to a group of five - eight Gallo executives with two “winning” groups being chosen. Depending on the specific project, those groups travel either to New York or California to present their ideas to a larger group of executives.

Contact: Jan Taylor, 513-529-1222

StrategyWorks is a capstone offering with a core focus on the development of effective marketing strategy executed through the full spectrum of the marketing mix. Each student team develops a go-to-market plan for the client over the semester. Teams conduct an extensive market analysis, including primary and secondary research, and use these research-driven insights to identify the optimal target market and brand positioning. Each team then develops recommendations on how to execute the marketing strategy across the marketing mix. Student client interaction is integral to this offering, both during the semester and for final student presentations. Students are encouraged to tell a story with their proposed strategies—learning how to weave a tale is an important part of the marketing process, and as they prepare for their final presentations, this storytelling aspect is critical. Past clients include: J&J Ethicon Endo Surgery, NCAA, AdvancePierre Foods, Cessna Aircraft Company, Nestlé, Reebok, and Stryker.

Contact: Greg Fisher, 513-529-3368