Saunders Business Beat!

Check out your monthly recaps covering all the exciting news from you, our Saunders community, and upcoming events. Students, alums, faculty, and staff can share their news with your Saunders community by emailing us at communications@saunders.rit.edu.

We're onto the future of business + technology! Follow the process and view photos of the Saunders 36,000+ square-foot expansion and renovation coming early 2024.

Accomplishments from Saunders Students

• Scott Franco ‘24 (marketing) is a member of the team that won the 2022 PRSSA Pitch Competition hosted by Dixon Schwabl + Company. The competition required teams to create extensive media plans for a local Rochester client, The Levine Center to End Hate, in only a few hours and pitch it to them and judges.
• Danny Le ‘23 (finance) will return to Capital One as a Management Rotation Program Associate upon graduation this spring.
• Sedrick Thomas ‘24 (MIS) has accepted a co-op offer to work at Microsoft during the summer of 2023 as a software engineering intern.

See these and past months' accomplishments online.

Saunders Faculty and Staff Go Above and Beyond

• Sorim Chung, Ph.D., published a research article titled “Interface-Driven Customer Experience: Redefining User Interface (UI) Design for Automotive Infotainment System” in the IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine. The article discusses potential safety issues of in-car touchscreen infotainment systems.
• Rick Mislan, Ph.D., senior lecturer within the department of management information systems, marketing, and analytics, is also the co-founder of Inviza Health, a wearable, self-charging health tracker technology company in Rochester, New York. The organization recently expanded its offices to Fairport, New York.
• dt ogilvie, Ph.D., was interviewed by DiversityInc for their story “Black Women’s Historic Struggle for Labor Rights Continues” about the challenges Black women have faced and continue to face in the workplace including inequality, lower wages, and discrimination.
• Rick Lagiewski, Ph.D. and Victor Perotti, Ph.D. co-authored "Customer experiences and situational vulnerability: An exploration of hotel services during a disaster," published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management. The paper focuses on the growing role of hotels in supporting vulnerable individuals during hurricanes and other disasters.
• Joy Olabisi, Ph.D., has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for her project, “Exploring how immigrant entrepreneurs survive and thrive in a post-Covid environment.”

See these and past months' accomplishments online.

Alumni News and Recognitions

• Sam Sherman ‘12 (new media marketing), co-founder of Socium Media recently celebrated the company being one of five finalists for Google’s Workplace Excellence award at the Premier Partner Awards 2022.
• Mark Zettl ’96 (hotel and resort management) published “To Deliver Seamless Hospitality, Office Owners Go Directly To The Source'' on Forbes, featuring department chair Edwin Torres, Ph.D.. He describes the high demand for hospitality students and that hospitality degrees are now specializing in areas like asset management, events and entertainment, and data analysis.
• Megan Antonitto ’14 (MBA), Daniel Beca ’17 (MBA), Lindsay Connelly ’18 (MBA), and Andrew Sewnauth ’19 (MBA), have all been recognized on Rochester Business Journals’ Forty under 40! They were nominated by the community for the award, which highlights their professional success, community service, and commitment to inspiring change.

See these and past months' accomplishments online.

News

• Ali Tosyali and Gijs Overgoor co-authored a study about detecting fake Amazon reviews in an article titled "Detecting Fake Review Buyers Using Network Structure: Direct Evidence from Amazon."
• Edwin N. Torres recently joined Saunders faculty in July as the chair and associate professor for the Department of International Hospitality and Service Innovation (IHSI), and brought new ideas with him. Since July, he has launched a social media marketing campaign, developed a summer camp for prospective students, and created a new minor titled "Hospitality as Real Estate," and much more.

See these and past news online.

Media Coverage

• News10NBC and RochesterFirst reported on research about detecting fake Amazon reviews that Saunders faculty Gijs Overgoor and Ali Tosyali contributed to.
• The Rochester Business Journal published a guest column by the Dean of Saunders, Jacqueline Mozrall, about how universities are forging long-term relationships with corporations. (This content requires a subscription to view.)

See these and past media coverage online.

Recap of Events

Check out photos from the Gasser Lecture Series with Duncan Wardle. Photos are provided by Ethan Bissinger and Peggy Tirrell.

Upcoming Events

• 12:10 p.m. on Monday, December 5
  Saunders College of Business Beam Signing Ceremony
• 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 5
  Saunders Student Holiday Party
• 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 5
  MBA and MS Graduate Information Session
• 11:59 p.m on Monday, December 5
  2023 Saunders Accounting Banquet Registration Deadline
• 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 7
  Saunders Faculty and Staff Holiday Party
• 12 p.m. on Friday, December 9
  Research to Action (R2A) Webinar Series: Amplifying Her Voice
• 11:59 p.m. on Friday, December 9
  Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award Application Deadline
• 11 a.m. on Tuesday, December 13
  Innovation Through Collaboration
• 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 14
  Meet with Venture Capitalist, Denny DeLeo
• All day on Thursday, December 15
  DECA NYS Regional High School Competition

See these and upcoming events online.