Competitions/Activities
Cal Poly's graduate students have very successful academic experiences. Here is a sampling of just some of the awards and accomplishments of our graduate students.
2008-2009 Competitions
- National Intercollegiate Business Ethics Competition - 2nd place
- International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition
- Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge
2008-2009 Activities
Competitions & Activities from previous years
2nd place in the National Intercollegiate Business Ethics Competition
Pictured from left to right: Matthew Fencl - MBA, Martin Flores - MBA,
Nicholas Miura - MBA & MS Aerospace Engineering,
Advisor Sean Martin - MBA 2006, Jeffrey Mohr - MBA, and Gary Chou - MBA
A team of five Orfalea College of Business graduate students won the second place, Kerrigan prize, for the annual event hosted by Loyola Marymount University's Center for Ethics and Business. The competition, involving prominent schools (Loyola Marymount, UCLA, Dartmouth University, Duquesne University, New York University, University of Arizona, Villanova, Cal Poly and the US Naval Academy), is designed to help students see that it is possible to be both ethical and profitable in business at the same time. The Cal Poly team presented a compelling case about transparency in the retail market for organic foods. Only five of the 31 teams advanced to the final round, which included McGill University, Cal Poly, Montgomery College, St. Joseph's University and University of San Francisco.
The heart of the Business Ethics Competition is a student team case/presentation.
Each team, acting as a consulting company, prepares a presentation to explain the legal, financial and ethical dimensions of a selected problem. (The range of possible topics is virtually infinite and can relate to any area of business) Teams recommend a solution that must address all three topic areas. Not surprisingly, even though all three topic areas must be addressed, judges place special weight on the strength of the ethical analysis of the problem and the ethical acceptability of the solution. The ethical character of analyses and recommendations are evaluated from the perspective of "philosophical ethics." That is, judges look for discussion of at least: the amount and type of tangible good and harm involved; and the intrinsic character of the actions involved.
| Team Profile | Press |
International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition
Pictured from left to right: Jesse Bilsten, Naomi Guy, Martin Flores, Amy Engldahl, Erik Slyater, and Faculty Advisor Dr. Dave Peach.
A team of five graduate students from the Orfalea College of Business represented Cal Poly at the 44th Annual International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition held in April in San Diego, California. Teams from as far away as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, traveled to San Diego to participate in simulated business decisions. In all, twenty-four talented teams from eighteen top universities took part.
The purpose of the competition is to teach students the immediate effects of business strategy decisions from both an internal and external perspective. Students face the challenge of making real business decisions at a rapid pace; learn the consequences of business and ethical decision making, and the importance of creating and maintaining competitive advantage. In addition to making a broad range of business and ethical decisions, students are required to complete a comprehensive business plan, annual report, and several other management reports reflecting goal attainment and strategy changes.
The simulation-based competition begins each February via an Internet decision-making process and culminates in the intense phase of competition when Cal Poly MBA students go toe-to-toe with other high caliber MBA students from across the country.
| Team Profile | Press |
Cal Poly Multi-Discipline Team WINS Bank of America’s Low Income Housing Challenge
Cal Poly BofA Low-Income Housing Challenge team received the first place award in the BofA’s prestigious annual event. The team members represented four of the five CAED Departments plus Business and Industrial Tech.
The Cal Poly team did it again, slew the giants from the north (Stanford and UC Berkeley). The Cal Poly Bank of America Low Cost Housing Challenge team won this years competition which was judged on Tuesday in San Francisco. The team faculty leader is Dan Panetta from Architecture.
Poly partnered with People's Self Help Housing to create a proposal for an 80 unit farm worker housing development in the unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County (just outside of Santa Maria). The concept included the renovation of the historic home of Alan Hancock, an onsite wastewater treatment facility, an organic community farm and services designed to meet the particular needs of the farm worker population. The full proposal and a short video introducing the project are available for download at www.polyhousingcollaborative.com.
National Science Foundation’s East Asia Pacific and Summer Institutes Fellowship
Simeon Trieu, a dual degree student currently pursuing an MBA and MS in Electrical Engineering, was recently awarded a fellowship grant from the National Science Foundation’s East Asia Pacific and Summer Institutes (NSF-EAPSI, nsfsi.org). This prestigious and competitive grant provides a roundtrip international airline ticket, stipend and support to cover living expenses while studying abroad.
Simeon said "I believe my experience on the Cal Poly MBA International Study Tour, in China and India, helped me stand out among other applicants for this grant. The course helped me understand both Chinese and Indian business cultures and gave me the basis to build bridges between those countries and the United States. Thanks for offering a course and study tour that was not only a smooth and enjoyable learning experience but one that has the added benefit of putting me on the competitive edge of my field in engineering and business."