Nordson President and CEO Michael Hilton, College of Business Administration Dean Deborah F. Spake, Ph.D., and Kent State Board of Trustees Chair Ralph Della Ratta, president of Citizens Bank Ohio.

Dear Alumni and Friends: 

Our business students continue to have transformative educational experiences through the work of our faculty and staff. I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to these individuals and for your support of high-impact initiatives in the college.

We held the third Global Management Center speaker series event of the academic year presented by Citizens Bank, featuring Nordson President and CEO Michael Hilton.

Two student teams took first place in national competitions. The college’s Golden Flash Asset Management Group traveled to New York to participate in the G.A.M.E. Forum. The Kent State team won first place in the Fixed Income Portfolio category. The same week, the Kent State Chapter of the Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE) sales fraternity won the Marketing Case Competition at the PSE National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida.

The CEBIpitch competition, sponsored by Healthcare Trust of America, Inc. and Petrovic Enterprises, was hosted by the college’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. Student entrepreneurs pitched for more than $30,000 in prize money. Alumni entrepreneurs and executives served as coaches, mentors and judges in a semester-long process that narrowed the field of student entrepreneurs to these finalists.

These types of transformative educational experiences are possible due to the support of alumni and friends of the college. I invite you to learn more about these events on our college homepage.

Deborah Spake, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Business Administration