Life at Tippie: Getting Started

The Pomerantz Center – Your home away from home for the next two years.

In seven short weeks, you will be stepping into the halls of the John PappaJohn Business Building (PBB) for a fun filled week of teambuilding, leadership development, and immersion to the Tippie culture.  We know many of you are hard at work preparing for the rigors of the first semester of your MBA program.  As most of you know, the first semester is designed to expose you to the various areas of business in which you will have the opportunity to work.  All student transcripts will be reviewed over the summer to determine individual final fall course schedules.  Students will be enrolled in the cohort of classes covering areas such as accounting, finance, marketing, management, and statistics. Your first semester will be one that will provide the framework for your academic and professional development.

All incoming first-year students will be registered for Fall 2012 courses by Nadia Dwight, Director of Student Services in early August.   You’ll be able to view your schedule by logging into ISIS.  Each student will also receive a copy of their personal schedule in their IMPACT folder.  The fall core schedule is:

Tippie MBA Orientation Week

First Module Courses (August 20 – October 12)

*Occasional Friday requirements (see syllabus & MBA Planner http://tippie.uiowa.edu/fulltimemba/planner/)

Second Module Courses (October 15 – December 14)

*Occasional Friday requirements (see syllabus & MBA Planner http://tippie.uiowa.edu/fulltimemba/planner/)

IMPACT Week Update:  Review Sessions

The first semester of the Tippie program is important in laying the foundation for your success during your time at Tippie and beyond.  To ensure your continued success, we’ve partnered with two of your core faculty to develop review sessions focusing on key areas in the Tippie curriculum.

Professor Jeff Ohlmann has put together Basic Excel Review tutorials to prepare you for your first semester as a Tippie MBA. Although not required, we encourage you to take some time to refresh and enhance your Excel skills!

The self-guided tutorials cover:

• Intro to Navigating Spreadsheets
• Excel Formulas
• Excel Charting
• Pivot Tables and Filtering
• Stat Functions
• Advanced Excel Tables

The tutorials include instruction and practice Excel files that you’ll use to practice the different skills.

Visit the Admitted Students: PreMBA Checklist page to view the Tutorials and download Sample Files.

In addition to the self-guided tutorials, Professor Ohlmann will be leading an Excel Review on Saturday, August 11 in C207 Pappajohn Business Building.  Excel is used extensively in several Tippie courses.  Attending this session is not mandatory but is highly encouraged.  Who knows, you might learn something new…plus you’ll have the opportunity to get a leg up on meeting some of your Tippie colleagues and a faculty member!

Topics to be covered:

Advanced Excel 10:00am – noon (note the time change!)

• Pivot Tables
• Data Filters/Sorting
• Statistical Excel Functions, Data Analysis Toolpak
• Advanced Excel Formulas (array formulas, IF, VLOOKUP, COUNTIF, CONCATENATE, etc.)
• Data Tables
• Goalseek
• Solver

Students will also have the opportunity to review and expand upon their accounting skills in a workshop on Saturday, August 18^th in C425 PC.  Students achieving a score of 80% or greater on the accounting module of GMAT Essential Prep are not required to attend this session but are welcome and encouraged.

Meet the Faculty and Staff at Tippie

Jon Garfinkel

Jon Garfinkel
Associate Professor & Faculty Director of the MBA Finance Career Academy 

What do you enjoy most about working with Tippie MBAs? I really enjoy Tippie MBAs’ thirst for knowledge and their curiosity.  Having students that are fully engaged in the class, questioning my statements, wondering about alternatives, and trying to find the best solutions to today’s business problems, truly energizes me.

What’s your teaching focus or area of research? My specialty is corporate finance, with a particular focus on corporations’ investment choices, and their financing (how they raise money to pay for investments) behavior.

Something interesting about Jon: I have played golf at the home of the oldest golf “club” (Muirfiled – home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers), and on the third-oldest golf course (North Berwick West Links).

Nadia Dwight

Nadia Dwight
Director of MBA Student Services

What do you enjoy most about working with Tippie MBAs? I love having the opportunity to meet so many interesting and unique individuals from around the world.  Seeing each and every student transform and grow throughout the time in the program is extremely fulfilling.

Something interesting about Nadia: I LOVE running, I mean I really love it!  I have completed five marathons and six half marathons…and am signing up for my sixth marathon next month!  Always looking for a running buddy!