University of Michigan-Flint

The School of Management at the University of Michigan-Flint is proud to announce that it has successfully maintained its business accreditation through AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting.

AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world's business programs. Globally, there are only 672 business schools in nearly 50 countries and territories that maintain AACSB Accreditation.

"It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn and maintain AACSB Accreditation," said Robert D. Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. "Business schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty, and professional staff must make a commitment to ongoing continuous improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver the highest quality of education to students."

When asked about the maintenance of AACSB accreditation, Dr. Vahid Lotfi, acting dean of the School of Management stated, "The reaffirmation of AACSB accreditation is clear evidence of the quality of the business education that our School of Management provides. It is a great accomplishment that could only be achieved by having a highly dedicated cadre of faculty and staff. I am truly proud of all of them."

To learn more about AACSB International accreditation, visit the accreditation section of the AACSB International Web site at: http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/. ____________________________________________________________________________
About AACSB International
AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), founded in 1916, is an association of more than 670 educational institutions, businesses, and other organizations in 50 countries and territories. AACSB's mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation, thought leadership, and value-added services. As the premier accreditation body for institutions offering undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, the association also conducts a wide array of conferences and seminar programs at locations throughout the world. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA and its Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore. For more information, please visit: www.aacsb.edu
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Two years ago, the University of Michigan-Flint and the Romanian American University (RAU) of Bucharest signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together in sharing faculty expertise to increase the quality of education for the students of both Universities.

During the Fall '12 semester, Professor Seyed Mehdian, Professor of Finance for the School of Management, became the first SOM faculty member to participate in teaching at RAU in Romania. During his visit, Professor Mehdian delivered several iterations of his lecture titled "Financial Management Issues" to RAU students and faculty.

Professor Mehdian is seen in the image above with Dr. Ovidiu Folcut, the Rector of Rau, Mrs. Despina Barbieru of the Office of International Relations (RAU), and students who attended Dr. Mehdian's lectures.


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Written By Shaun Byron of MLive.com | sbyron@mlive.com | See the original M-Live article here

FLINT, MI -- Amanda Nielsen had her sights set on Chicago for an internship.

That was before the Grand Blanc resident and University of Michigan-Flint student met with Burton-based Landaal Packaging Systems about an opportunity.

While the Windy City is still on the minds of Nielsen's friends, she said Vehicle City is looking like the better choice.

"A lot of people want Chicago, I wanted Chicago at first, but I like it more here now," she said.

Nielsen will be part of the staff moved Jan. 2 to Landaal Packaging's new offices at 540 Saginaw St. in Flint.

It was announced in June that Landaal Systems would open its "innovation center," in Flint, relocating its design and marketing teams to the offices.

The center will employ about 10 people and company officials have predicted two new sales and marketing positions could be added as part of the expansion.

"The two main goals of that office for us was a commitment to help with what's going on," said Robert Landaal, vice president of sales and marketing for Landaal Packaging. "Our family believes our downtown is well on its way back.

"The other piece is to provide a great environment for our creative teams and our marketing folks that will absolutely without a doubt foster innovation and creativity as we look to grow in other markets."

Three seats at the center will be made available for students studying packaging, graphic design and marketing.

The internship opportunities could result in full-time positions, depending on the level of talent and ability.

"We are growing our marketing department and ... after the first of the year, we'll be meeting with MSU's school of packaging to formalize a program with them," Landaal said. "There's a couple of schools that have pretty good graphic arts programs, U of M-Flint, Baker, Cornerstone (University)."

The center will also help bring awareness to the packaging industry, as well as keep talent from leaving the state, he said.

Keeping and attracting young professionals has been a target in recent years for many business leaders, universities and politicians.

The U.S. Census Bureau in 2010 found there are about 283,916 people who are 25 years and older living Genesee County.

According to the bureau, 34 percent, or about 97,779 of those individuals, are high school graduates. Twenty-six percent, or 73,870 people, have some college experience, but no degree.

The bureau found 8 percent, or 24,539 people, have an associate's degree and 12 percent, or 34,962, have a bachelor's degree.

Six percent, or 19,108 people, have obtained a graduate or professional degree of some kind.

"We sometimes see students educated here and, even in Genesee County, can't find employment or want to seek out other areas," said Landaal, adding they want to position their family-owned company to attract talent coming out of area schools.

"We want to show there are some cool things going on in our organization and it's going on right in downtown Flint," he said.

The internship opportunity has been great for Nielsen, who said she's learned how larger companies function and how the sales people interact.

"I think a lot more people are moving downtown, a lot more businesses are moving down there," she said of Flint. "I think it will build the cultural area and definitely the college part of it, too."


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The University of Michigan-Flint will have a new presence at the Mott Community College (MCC) University Center (located in the Mott Memorial Building), where MCC students can get in-person information and advice about UM-Flint.

UM-Flint will staff the new space Monday through Friday during normal business hours. On occasion, special events may extend past normal hours. Staff from UM-Flint's Office of Undergraduate Admissions and School of Management will handle the operations of the new office.

Mott students who seek to transfer to UM-Flint upon completion of their associate degree can receive advising service. Advising will also be provided to students in the newly established Mott2UM-Flint Concurrent Enrollment program.

The presence of UM-Flint admissions advisers at MCC University Center facilitates a much smoother transfer process for Mott students who wish to transfer to the University of Michigan-Flint. It enables these students to seek quality advising about UM-Flint academic programs and their degree requirements.

"We are extremely grateful to President Dick Shaink and Vice President Amy Fugate for their support, particularly in allowing UM-Flint to have a presence at the University Center where Mott students will have more convenient access to UM-Flint staff," said Vahid Lotfi, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Programs.