Monthly Pamplin Updates - February 2025

Giving Day 2025 is Feb. 19-20, from noon-to-noon EDT. As the event is quickly approaching, we’re asking for your support, here are several options:

1. Become an Ambassador. Sign up at https://givingday.vt.edu/ and invite your personal and professional networks to participate in Giving Day to earn incentives for your affiliation and Pamplin. When you sign up to be an Ambassador, be sure to choose Pamplin College of Business as your affiliation. Please review this Giving Day Ambassador Training Deck for instructions and use the Ambassador Toolkit to help you spread the word about Giving Day on different platforms. 
   
   
2. Give. Consider giving on Wednesday, Feb. 19 between 3-4 p.m. to help us win the faculty/staff challenge and unlock additional funding to be shared across all participating Pamplin units. Pamplin has 38 participating funds this year, including departments, graduate programs, student initiatives and organizations, the Office of Transformation, and more. 
   
   
3. Wear your Giving Day t-shirt. Free Giving Day t-shirts for our Blacksburg based Pamplin community will be available in the Dean’s Suite in Pamplin beginning on Tuesday, January 21. For Innovation Campus based Pamplin community, Giving Day t-shirts will be in Ingrid’s office, 4730, beginning on Wednesday, January 22.
   
   We ask that you wear your shirt during Giving Day to show your support of Pamplin and your Hokie Pride!
   
   
4. Visit the atrium in Pamplin Hall and D&DS on Giving Day to join the celebrations, including food, photo opportunities, and giveaways. Join Pamplin Advancement and PRISM to celebrate Giving Day as a college. Invite your students and tell them there will be pizza and bagels!

Don't hesitate to reach out with questions to Emma Stubbe, Women's Month 2025 Coordinator, at estubbe@vt.edu or 540-231-7806.

Windows 10 End of Service Reminder

Windows 10 will go out of service by October 2025. The Help Desk will be reaching out this semester to assist with upgrades to Windows 11, which will be conducted in waves. If you would like to upgrade sooner, please submit a ticket at http://pamplin.help.

Microsoft Teams Usage and Creation

Microsoft Teams is an excellent tool for collaboration in the classroom and beyond. Please note that the Division of IT implemented a new process last semester for creating Teams. Employees needing a new Team should fill out the request form at http://pampl.in/CreateMSTeam.

When completing the form, please set "Aaron Sherwood" as the Approver and select "COB" as the OU. Please account for processing time when submitting your requests.

Help Desk Support

Our Help Desk team is available on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Pamplin 2008 to assist you and your students with any technology-related questions. Tickets can be submitted anytime at http://pamplin.help, and we will respond as soon as possible. 

If faculty have specific software or tools, they are asking students to install, please let us know, as we are happy to assist in ensuring students have the necessary resources.

The BIT Department has had several exciting accomplishments recently. Two of our Ph.D. students have recently secured outstanding placements, reflecting the strength of our Ph.D. program, several senior faculty members have been recognized for their exceptional service, and some of our faculty members’ research manuscripts have recently been accepted into some of the most prestigious journals, including those on Pamplin’s Elite Journals list.

Below are a few of our recent successes:

• BIT Professor Dr. Alan Abrahams has released two innovative software tools developed in collaboration with BIT Ph.D. students: 
  • VT GRIFFON (Virginia Tech’s Get Real Innovation Features from Online Narratives): An Excel-based tool that helps businesses identify customer-suggested innovation ideas in online reviews. 
  • VT RAPTOR  (Risk Assessment Process Tool for Online Reviews): A complementary tool designed to detect safety concerns highlighted in product reviews, enabling companies to address potential risks.

These tools demonstrate the department’s commitment to translating research into practical solutions for industry.

• Tabitha James has recently been appointed as an Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly, a highly regarded journal in information systems and one of Pamplin’s Elite Journals.

• BIT Professor Paul Lowry was officially inducted as an AIS Fellow and Senior Scholar during the annual AIS awards ceremony held at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) on December 16, 2024. This prestigious honor recognizes his significant contributions to information systems in research and education.
  
  Additionally, Lowry co authored the paper, “Long Live the Metaverse: Identifying the Potential for Market Disruption and Future Research,” recently accepted by the Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), one of Pamplin’s Elite Journals.

• Viswanath Venkatesh has been named to the 2024 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list. As Virginia Tech’s most-cited scholar, with over 60,000 citations in Web of Science and 200,000 on Google Scholar, Dr. Venkatesh exemplifies the global impact of BIT research.

• Chris Zobel’s co authored paper, “DEI and Operations Management: Critical Linkages and Research Opportunities,” was recently accepted by Production and Operations Management (POMS).  This important work explores the role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in operations and supply chain management research and education.

BIT Ph.D. Student Achievements

• The BIT Department proudly recognizes Ph.D. student Mohammad Rahimi for his exceptional achievements. Portions of Mohammad’s dissertation were accepted into the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) Doctoral Consortium, and the WISE and WITS workshops, both held in conjunction with ICIS. These programs are highly selective, with only three doctoral papers accepted annually, underscoring the significance of Mohammad’s work.
  
  In addition to these academic accomplishments, Mohammad has secured a faculty position at the University of Texas at Dallas, ranked 38th among U.S. business schools by U.S. News & World Report.

• Another Ph.D. student the BIT Department would like to recognize is Carolina Reis for recently accepting a faculty position at the University of Georgia, Athens, ranked 27th by U.S. News & World Report. Her achievements further affirm the BIT Department’s reputation for preparing world-class scholars!

As you may be aware, the Pamplin College of Business is home to a distinguished community of researchers whose work not only advances academic knowledge but also has far-reaching impact across both the academic world and industry. Research plays a pivotal role in driving innovation, solving complex problems, and shaping the future of business practices globally. It’s an essential component of our collective growth and success, and we are excited to celebrate these contributions.

To support our research community, the annual Pamplin Research Awards Ceremony  will be held on April 9, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at The University Club at Virginia Tech’s West End Zone. We will be providing a variety of food and beverages, and we look forward to an engaging and inspiring evening.

Introducing the Two New Marketing Advisory Board Members: PearAivey Street and Nathan Lavinka  

Pear Aivey Street, an entrepreneur from Bangkok, Thailand, graduated from Purdue in 2005 and has launched several successful businesses in Blacksburg, Virginia. She currently serves as the Director of Marketing and PR for First and Main and the CMO for Street Investment Group, while also consulting for the Interiors Group in Southwest Florida. Passionate about mentoring and supporting small businesses, Aivey is dedicated to community initiatives.  

Nathan Lavinka, a 2011 Virginia Tech graduate, is a sales manager at Rippling who currently serves as the Immediate Past President of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association (VTAA) Board of Directors. He has also served as a member of the Virginia Tech Foundation Board of Directors. Nathan was instrumental in restructuring the VTAA Board and is the founder of the Alumni Big Event, where alumni chapters across the country participate in “One Big Day, One Big Thanks.” 

Join Us: 2025 Marketing Spring Seminar Series  

The VT Marketing Department will be organizing its Spring Seminar Series, featuring six accomplished professors from leading universities. This distinguished group includes Tat Chan (Wash U) on February 12th, Peggy Liu (U. Pitt) on February 21st, Blair Kidwell (North Texas) on March 19th, Aaron Garvey (Kentucky) on March 28th, Brad Shapiro (U. Chicago) on April 18th, and Xiao Liu (NYU) on May 16th. 

These professors will be visiting Blacksburg to present their cutting-edge research, engage in dynamic discussions with our faculty and PhD students, and foster collaboration across institutions. The initiative underscores the department’s commitment to advancing marketing research and building academic partnerships. Join us in celebrating this vibrant exchange of ideas and innovation. Special thanks to our faculty organizers: Shreyans Goenka, Broderick Turner, Boya Xu, and Yan Xu. For more information, email us at vtmktg@vt.edu. 

Announcing the Marketing Department’s Inaugural PHD Research Development Grant Winners

The marketing department launched the PhD Development Grant program this academic year to support PhD students in testing ideas independently, fostering academic growth and grant-writing skills. The proposals selected by the MKTG Graduate Committee are: “Navigating Life Transitions: Exploring Decision-Making Shifts from Joint to Solo Decision” (Shifan Gu); “When Is a Picture Not Worth a Thousand Words? The Effect of Photos on the Growth of Friend vs. Follower Networks on Online Review Platforms” (Bingqing Li); “Disorganized Retail Environments and Sense of Control” (Daniel Todorovic). They were awarded a total of $6,400 in the inaugural grant call. The recipients will present their plans and preliminary findings at an upcoming brown bag seminar.  

Scaling Up: Student Experiential Learning Initiative with Virginia Economic Development Program

Building on the successful pilot in Fall 2024, this Spring, 40 student teams will collaborate across three marketing courses to provide strategic marketing for twelve VA-based businesses. Four of these will be served through the partnership between Virginia Economic Development Program (VEDP) and the Virginia International Trade Alliance (VITAL) to help with international expansion. Steve Matuszak, Assistant Professor of Practice, is leading this cross-course, project-based learning initiative by acquiring and serving clients, and overseeing student team strategic plans and presentations through MKTG 4304 (Marketing Communications), MKTG 4154 (Marketing Research) and Carolyn Kogan’s MKTG 4164 (Social Media and Content Marketing). For more information on VEDP.

The Undergraduate Academic and Experiential Programs office supports undergraduate student academic progress, experiential opportunities, and student community engagement. THANK YOU to all our Program Teams and Partners! Please see below updates and opportunities to join our student programming!

• TLC Faculty Group: The Teaching and Learning in the Classroom (TLC) Roundtable sessions have started for Spring 2025. We have discussed Canvas Course Design, Universal Design of Learning (UDL) and SSD Accommodations, as well as Scaling-Up for Larger Classes. Resources for each topic as well as the updated calendar of upcoming TLC Roundtable topics can be found in the TLC Teams Site (click to join!). Contact Dean Seref with any questions.
• Academic Affairs & Advising: Please make note of Virginia Tech’s Early Academic Referral System (VT EARS) tool to assist faculty in proactively identifying and referring undergraduate students who may be experiencing academic difficulty early within a semester. Research indicates that intervention within the first 6-8 weeks of the semester can make a difference! Faculty and Staff may also utilize the Student of Concern referral form for situations that involve sensitive information. Please contact Katie Wells with any questions.
• Engage TA Program: We have assigned 264 TA positions for Spring 2025! The Engage TAs are supporting over 100 courses and faculty in Pamplin. More than 80% of the Spring 2025 TAs were nominated by faculty; keep current students in mind for future TA nominations! New TA training is complete; your Engage TAs can assist with Canvas, Zoom, SSD accommodations, grading (with FERPA certification), additional office hours, and in-class learning support. Please contact Barb Fraticelli with any questions.
• Recruiting and Outreach: Our Spring 2025 Recruiting Team Kick-Off meeting reviewed the application trends and the upcoming cycle of outreach events. Please contact Coral Rojas with any questions.
  • Pamplin applications have increased by over 20% from last year (VT overall applications increased by 17%)!
  • Early Action notifications will be sent to students mid-February with Regular Decisions announced early March.
  • Open House weekend is March 1/2; Hokie Focus weekend for admitted families is April 5/6.
• Pamplin Career Services: Encourage your students to meet with a career advisor for 1:1 career planning! Please contact Jenn Tortora with any questions.
  • Pamplin Career Events can be found on our calendar. Spring Business Horizons is February 6!
  • Faculty can request Careers Class Presentations.
  • Apply to be a Virginia Tech Career Champion for undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Review the First Destination Survey FDS Report for current job market trends for our graduates.
• Undergraduate International Programs: Our Spring 2025 International Programs Kick-Off meeting reviewed our Winter 24/25 faculty-led study abroad programs to New Zealand and Australia (MGT), Germany and Austria (MGT), Dominican Republic (HTM), Spain (MGT), and Italy (BUS). 
  • The Spring Study Abroad Poster Showcase will be on March 31 and the Study Abroad Fair will be on April 2, both in the Pamplin Atrium.
  • The deadline for submitting proposals for faculty-led study abroad programs for Winter 25/26 or Spring 26 is March 1. Submit all proposals to Pamplin International Programs office for review. Contact Jennifer Clevenger with any questions.
• DABS and Student Organizations: The Dean’s Advisory Board of Students (DABS) is providing student input on multiple initiatives, including student events, the Pamplin Plus curriculum, certificate programs for career training, and alumni mentorship. In our Spring 2025 Faculty Advisor Kick-Off meeting we shared events for all Pamplin student organizations this semester with a reminder to use the Pamplin Planner to post event announcements. Contact Emily McCorkle with any questions.
• Living Learning Communities: Pamplin’s three LLC’s Innovate (Entrepreneurship), Impact (Data Analytics), and Securitas (Cyber Security) are planning multiple speaker events for Spring 2025. Please contact us if you are interested in participating!
• Undergraduate Events: Please save the date for the following undergraduate celebratory events. Faculty are invited to ALL of these events! We strongly encourage you to join your students in celebrating their accomplishments! Contact Lisha Henshaw with any questions.
  • March 30 (5:00-7:00 PM, Latham Ballroom) Students of Distinction Ceremony for college and department senior awards.
  • May 4 (4:00-6:00 PM, Latham Ballroom and Inn Courtyard) Senior Celebration for all graduating seniors.
  • May 15 (at 12:00 and at 4:00 PM, Lane Stadium) Spring 2025 Commencement ceremony (VT Commencement). More information on event logistics and regalia requirements will be shared later.