All seven PBL students from the Rankin College of Business who qualified for the Phi Beta Lambda’s National Leadership Conference in June returned to Magnolia with national awards. Pictured, from left, are Austin Taylor, Brian Billings, Danny Jones, Macy Frazier, Alex Alexander, Justin Blann, Matthew Chaput, PBL Advisor Gerald Plumlee.
RCB students and faculty representatives attended the conference from June 23-27, 2015, in Chicago. Assistant Professor of Management Dr. Gerald Plumlee escorted the students on the trip, and emailed his RCB counterparts the exciting news upon their return to Magnolia.
“This year, for the first time I know of, all seven of our members who competed earned top 10 awards in at least one event,” said Plumlee.
He explained that more than 1,800 PBL members from across the nation, including around 100 from Arkansas, competed in more than 50 events. Awards were given for the top 10 finalists in each event.
RCB’s Forensic Accounting team won first place in the nation. Team members were Brian Billings, accounting major from Strong; Justin Blann, accounting major from El Dorado; and Austin Taylor, accounting major from Little Rock. Teams were given a case and approximately 24 hours to prepare a seven-minute presentation. They were allowed to use any resources available in developing their solution to the case. First place in this event included $700 in prize money.
The Management Analysis and Decision Making team from RCB took home the third-place prize. The team consisted of SAU’s Danny Jones, management major from Missouri City, Texas, and Matthew Chaput, general business major from Hot Springs. Sequestered teams were given a case and 20 minutes to prepare a seven-minute presentation using no outside resources. This team earned $100 in prize money.
Alex Alexander, management major from Atlanta, Texas, took home third place in Statistical Analysis. He earned $100 in prize money in this objective-test event.
In Business Communications, Blann won sixth place. This event consisted of a writing exercise and an objective test.
Senior marketing major Macy Frazier placed eighth nationally in the Impromptu Speaking competition. Frazier, of Canton, Texas, completed two rounds of competition in which students were given a speech prompt and 10 minutes to prepare a five-minute speech.
To be eligible for national events, RCB students placed first or second in their events at the PBL State Leadership Conference in April. Members could compete in two events at the national conference. Chaput also competed in Public Speaking, Billings competed in Cost Accounting, and Taylor competed in Microeconomics.
RCB PBL Advisor Traci Hughes was also recognized at the national event for completing her three-year term on the National Awards Program (NAP) committee.
To find out more about the Rankin College of Business or Southern Arkansas University, visit www.SAUmag.edu/Business.
