Like many students in accelerated M.B.A. programs, Katy Moyer JGSM and Dr. Patrick Collopy JGSM are extensively studying the fundamentals of business administration while worrying about finding jobs in the troubled economy. However, thanks to the Johnson School’s Management Practicum course, they will be able to add something unique to their resumes: real work experience.

Associate Dean for Corporate Relations Randy Allen developed the Management Practicum with students in order to fill a void in the accelerated M.B.A. program. Because of its intensive academic nature, students in the program are not able to complete an internship during the summer as traditional M.B.A. students do.

The reason that the American financial system collapsed is far more fundamental than a lack of regulation, the pervasiveness of greed and irrational exuberance, or even the rewards implicit in the structure of our financial interactions. The contemporary model of business education (and more broadly, social values) should be blamed.

That’s right — as much as I’d like not to admit it — the MBA education is (extrapolating from our observation of the current financial crisis) far from sufficient in a globally interdependent 21st century economy that has never before been quite so complex. If it were, our nation’s business leaders would have seen this coming — and they would have stopped it.

BR MicroCapital, a microfinance business started at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, announced on Jan. 20 that it would offer lending and business support services to help microbusiness development in Tompkins County.

In a press release, Mike Pezone, grad, director of operations for BRM, explained that BRM’s work is fulfilling a local need by providing specialized, targeted support for microbusinesses, which are small businesses typically operated from the owner’s home.

The stated goal of BRM is to encourage development and inclusive wealth creation while at the same time assisting efforts to further local economic development.

In the midst of the country’s economic recession, the Johnson Graduate School of Management’s Cayuga Fund, a hedge fund run by faculty and students, reported a 0.42 percent gain for the 2008 business year.

Although the fund’s investments decreased by 1.29 percent in the fourth quarter, this $12 million hedge fund, finished the year ahead, especially relative to the performance of its benchmarks. Indexes like Hedge Fund Research Equity Hedge Index and the Hedge Fund Research Equity Market Neutral Index reported 25.45 percent and 1.16 percent losses, respectively, in 2008.Cayuga MBA Fund Returns

In an effort to increase the sustainability of the Cornell community and the world, the Johnson Graduate School of Management and the School of Hotel Administration have teamed up to create a course for all students, Sustainable Global Enterprise Practicum in the Hospitality Industry. This course gives both undergraduates and graduates the chance to learn about sustainability and, in conjunction with HEI Hotels & Resorts, perform fieldwork and research in the real world.

Former president Jeffrey S. Lehman issued a call to action during his tenure as University President, which spanned from 2003 to 2005. Increasing sustainability would be one of his three overarching goals.

In its 2008 ranking of the best business schools in the United States, BusinessWeek ranked Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management 11th — a two-spot promotion from its 2006 ranking. In comparison to its peer institutions, the business school overtook Dartmouth and remains ahead of Yale, but trails Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia.