Growing up in Peru, José Fernández Álvarez always enjoyed his English classes. And two years ago when his university, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Lima, announced the opportunity to earn a double degree in business administration with both a Spanish and English program, he jumped at the chance.

When USF partnered with USIL in 2011, they were the first -- and are still the only -- university to offer an English business degree in Latin America. The degree, a Bachelor's in Business Administration with concentrations in marketing and international business, is the same degree students earn at the university's Tampa campus. Peruvian students have the opportunity to study for a semester at the Tampa campus, and Tampa faculty travel to Peru to teach classes in English. In December, the first cohort graduated from the program with their USF Bachelor of Science in business administration, with 20 students earning the degree. Read more.  

USF Unstoppable: Corporate Mentor Program

The USF College of Business Corporate Mentor Program matches high-achieving first generation college students with professionals from throughout the Tampa Bay region. The program provides the students with an up-close and personal look at how business operates at the highest levels, while providing the mentors the satisfaction of shaping the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Not many students would use the words "fell in love with" to describe their accounting courses, but senior Jessica Liles does.

Accounting instructor Jennifer Cainas and accounting honor society Beta Alpha Psi received top awards at the national  Beta Alpha Psi Annual Meeting recently.

Cainas received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor award, and USF's chapter of Beta Alpha Psi was named a KPMG Gold Chapter for the fifth consecutive year -- one of only two schools internationally to have received this honor since the award's inception in 2009. Read more. 

This summer, USF Executive MBA students learned the realities of how international business operates -- from seeing the smog and rapid development in Beijing to hearing stories of international entrepreneurship.

The trip was designed to increase the students' understanding of how the global economy affects their industries and jobs. They visited Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, touring local branches of international companies such as KPMG, Nielsen, Jabil, FE Sourcing, MedEq, and Qualcomm, and seeing the local sights. Read more.  

• Ernest Clark (finance, '79) was appointed by the East Aurora School Board to be the director of business.
• Stephanie E. Goforth (business management, '82) was appointed head of Northern Trust's west region of Florida, from Naples to Tampa Bay.

• ISDS Professor Anol Bhattacherjee received a USF Creative Scholarship Grant, "Lagged Effects of Information Technology in the Healthcare Industry."  The grant will study how long it takes hospitals and healthcare organizations to realize returns from the tens of millions of dollars they spend every year on information technology investments, and whether the magnitude of effects vary with the types of investments.

• Marketing Associate Professor Dip Biswas and Marketing PhD student Courtney Szocs recently received a USDA grant to study how sensory factors influence healthy food choices for children. This grant is funded by the USDA and administered by the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs. The research holds promise to influence USDA's policies on school lunch programs across the U.S.

Read more.