Greetings,

As we mark the close of another year and the start of 2015, I wanted to take the opportunity on behalf of everyone at the Bauer College of Business to wish you a happy holiday season. This year, we celebrated student success, including two teams of MBA students that placed in the top three worldwide in the AdWords Social Impact Awards category for the Google Online Marketing Challenge, and five undergraduate teams from the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship brought home 12 podium wins for their business plans to commercialize university technologies. We also were recognized for the quality of our programs, as Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Financial Times and PayScale, and The Princeton Review all noted Bauer’s graduate programs for making great strides in career salary and prospects for students. Our faculty also had a standout year in both teaching and research — Finance Professor Tom George and Accounting Professor Saleha Khumawala received the 2013 Lucile and Leroy Melcher Excellence in Service award, and Finance Professor Hitesh Doshi and Decision and Information Sciences Professor David Peng both received the Lucile and Leroy Melcher Excellence in Research award. All of this affirms to me that Bauer College is a special place, where lives are transformed.

The proof of this can be seen in the work that our alumni do. So many Bauer alumni lead business in Houston and across the globe, in all different sectors. This time of year, the work of one Bauer alumnus in particular stands out to me. David Williams earned his MBA from Bauer College in 1992. Now, he is president and CEO of Make-A-Wish America, and he will return to campus on Jan. 22 to kick off “Inspiring Minds,” a new speaker series at Bauer College.

For many of us, the start of a new year means time for resolutions, but thousands of children in the United States aren’t making resolutions right now; they are making wishes. They are making wishes about things that they want, making wishes about things they dream of, because their time is limited. They are afflicted with terminal illnesses and catastrophic diseases, and it’s Make-a-Wish America that makes a difference for them and changes their lives.

I invite you to join us on Jan. 22 as we host David here in Houston at Bauer College to hear him talk about what it means to make a wish and make a difference.

Wishing you the very best this holiday season and in the new year.

Sincerely and with warm regards,

Latha Ramchand
Dean and Professor, Finance
C. T. Bauer College of Business
University of Houston
A Carnegie-designated Tier One research university

The University of Houston is an EEO/AA institution.