New Year New Face

In This Issue
1. Introduction
2. M.S. MIT Alumni Reading List
3. Alumni Profile
4. Upcoming Events

1. INTRODUCTION

My name is Aimee Carter and I have recently joined the Development and Alumni Engagement team at McIntire and I wanted to write to introduce myself as the face behind this blog and as your alumni connection to the McIntire School of Commerce. I am so excited to be working with all of you and helping to strengthen the network that you have with one another and connect you with the current students, the McIntire School of Commerce and fellow Virginia alumni.

I am joining the McIntire team from the University of Virginia’s Office of Engagement as the Associate Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement and before that as the Director of Special Events for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. My background experience has included a variety of work including volunteer management, special event planning, fundraising, sales and marketing. I am a graduate of Elon University in Elon, North Carolina and have my Masters work in Higher Education Administration at Ole Miss. I live in the area with my husband and our two children. In our house we are avid sports fans and follow the Pittsburgh Steelers and Virginia Cavaliers with unbridled passion.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions, updates, opportunities or just to chat. I will be hitting the road soon and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible. If you’re in town feel free to stop by and see me in 208 in Robertson Hall. I look forward to hearing about your ideas for alumni networking, social and lifelong learning events.

Aimee E. Carter
Associate Director of Development & Alumni Engagement
McIntire School of Commerce University of Virginia
125 Ruppel Drive
PO Box 400173
Charlottesville VA, 22904
434-982-5623 (direct)
434-607-7719 (cell)
434-924-0890 (fax)
@MS_AimeeC on Twitter
www.commerce.virginia.edu/give


2. MS MIT ALUMNI READING LIST

Microsoft PocketTouch Lets You Use Your Phone Through Fabric

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes


And from Christopher Porter , Principal, Verizon RISK Team
The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives


3. ALUMNI PROFILE from COMMERCE CAREER SERVICES
Each month the Commerce Career Services department is sending a Career Development Newsletter to the current students including an alumni profile. I thought you all would enjoy. If you’d like to be included in a future digest contact Aaron Gilley gilley@virginia.edu.


Alumni Profile

Richard Ross (MS in MIT ’11) – Senior Director, Office of the CIO, The College Board. (Reston, VA)

1) What were your expectations of the MS MIT degree as you were going into the program?
Course content that I could apply to my job immediately, spirited discussion in the classroom, networking opportunities, forge a few close relationships with faculty and classmates.

2) Have you made a career change since you completed the degree? What elements of the program were helpful in making this change?
Yes. I moved from a Technology Consulting role to an in house opportunity helping drive Strategic Technology Planning and IT Business Operations. Elements of the program that helped me make the change included the constant focus on tying every technology decision to the idea of business value. Throughout the different Mods, various levers were identified through discussion or course content which helped me better articulate my potential value prop. in a strategic role with my new organization.

3) What advice/words of wisdom do you have for MS MIT students who are considering either a job change or career change now that they are working towards the MS MIT degree?
Advice: Do not make the change mid program; wait until after the program. With that being said, no matter when you make the change - be sure that you are moving into a role that allows you to develop a line of sight between your specific role and how you can influence the core competencies of your new organization. If you can do that, in most organizations you will be able to tie the impact of your daily decisions to overall corporate objectives. Move into a role out of your comfort zone - if you are a technologist at heart, ensure you gain some experience in a pure business role; if you are business oriented and have not written a line of code - gain experience as a member of solution development team, expose yourself to engineers and developers - understand the technology. As you consider your next role, don't change for the sake of change - change because the new role will bolster your value prop. to the organization.



4. UPCOMING M.S. MIT ALUMNI EVENTS:

Winter Warming
M.S. MIT Alumni and Student Networking Reception on Saturday, February 4 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm at Bechtel.


Of Note for Richmond Alumni
UVaClub of Richmond hosts a monthly Downtown Luncheon Series, This month’s lunch and talk will include McIntire School of Commerce faculty Karin Bonding who will speak about "The Best Way to Allocate Your Assets" Register at http://uvaclubs.virginia.edu/richmondbonding. For questions, email jennie@jenniebarrettshaw.com.
Tuesday, January 24
11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
The Bull & Bear Club
901 E Cary St # 2100
Richmond, VA 23219

For more events from the UVaClubs program (open to all alumni, friends and family) around the world visit http://uvaclubs.virginia.edu/events.


5. FOLLOW US

I am committed to restarting this M.S. MIT Alumni Blog with links to our Alumni Directory, Jobs Blog, McIntire Event Calendar, Social Media Connections and other McIntire Alumni information. Follow us at http://msmitalumni.blogspot.com/ or follow me on twitter @MS_AimeeC for articles from our faculty, news from McIntire and around Grounds and information on upcoming events.