Big 3 with Dean H. Rao Unnava: January 2024

Welcome to the January 2024 edition of the Big 3 Video Newsletter.

B-School Teams Go Head to Head at 2nd UC Davis-Financial Times Biz Quiz

Which global music star crashed Ticketmaster’s web site this year?

If you answered Taylor Swift, you’re right!  

That was one of hundreds of questions that teams of graduate business students from 11 schools buzzed in to answer at our second annual UC Davis-Financial Times Biz Quiz.

We hosted the competition here at the Graduate School of Management in November. Students take it seriously yet have a lot of fun. To prepare, they studied content from the Financial Times for several weeks with their faculty advisors.

To kick off the competition, the U.S. Managing Editor of the Financial Times, Peter Spiegel, interviewed Marcie Frost, the CEO of CalPERS, the nation’s largest public pension fund which is headquartered in nearby Sacramento. Ms. Frost shared about her fiduciary duty to California retirees, and she encouraged students to network and build relationships to help their careers.

The next day, the exciting quiz contest tested the students’ knowledge of the global news cycle, with hosts asking questions. At the award ceremony we recognized the top three teams and the top three individual competitors, with thousands of dollars of prize money contributed by the Financial Times.

We congratulate the team from Cal Poly Pomona that took home first place, and we are very proud of one of our UC Davis teams that won second place!

Top 10 Business School to Watch in 2024

We are also thrilled to learn this month that Poets&Quants included the Graduate School of Management among their 10 Business Schools to Watch in 2024.

We’re in very excellent company among these top schools around the world. It is quite an endorsement of our collaborative and creative culture to launch new and expand management education options to more students.

“Big things come in small packages.” That’s how Poets&Quants described the Graduate School of Management, adding that “over the past decade the GSM has masterminded some of the most innovative programming in business education.”

Poets&Quants called out our MBA Industry Immersion experiences as a signature innovation. These deep-dive interdisciplinary immersions focus on UC Davis strengths in the hottest industries now and in the future: Food and Agriculture, Biotechnology, Sustainable Energy and Finance Innovation.

And we have much more in store for 2024.

We've Partnered with the NBA's Sacramento Kings

It’s not every day that a high-energy lion mascot visits to mingle with students and faculty to celebrate the launch of a new program and innovative partnership.

We’re proud to become the Official Higher Education Partner of the Sacramento Kings and Golden 1 Center, their state-of-the-art arena that has revitalized the California state capital’s downtown.

Slamson is the Kings’ slam-dunking, crowd-pleasing mascot. He brought his infectious enthusiasm to Gallagher Hall to energize our students and community as we launched our new Master of Management.

The Sacramento Kings have had a positive impact on many aspects of the greater Sacramento community, much like UC Davis. This partnership is the joining of two organizations with focus on providing high-quality education and career growth opportunities to the thriving community in this region.

It is also fitting that this is National Mentorship Month. Starting this month as part of our partnership, our MBA students will mentor local high school and college students in the Kings Fastbreak Mentoring Program.

The Kings will also bring aboard MBA interns to gain experience in sports entertainment business.

What’s more, the Kings were recently named the NBA Teams of the Year and the most innovative team by peer owners. We’re thrilled with the Kings’ success on and off the court and will be cheering them on!

Thank you for watching the Big 3 video newsletter.