Category: Students

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Parent corner: Starting the college search 

There’s so much to consider as you and your student get ready for the big move to college! The process of finding the best program for your student can sometimes seem like a Herculean task. You would not, assuredly, be the first to feel overwhelmed!

With so many complex questions, it’s important to understand the needs of your student and your family. Is cost the most important factor? Is academic rigor and accreditation? Is the opportunity to study abroad without adding extra time to graduation? What about a hands-on learning experience, like an internship?

However, we are here to help. To find the right fit for your student, it’s important for both you and your student to do the homework and compare the schools, and we recommend sticking to the fundamentals. We’ll give you some basic questions to get started:

  1. What can my student expect during their first year?
    Find out about the opportunities available for your student. Will they get hands-on business experience? Will they receive support from faculty and peers? What about advising support?
  2. What majors are available?
    There are a lot of business majors and options available. When you begin your search, take the time to compare different majors and options for each school and check the accreditation for each program. The full list of business programs at Oregon State University can be found here.
  3. Will my student emerge ready for the career world?
    It’s important for students to build their confidence and establish a strong network of professionals. They can do this by connecting with industry professionals, alumni and faculty. Ask about internships, career placement rates and professional development opportunities. When students take the time to network, engage and meet with future employers, they emerge prepared for their career.

Answering these basic questions for each college will help you understand the strengths of each. And like any big project, give yourself time. Start the process early, consider the values of each school and weigh all the pros and cons. We know that as a parent, you want only the best for your student, so take the time to figure out what “best” means.

Take the time to visit campuses, talk to faculty, and research the additional opportunities and experiences your student will receive.

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How I prepped for my freshman year of college

By: Zoe Shulevitz
OSU College of Business & OSU Honors College
First-year student

Hello!

My name is Zoe Shulevitz, and I am an incoming OSU College of Business and Honors College freshman from Portland, Oregon. Since my old high school, St. Mary’s Academy, was situated on the PSU campus, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to familiarize myself with the buzz of campus living.

However, I had been battling anxiety due to lack of confidence in my abilities to take care of myself without my parents’ immediate support. In order to build up my confidence in living alone, I decided to participate in the OSU faculty led trip to London. It was a great experience!

I faced situations that used to scare me (for example: planning out my meals, being in charge of my finances, flying in an airplane without my family members, and organizing my schedule around both my social life and schoolwork). However, by treating these situations as opportunities to learn and grow, I approached each situation with patience and positivity.

I learned a lot about how to deal with tough situations and gained confidence each time I had to figure out a way to handle a situation that used to make me feel anxious. By pushing myself far out of my comfort zone, I learned so much about myself, how I operate and how I need to take care of myself in the future.

I’m excited to take this newfound knowledge into college with me in the next few months, I know it will be very useful. I want to encourage any incoming freshman that are reading this who might hold similar fears as me to try and face as many fears as possible in the next coming weeks.

I promise, the situations that look impossible right now look much less important and terrifying once you’re on the other side. I know you can do it!

Other than facing my fears head on, the bulk of my college preparation has been filled with a lot of positive self talk. Going into college is scary, and even scarier when we factor in our own self-doubt. Therefore, I have made it my mission to not only build up my confidence in living alone, but my confidence in myself.

Having a positive mindset goes a long way towards helping us to feel comfortable and ready for college. Maybe even excited! Now, I’m feeling very prepared for college and also very excited! I’m especially looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people, having great conversations, practicing Japanese, working on my metacognitive skills, and growing as an individual.

I can’t wait to see what college has in store for me!

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Set yourself up for success inside and outside the classroom

By: Marcella Flores
Program Manager
Student Engagement Team

We know it’s not always easy to navigate the expectations and opportunities of college after high school. As a result, I get lots of questions from our new Beaver business students on how to successfully complete their first year.

I have one piece of solid advice: I recommend working out a time-management strategy early.

College is a different ballgame than high school, with much freedom and many responsibilities. For instance, you’ll have to balance completing homework assignments and projects, participating in student clubs and going on fun outings with new friends. That’s a lot of competition for your time and energy!

You also need to sleep. And you need to take care of yourself. Remember, you no longer have someone doing that for you.

Once you find a time-management strategy that works for you (and gives you balance) stick with it!

If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed or you’re struggling — like many first-year students do — talk with your BA 160 instructor. That might be me or one of the others program managers on the Student Engagement Team. We’re here to help you in every avenue of your time at OSU. Whether you need to talk about being homesick, opportunities on-campus that you’ll enjoy, or choosing your major.

We are here for you!

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Women in Leadership Spring Break Trip

Touring the “Grate Room” at Tillamook Creamery’s Portland location, the Tillamook Outpost.

 

Women in Leadership trip opens secret Nike labs, “grate” room at Tillamook, and connects students with business leaders

The 2019 Women in Leadership Spring Break Trip, co-hosted by the Women in Leadership (WiL) student organization and the OSU Center for the Advancement of Women in Leadership, took 22 OSU student leaders representing six different colleges (and numerous student clubs) on an overnight visit to Portland. The trip included meeting and networking with women leaders at companies big and small, and attending the National Diversity Council’s Women in Leadership Symposium, an event sponsored by Lane Powell, featuring Portland women business leaders.

WiL student chapter president Lily Beck had a leadership role in planning the trip. “Since it was over spring break, not everyone was centrally located on campus. Some people were at home in Portland or around Corvallis, and we even had an online student fly in from Idaho. I had a lot of help to make sure all the logistics were lined up,” Beck said.

 

Tillamook, Nike and Green Zebra

Among the visits, the group toured Tillamook Creamery’s Portland location, the Tillamook Outpost, and sat for a workplace culture discussion with Sheila Murty, Tillamook’s executive vice president of people and culture, and Sibel Candemir, their vice president of categories.

Sarah Busmire, the Ecampus student from the College of Agriculture who flew in for the event, felt that the diversity discussions were the most valuable to her. “I learned a lot, and the question-and-answer session was awesome,” Busmire said. “I realized that many women face the same challenges in various times of life-from college students all the way to CEOs. It is important as a society that we begin to recognize those challenges and create workplaces where they don’t occur.”

Up next the group headed to Nike, paused to sign non-disclosure agreements and then embarked on an exclusive visit to Nike’s top secret, innovation-focused Valiant Labs. The discussion was led by Nike’s Shaherose Charania, senior director at Valiant Labs, and Liz Freuler, their director of brand and consumer marketing. Many suggested it was a highlight – but did not say much more!

The group then visited Green Zebra, a women-owned grocery chain that features local and organic food in communities that lack larger food retailers. Evelyn Murphy, Green Zebra’s chief people and operations officer, met the students and discussed their philosophy for the small local grocer as a community focal point.

“Green Zebra was really impressive in the fact that they wanted to make sure people in Portland had access to food in a healthy sustainable way,” said Beck. “They mentioned that they wanted people to be able to walk or bike in 20 minutes or less to be able to get to a grocery store. This desire to serve people was also evident in the environment they created among their workers as open and engaging people who were extremely inviting to our group.”

 

Networking and symposium

An evening networking mixer construed into a “flash mentoring” session allowed trip attendees to circulate through various tables for prompted discussions. Each station would seat two Portland professionals, and about six students taking on the topics.

“We structured the conversations so that students could learn about the challenges women face in the workplace, how to navigate those challenges and how to lead and create change,” said Audrey Iffert-Saleem, center director.

“I learned a so much about the incredible work being done by women in industry to empower other women and make a difference in the organizations they work in,” said College of Engineering student Umayal Annamalai. “I also had the chance to meet so many amazing women from OSU with a variety of backgrounds and aspirations.”

The following morning the group attended the National Diversity Council’s Women in Leadership Symposium at The Nines hotel in downtown Portland, joined by panelists from Bank of the Pacific, Tonkon Torp, Lane Powell, Portland Trail Blazers as well as College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya. Attendees discussed topics such as building up the women around you, defeating gender-based harassment, the imposter syndrome and using technology for work-life integration.

Following the event, the group engaged in additional discussion over lunch with Portland business women, including members of the panel.

“We were all able to benefit from the connections we made, and the people we talked to. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to plan this kind of trip, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Beck said.

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Workforce retraining shapes new career and degree path for Portland hybrid student

After finding herself unemployed as the result of a manufacturing plant closure, OSU Portland hybrid Business Administration student Angela Douglass decided the time was right to return to college and complete her degree. “I was able to go back to school full time under the federal Trade Act, a program for workforce retraining,” she explains.

She started with project management classes through Clackamas Community College (CCC) and discovered an industry, construction, and she says she “took to it naturally.” Her instructors recommended her for an internship with the construction project management firm chosen to provide new construction, renovations and deferred maintenance for three community college campuses through the voter approved Clackamas Community College Bond Program. “I got the position and never left.

Douglass has been with the company for almost five years now, managing several projects. One project in particular that stands out for Douglass was the creation of two workforce programs for the CCC bond project. “I worked with contractors and architects to get students and minorities and local businesses involved in the construction work happening on campus”, she recalls. “The programs have been wildly successful, and it has been so rewarding for me to get to help give other students the same opportunities I had, securing internships that lead to careers.”

As part of her responsibilities she recently presented a progress update to the CCC Board of Education.
In December Douglass successfully earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, which is the industry standard certification for Project Managers. According to Douglass, “It takes years of hard work to achieve and is a milestone I am really proud of that will open more doors for me as a Project Manager in the construction industry.”

Douglass believes her OSU Business Administration degree will fit into her future plans in a few ways. She’s considering an MBA after graduation, but is also looking at different types of management degrees such as Construction or Engineering Management.

“I want to work up into management positions, so any business and leadership class will help me get there. I am also currently working on starting my own project management consulting business, with the goal of doing small jobs on the side for several years until I have enough experience to run my own woman-owned project management company.” A long-term goal is to start a nonprofit traditional housing community for the homeless, which is what led her to decide to pursue a degree in business.

“All of the teachers and connections I have met along my journey have empowered me to succeed by believing in me and recognizing talents I never even knew I had,” Douglass said. “I am beyond grateful for every opportunity.”

Douglass grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Beavercreek, Oregon, and currently lives in Oregon City with her two cats, Shylphrena and Aziraphale (“who love me unconditionally and keep my heart open“). When she’s not studying or pursuing professional development opportunities, Douglass enjoys exploring the world around her.

“One of my favorite things to do is to go on mini road trips, whether it’s to my favorite winery, the beach, or around the mountain, finding new places to grab a bite to eat and drink and new roads to explore. I can also be found hiking the wilderness, or curled up with a book or pad of paper writing poetry.”

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One last pitch for fall term: students wow judges with big ideas

BA 260 teams, Launch Academy students and “Next Great Startup” pitch competitors wow judges with big ideas

Three minutes to pitch, another three to take questions, and then a few moments for judges to make notes. Through two days of competitions, hours of presentations on three separate competitive event platforms, the College of Business and OSU entrepreneurs filled Austin Hall awaiting their chance to pitch – and their chance to win startup funds.

This is InnovationX, the OSU Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which serves students of all majors across the university.

Launch Academy and BA 260 “Introduction to Entrepreneurship”

The second-year students of BA 260 “Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” and the business startups enrolled in Launch Academy incubator courses (BA 367 and BA 368) appeared in Stirek Auditorium Friday for their reckoning. These were the survivors – through the various elimination rounds across three separate panels of judges.

Team Creative Hub took the top prize of $1000 for BA 260 students, besting the elevator pitches of the more than 350 students enrolled in the course.

Among the Launch Academy competitors, ShoeBio, Medivac and Melaknow were the top-funded businesses of the 14 teams. Altogether Launch Academy startups earned more than $15,000 in support from the Giles Student Entrepreneurs Fund.

OSU Advantage Accelerator “Next Great Startup”

At the Thursday event, the engineering and business students competing in OSU Advantage Accelerator’s annual “The Next Great Startup” appeared for the preliminary showdown. Of those teams, Melaknow and Kickback will advance. These finalists from the preliminary competition will compete against student teams from across OSU during a university-wide competition held winter term.

There are patents pending; there are companies with legit annual sales; there are seasoned startup teams that have been catching the eye and ear and pocketbook of venture capitalists throughout the region. Here’s some more details of our students’ work and their incredible business ideas:

Medivac system refrigerates medications

Noah Hoffman opened his pitch with a dramatic statistic from the Hurricane Maria aftermath in Puerto Rico – in just two months after the disaster, deaths attributed to diabetes increased by 46 percent. He points out that insulin degrades within six hours at temperatures higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

His startup Medivac provides a portable, reliable, and long-lasting refrigeration unit offering freedom and security for diabetics. His product is a hybrid cooling box about the size of a lunchbox that mixes passive and active cooling methods to provide long-lasting and secure cold storage for any biologic medication.

“Not only do we provide peace of mind for those without power, but we also enable everyday people who rely on temperature-controlled medications to travel, camp, and venture further than they’ve ever been able to before,” Hoffman said.

Medivac earned $2,000 in funding from the Giles Fund.

MelaKnow app screens moles for cancer

Eli Winkelman, for MelaKnow, points out that the most significant factor for surviving a skin cancer diagnosis is early detection. He also cites data that nationally dermatologists are in short supply, with appointment windows opening only six months into the future. Long enough for a patient to worry, or simply forget and move on.

MelaKnow is a skin cancer screening tool for primary care providers to better diagnose cancer with their smartphones. With MelaKnow’s machine-learning, primary care providers improve their diagnosis from 50 percent accuracy to 90 percent accuracy.

MelaKnow, which is currently applying for NSF grant funding, also earned $2,000 in funding from the Giles Fund.

ShoeBio.com streamlines online shoe shopping

Benjamin Steinhorn, presenting ShoeBio.com, describes it as “Trivago for sneakers.” His team harnesses big data with a patent-pending normalization algorithm to streamline the buying process, create price alerts for deals or other alerts for styles and sizes. His polished, functioning platform earned $2,500 in funding, but seeks six digits worth of capital investments.

“ShoeBio has a variety of monetization strategies,” Steinhorn explains. “Our largest revenue stream is affiliate marketing. We are in the process of becoming affiliated with all of the websites that we search which allows custom URL coding for each link. We have applied for 250 and will be approved for them within a week of when we applied. We will apply for new programs as soon as we find them, when new websites are added to the platform. Additionally, each affiliate program averages 7 to 8 percent commission payout.”

Dotmap Knife interface assists gaming event organizers

Graham Barber’s entrepreneurial passion is dotmap, a company that creates tools for game developers. Graham presented Knife, a platform that makes it easy to organize and sustain events called game jams, where people create games in a limited period of time.

Knife provides a robust, customizable web-based interface that helps organizers track participants, teams, submissions, and more — all of the moving parts of their event. With Knife, game jam organizers can spend less time building their own management system, and spend more time engaging with their community to run a better event.

Knife earned $500 in funding from the Giles Fund.

[Event photos]

Complete list of winners

Two finalists advance to the next stage of the Advantage Accelerator’s Next Great Startup. They’ll compete against the best OSU teams that survive the winter-term elimination rounds and were each awarded $500 cash prizes.

  • Melaknow
  • Kickback

BA 260 “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” class winners:

  • Creative Hub – $1,000
  • UpSprout – $500
  • Dress to Impress – $300

Other BA 260 that reached the final round (and winners of $100):

  • NannyNow
  • Impact Systems
  • Go Find Me
  • PassportBox
  • Endless Energy

Launch Academy (the incubator for OSU student entrepreneurs) awarded winners:

  • ShoeBio $2,500
  • Medivac $2,000
  • MelaKnow $2,000
  • Zazu $1,500
  • Soulful Boards $1,500
  • Poppins $1,000
  • PAI $1,000
  • Kickback $500
  • Sanctuary $500
  • Rental Consultant $500
  • BrakeBoy $500
  • Knife $500
  • Halo Holds $500
  • Gigspace $500
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One year to a bachelor’s degree, with our Lane Community College fast-track arrangement

(l to r) Lane Community College President Margaret Hamilton and OSU College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya signed a degree partnership agreement today to open a fast-track pathway to a bachelor’s degree.

One year to a bachelor’s degree, with our Lane Community College fast-track arrangement

One year to a bachelor’s degree, you’ve read that right!

Graduates with a business associates of applied science from the Eugene, Ore.-based Lane Community College can earn their bachelors degree in business from Oregon State University in one year thanks to an innovative new plan. College of Business Dean Mitzi Montoya and Lane Community College President Margaret Hamilton signed an agreement today in Corvallis, the first fast-track arrangement between the two educators.

Lane Community College and OSU College of Business have developed the agreement for LCC associate of applied science business graduates to transfer to Oregon State University and complete the coursework necessary for a bachelor’s in just one year.

Oregon State University has degree partnerships with all seventeen Oregon community colleges to provide a smooth path for Oregon students to earn their four-year degree. However, the LCC agreement is the first of its kind to build out the expedited curriculum plan. This is a great opportunity that paves the way for similar partnerships between LCC and other colleges at OSU.

“We’ve looked for a partner to establish this model, and we expect others to follow suit,” said Hamilton. “It’s a great day for our business programs, and it has been wonderful to see how well our students are treated when they get here.”

The agreement effectively creates a “2 + 1” degree that opens up options for Lane business students that aren’t available locally. The agreement will save students hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars while completing a bachelor’s at an outstanding business school.

Under the agreement, OSU will accept up to 120 credit hours from LCC that will count toward undergraduate business administration degree requirements. Students will then complete 60 upper-division credit hours at OSU to earn their bachelor’s degree.

“We’re excited to pave the way with innovative partnerships that give more students access to an OSU degree,” Montoya said.

The agreement provides for close personal attention for students to ensure success, including orientations, trainings, personal advising, appointment scheduling, access to scholarships, access to upper-division hybrid courses, and other assistance.

LCC and OSU anticipate improved admission, retention, and degree completion as a result of the arrangement.

The agreement will be reviewed in three years.

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College of Business Feels the Love of Victory with College World Series National Champions

 

National title is back home in Corvallis

We are all so crazy happy, and proud! Coach Pat Casey’s 2018 baseball team has succeeded with the redemption tour, winning Game 3 with style and confidence, and bringing home the NCAA College World Series champion title. We were with you every step of the way; we thank you for the gray hairs earned in Game 2, and we love you, Beaver Nation. Here’s how we saw it from the College of Business:

First of all, many thanks to our IT team who set up the big screen in Austin Hall. With the stillness of summer mode, the ebb and flow of emotions in the calls of ESPN’s announcers echoed through the building and brought faculty and staff to a standstill. It also stopped the families of future students in the building for START orientations.

Many of the usual suspects gathered, (you know who you are) most agreeing that there perhaps was a need to share heart medication after the Game 2’s breathtaking finish.

Melissa Elmore, office manager of the Austin Family Business Program, only wore her baseball jersey after 3 pm, since wearing it straight for the third day, she thought, might raise eyebrows. We love you, IT and our College of Business sports fans.

Calling the plays

ESPN – do we love you? Since it is nearly impossible to talk about Game 3 without mentioning that standing ovation of a Game 2, we have to talk about ESPN. (boo). What the heck! Publishing graphics on social media announcing the Razorbacks as the victors? What? I guess y’all must have been busy in the backroom making those graphics, and you didn’t see this play.

Yes, that’s right, we could watch that all day long: three Razorbacks running to catch the foul ball, and none of them actually doing so. We could shake our heads, and go on about “teamwork makes the dream work,” a favorite saying around here at the college. However, we’ll try to just cut some slack for those poor fellows from Arkansas who will replay that moment over and over in their heads. For the rest. of. their. lives.

Above all, ESPN, it shows you don’t know that beavers mean business; we only joke around occasionally, and almost never about our sports teams. We also never give up.

One more thing, ESPN, could you spare a good word for the best hitter in the nation, Nick Madrigal (sociology major), or must we be negative at his every at-bat? Indeed, he did not have the magic at the plate in these games as pitchers wisely opted to try and walk him.

But we at the college, where we know a thing or two about statistics – a .380 batting average in 2017, a .367 batting average in 2018 – were eagerly waiting for him to crack one out of the park so that we could hear you seething through your teeth.

Perhaps we should point out that congratulatory note on Twitter? From the Chicago White Sox? “Congrats to #WhiteSox No. 4 overall pick @NickMadrigal_3 and his @BeaverBaseball teammates on winning the College World Series!” Chicago White Sox – showing the love.

We love you, Chicago. We love our No. 4 draft pick. And Adley Rutschman, we love you, too.

College World Series Most Outstanding Player

Rutschman, the sophomore in business, won 2018 College World Series Most Outstanding Player. Rutschman, who also played a year of football at Oregon State, has an Oregonian sports pedigree extending back to his grandfather. Ad Rutschman eschewed a professional career with the Detroit Lions for coaching and mentoring, and retired from Linfield College as the winningest coach in college football. Linfield continues to build on the current all-divisions national record streak for consecutive winning seasons.

Not our legacy, but Beavers love legacies, and legends, too. And we see one forming in Rutschman.

Rutschman, whose position is catcher, is a team leader and strategic player with 83 RBIs for the season to set an OSU record. Since focusing solely on baseball, his batting average moved to a sick .408, from .234 in 2017. Rutschman set a College World Series record with 17 hits, batting .567 for the series.

College of Business junior Steven Kwan, drafted by Cleveland, was injured in earlier games and could not play in Game 3, and only a split second in Game 2. Kwan was usually the leader in the batting lineup as well as the centerfielder, and he gracefully became a leader in the dugout, cheering on teammates.

All told, the pitching of freshman Kevin Abel in Game 3, a complete game shutout allowing just two hits, is in the record books. It was his fourth win at the CWS. However, can we talk about the class act of College of Business sophomore Jake Mulholland, closing pitcher in Game 2, who took over for Abel in the top of the ninth?

One strikeout, one batter reaches first, and – boom, Mulholland fields the next hit to line up the double play at second and first. Goodnight, Game 2.

College of Business congratulates all of the Oregon State baseball players, and shares the love for the 15 teammates of 34 that study business. Tyler Malone, who minors in business, served in the Beavs starting lineup as a designated hitter, and made critical homeruns throughout the series. Freshman in business, Zach Clayton, was pinch runner for Zak Taylor in the ninth inning of Game 2, and scored the tying run after the Cadyn Grenier fly-out drama and the base hit that followed.

 

Our Players

Jordan Britton, Zach Clayton, Dakota Donovan, Brandon Eisert, Bryce Fehmel, Grant Gambrell, Michael Gretler, Preston Jones, Steven Kwan, Tyler Malone, Jake Mullholland, Adley Rutschman, Sam Tweedt,  Cade Warren, Zack Zalesky.

 

Check out our Facebook photo album.

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Fashion’s “Revolution” Showcases Student Apparel Designers

Oregon State University College of Business

Student groups host fashion evening

It was a beautiful but blustery evening – hence, no need for wind machines on this catwalk to add flounce and flair to the fashions as Mother Nature got that detail down.

The rest of the details – and there were many – from a requisite high-volume, heavy-bass sound system, crowds of spectators, and gorgeous models to the inspired clothing collections of burgeoning designers were handled to great success by student groups, the National Retail Federation Student Association and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists.

“Revolution,” the inaugural fashion event of the newly formed student clubs affiliated with the Merchandising Management and Design & Innovation Management majors at the college, featured the work of talented designers, and tapped into the edgy, global mood of change, sustainability and future uncertainty.

The first part of the show welcomed the talents of student designers from across OSU campus featuring “upcycled” garments constructed from discarded items, e.g., plastic bags, a Swiss military sleeping bag, old denim, fabric found in a dumpster, etc.

The second segment showcased the College of Business’ Apparel Design majors, and featured truly unique to OSU, unique to Oregon inspirations. Where else in the world will you see a wedding dress designed from waterproof material? Go Beavs!

The show, which created a space for each designer’s unique point of view, told a story that encompassed power, equality, and self-worth. Five designers ventured into the dystopian space of upcycled fashion; six submitted a single garment, and apparel design program students created seventeen collections.

The results – bright neon blocks of color, brave necklines, a patchwork of unique details and fabrics, complex paired with comfortable – came together in a long parade of stunning designs.

Bravo, brava, bravi! A great shout out to the designers, models, members of both organizations AATCC and NRFSA, faculty, the Memorial Union and Student Experience Center for their contributions and outstanding performance.

(p.s. Like our Facebook photos!)

CONGRATULATIONS, DESIGNERS!

Upcycled Garments

  • Jordan Farris
  • Amber Hill
  • Xuyang Huang
  • Irina Sergeyeva
  • Payton Smyer

Single Garments

  • Carley Conduff
  • Nicole Goecke
  • Xin Yu Liu
  • Alex Podeschi & Lauren Clay
  • Marie Recine

Collections

  • Katie Alston
  • Cassie Downing
  • Jessica Downing
  • Jordan Farris
  • Amber Hill
  • Leah Jaeger
  • Lauren Johnson
  • Melany Mailangkay
  • Meryl Muckenthaler
  • Hannah Norum
  • Marie Recine (2 collections)
  • Kirklynn Russell
  • Irina Sergeyeva
  • Payton Smyer
  • Alaura Unger
  • Catherine Wong
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“Cheers and Beers” for the BA 390 marketing class’s final presentations

A genuine swill party beer, priced to compete with Pabst Blue Ribbon; a brew with Vitamin D added; a sophisticated black-label luxury beer for the oligarchs, and even a malting company and a tailgating-friendly mobile bar were among the great ideas and business pitches of BA 390 marketing students and GD 325 graphic design students presented to a panel of judges Thursday. Fellow students gave cheers of support while judges received beers – cans and bottles anyway. The beer props were part of the detailed packaging and label design mockups that came from the design students as the marketers presented business plans to launch the new beverage lines.

The event, Winter 2018 Shark Tank “Golden Pint Presentation,” brought in judges from around campus, including Dan Edge, Associate Dean – College of Agriculture and Lee Ann Garrison, Director, School of Art & Communication as well as professor of crop science, Dr. Patrick Hayes, one of the world’s leading researchers of barley strains.

Dr. Hayes, whose recent experiments breeding flavor-rich barley strain has led to varietals anticipated to impact the taste of beer, partnered up with BA 390 course instructor Chuck Toombs to see how far the students could run with the ideas to bring barley-centric beer to market.

Until this research breakthrough from OSU Ag Sciences, barley was simply considered the work horse of beer production, the plain grain that contributed the ABV while hops and yeast waltzed together to form the flavor profiles that beer connoisseurs thirst for.

Team Fairy Ales perfectly captures that Cinderella story of Hayes’ barley research in their presentation, comparing barley to poor Cinderella forced to do all the cooking and cleaning while her step-sisters enjoyed all the parties and praise. The team earned top honors for the best brand & product story.

Another category standout for best product and packaging design was Team Gladius, who produced a slick monochromatic label featuring knight’s armor and swords for their premium barley wine, and a resealable bottle for the heavier, high alcohol beverage. Their pièce de résistance was a tap handle resembling a sword handle for the Gladius brand.

Special guests at the pitch competition included OSU Vice President of Research Cynthia Sagers, and students from the business class at Silverton High School on a college visit with their teacher, Riane Towery.

Each year, Toombs chooses a research project from around campus that he foresees to be on a fast track to market and has his marketing students explore the project launch. Past projects include marketing work for the patented bacon-flavored seaweed from researcher Chris Langdon and colleagues at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.

This year was the first that marketing teams partnered with design students to produce the sophisticated array of label designs, sample products and packaging concepts.

Congratulations to the students of the BA 390 and GD 325 for their incredible work. Judges named winners in five categories listed below, and many thanks to our judges for their time!

Check out our Facebook photo album!

Best Product & Packaging Design: Gladius

Best Multi-Product Monetization Strategy: HIBARR

Best Brand & Product Story: Fairy Ales

Best Regional Focus & Use of Technology: Pacific Malt

Most Creative & Future Focused: Evolve