MIM Collaboration

MIM alumni Eric Mann and Aaron Daniels with current student Sarah McRae are collaborating on Smarter Markets, a website focusing on:

"The so-called ‘bleeding edge’ of business thought [through staying] up-to-date with international business trends, letting you know what’s coming down the pipe before it his the business journals."

Check it out!

Past Student Profile - Matt Flax

Meet one of my colleagues, Matt Flax.  Matt is a full-time MIM student, and initially joined the program for the international focus, as well as the foreign language component and sustainability aspects. It is no surprise that he is specializing in sustainability, primarily due to his personal goal of pursuing a career in sustainable business.  He comes to the program with work experience as a computer programmer and a bachelors degree from PSU.  His favorite course so far has been Global Marketing with Brian McCarthy, MBA, for the energy and fun in learning and overall positive experience.  Matt believes the Asia Trip and Camping Trip have knit the cohort together, and plans to return to Shanghai, China to work on internship after graduation in August.  Good luck, Matt, in all your future endeavors!

MIM Event

Full-time and part-time students are required to attend the Age of the Pacific lecture series, although these discussions are open to the public and PSU community. The next lecture will take place on Monday, April 28, 2008, from 6:00-8:00p.m. and will feature Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General on Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. He will be speaking on "Business, Government and Development in East Asia."

Past Student Profile - Canh Tran

Introducing Canh Tran!  Canh is a full-time student currently specializing in Global Supply-Chain Management. His undergraduate degree was in Math/Computer Science, and his prior work experience was in the field of software programming. Canh hopes to join a supply and logistics consulting firm, like IBM Global Consulting, and outfit other businesses with their supply-chain software needs.  Canh has enjoyed many of the courses offered in the MIM program, but particularly enjoyed the Accounting for Global Enterprises course, taught by Dr. Elizabeth Almer, for its accessibility and relevance.  Good luck to you, Canh, both in your last two terms and the future!

Specializations

Are you passionate about sustainability?  Does supply and logistics fascinate you?  We are now beginning to take courses in our respective specializations in the MIM program.  This year, there are only three, but next year the program will boast five specializations.

Personally, I am most interested in Global Corporate Sustainability, and especially the three E's: Ecology, Economics, Equality and Education.

The program also offers: Global Marketing, Global Supply Chain Management, International Corporate Financial Management, and International Non-Governmental Organization Leadership.  Which of these interests you?

MIM Students at CoBest

Exit Projects

As you may know from the MIM program website, full-time students and second-year, part-time students participate in team-led exit projects as the capstone of the degree.  While some students have already started their exit projects, many students will begin working on this project by June and complete these projects by graduation.

Photos & Links

Check out the bottom of the page for a few photos from our recent Chinese New Year celebration.  I've also posted some of my favorite links.

Come visit MIM at PSU

I strongly encourage you to make an appointment with Jeff Millard to visit the MIM program and sit in on a class.  You could also come have coffee with me and learn a little bit more about what it is like to be a student in the Master of International Management program.

Week Eight of Term Three

Week eight of Term Three is winding down.  MIM students attended the last session of the Cross-Cultural Communications course this afternoon and evening.  The remaining sessions of courses will take place through Friday, and full-time and second-year, part-time students will depart for Asia on Sunday.

Finals & Upcoming Asia Trip

Term Three is winding down at PSU's MIM program.  With only one week left of classes, most final exams, presentations and papers are either completed or underway.  Full-time and second-year part-time students are nearing departure for the three-week Asia trip, where participants will visit companies, factories and prominent businesspeople in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing.  Information on travel itinerary can be found on the PSU MIM website.

For more information on the courses and the Asia trip, please visit the program website, contact me at: askmim@pdx.edu, or attend the upcoming information session on February 27th at 6pm.

Reinstatement of Net Impact at PSU

Several students from the MIM program and MBA programs at PSU will be involved in reinstating PSU's chapter of Net Impact.  Although the organization has been dormant over the past year, the initial meeting showed that there is a strong interest in reviving this environmentally conscious, leadership organization.  Visit http://www.netimpact.org to find out more about this network of current and former MBA students.

February 27th, MIM Information Session

Just a brief reminder that the MIM Informational session is coming up on February 27th.  If you have been looking into the program, this will be a great opportunity to meet and talk to people associated with the program: the director, alumni, and current students.  The event will be held in the School of Business Administration building in room 550.  I hope to see you there!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Xinnian kuaile!  The New Year's Celebration was a success.  I plan to post pictures from the event soon.

Meanwhile, classes continue and we are nearing the end of term three.  Projects and final exams loom ahead, but I believe many will agree with me that this term has not only been one to grow academically, but also in other valuable skills; one of the first to come to mind being time-management.

Chinese New Year Celebration

Our Mandarin Chinese class is currently preparing a number of songs and other performances for the MIM Lunar New Year Event to be held next Saturday, February 9th from 3-6pm.

Upcoming MIM Event

The next MIM Interest Session will be held on Wednesday, February 27th, at 6pm in the School of Business Administration, Room 550.  I hope to see you there!

Linked In

For those of you who are interested in International Management, I suggest using Linked In as a way to connect and build your professional network.  Just today, this valuable tool has been mentioned by my colleagues and I have had the opportunity to meet others in fields of interest and extend my network through this resource.

View my Linked In profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smcrae

G.R.O.W. Conference 2008

Today, Saturday, January 26th, at Portland State University, the G.R.O.W. Conference 2008 (Growing Real Opportunities in the World) is being held from 9am to 6pm.  G.R.O.W.'s objective is to unite the local business and non-profit communities to solve local and global problems.

I first heard about this conference, through the Masters of International Management Program, back in December and have had the opportunity of working with the organizing committee to coordinate food for the event and help with attendee and volunteer outreach.  I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the committee and I hope to continue community involvement efforts in the future.

Winter 2008 (Term Three)

Today is Friday, January 11th, 2008, and the first week of classes of term three is winding down.  This term our full-time cohort is taking four business courses in addition to our language classes.  We are enrolled in Intercultural Communication, Managing Information Technology, Comparative Operations Management and International Law & Ethics.  This term looks to be the busiest so far, but the class lectures have proved to be interesting this first week.

In Intercultural Communications, we are working in teams to design culture lectures for the class.  As an introduction to supply-chain management, in the Comparative Management course, we are comparing and contrasting the organization and flow behind the counter in two fast food restaurants of our choice.  These assignments and others throughout the term will provide real-world application for the broader themes of study.

Welcome to the PSU MIM Blog!

Hi!  Thank you for stopping by this blog.  My name is Sarah M. and I am a current student in the Portland State University Master's of International Management Program.  

The purpose of this blog is to shed some light into the life of a current MIM student.  I hope to share some of my personal experiences, tell a little about the current term, assignments and classes, give some updates on the group preparations for the upcoming Asia trip, post useful Mandarin Chinese and Japanese phrases we are learning in the language component, etc.  

I hope you have the opportunity to learn something and laugh during your visit.  If you have any questions, send me an email at: askmim@pdx.edu