OwenBloggers: Sharran Srivatsaa

Dean's house + Faculty chefs = good party

The Owen community not only welcomes new ideas but quickly steps aside and lets the entrepreneurial spirit ride free allowing new clubs and organizations to be born year after year. OwenBloggers and Project Pyramid are two unique ideas that were born in recent years that have had a solid impact. We hear a lot about these two organizations because they have significant portion of external association… i.e. there is a way for people outside the Owen community to connect with them in some way. Today I want to showcase a unique organization that was born at Owen last year… the Owen Culinary Society.

I am going to paraphrase the mission, vision, and values of the Owen Culinary Society (OCS) because its my blog and I can do whatever I want :-) …To bring the community together by exploring the various cuisines of the world. That simple, and that cool. Members and friends of the OCS often pick a theme and cook a great meal… and people show up, eat, drink, and are merry.

The last OCS event was “Dinner with the Dean” where Dean Jim Bradford hosted the dinner at his house and the chefs were Jim, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Yvonne Martin-Kidd, Professor of Finance Craig Lewis, and Professor of Accounting Richard Willis. The spread included everything from grilled shrimp to flat-iron steak… it was awesome! The greatest part was that after we ate… we packed ourselves to-go-plates. Yum! I particularly enjoyed it because it was held during a weeknight and I got a chance to speak with new first-year MBA students… many of whom have been spending hours on end in the library trying to cope with the heavy workload of Mod 1. Ha, Suckers!

Liz and I were swapping engagement stories :-) Way in the background Jim and Yvonne... right behind me in the white shirt is our very on Jared

Nice job putting the event together, Isha.

Technorati tags: sharran, srivatsaa, owenbloggers, owen, vanderbilt, ocs, bradford, dean, mba, ogsm

Project Pyramid Case Competition open for registration!

I am spending more time with my commitments outside the classroom, a nice way to avoid my law school reading. One of the most exciting projects that I am currently working on along with Asif, Jose, and the rest of the Project Pyramid team is the inaugural Project Pyramid Case Competition. Isaac serves as our consultant :)

The Project Pyramid Case Competition is unlike any other MBA case competition - it is organized by students for students, all supporting the spirit of the completely student-driven Project Pyramid initiative. The case question will also focus on "student" problems... real world issues that are keeping current, student-social entrepreneurs up at night. The best part... the case competition is sponsored by Project Pyramid, not a corporate entity!

Project Pyramid: www.projectpyramid.org
Case Competition: www.projectpyramidcase.org
Registration ends on September 28, register now!

 

Podcaster Extrordinaire Jared interviewed Asif and me regarding the case competition, you can listen to that episode of the OwenBloggers Podcast here.

Technorati tags: project pyramid, bop, sharran, srivatsaa, owenbloggers, vandy, owen, vanderbilt

Samba goes to Law School

While my most of my fellow business school students (yes Tony, I know you are taking Mergers & Acquisitions) are grooving to the MBA tune, I have ventured across the conceptual divide to take a class at the Vanderbilt Law School. Here are some random thoughts:

1. They don't speak English at the law school.
2. I thought it was a great idea to take a class in Estate and Gift Taxation as it would give me a good foundation to speak with ultra high net-worth clients when I am in the wealth management world post-graduation... but now I have realized why we all need Trust and Estate lawyers
3. I am an avid reader. I have read most of the classics and have finished every book I have picked up except for War and Peace... I am still working on that. I even read text books on compiler construction and android epistemology in college... but nothing comes close to the utter lack of comprehension I experience when I read my law school text book.
4. The law class is harder than all the business school classes I have taken... and for those who think I am slacking this module... take a hike.
5. I am so impressed with the law school faculty. Our professor for the course makes the material so enjoyable... I love going to class because it is a completely different way thinking and teaching. He is a distinguished trust and estate lawyer... he cleverly breaks down the material by filling each part with stories... all while backing it up with the statues.

I wish I had a career counselor who would have advised me to get a JD/MBA. I strongly believe that it arms you with the ability to understand the world from the perspective of an economist while being able to articulate thoughts and ideas based on the lessons that we have learned from years judicial history. Law school provides some much needed conceptual context that most of us in the business school could definitely benefit from.

L to R: Jose, Yujin, Samba, Kat, Markus - and no, the picture has no relevance to this blog entry.  

The samba has definitely lost his rhythm...

Technorati tags: sharran, srivatsaa, vanderbilt, vandy, law school, jd/mba, mba, owen

Greatest Impact: OwenBloggers

Last week I met a few hot-shot, first year MBA students for coffee. One of them asked me the question:

Which organization has had the greatest impact on your experience at Owen?  Which one have you enjoyed the most?

The answer is very easy... OwenBloggers.

I believe that OwenBloggers is one of the coolest things to be born at Owen. OwenBloggers has very special meaning to me as it was something that we thought about and built from the bottom up. I remember how excited I was when Dean Jon Lehman agreed to support the initiative. In hindsight,  I think Isaac, Sam and I would have built some form of OwenBloggers even if Jon had not offered the support from the administration... because we truly believed in the value of bringing transparency to the Owen experience.

I am so proud of what OwenBloggers has evolved into today. More importantly I want to give Isaac Rogers every ounce of credit for taking OwenBloggers to the next level. OwenBloggers is more than just a blogging community... it is a mini-Owen... if you take a step back and look at OwenBloggers, we have almost everything that technology will allow us to have on the site. We have everything from satellite maps of the area to OwenBloggers: The Movie.

OwenBloggers has allowed us to reconnect with long-lost alumni. We have faculty that read our blogs everyday. We have students sharing their international travel experiences. We have a Dean who blogs. We have podcasts, videos, and more. We have students from every single professional program at Owen sharing what it means to be a student here... both inside and outside the classroom. If you cannot make it to 401 21st Ave South, in Nashville, Tennessee... you can get a glimpse of our stressful yet wonderful lives at www.owenbloggers.com

Oh I would have never had my first date with Neeti without OwenBloggers... but that's a story for another time. How's that for the rhythm of the samba?