Building The Isenberg Advantage Building The Isenberg Advantage

which recognizes
exceptional academic
achievement,
Branch received
the Chancellor’s
Medal, the highest
honor bestowed on
individuals for service
to the University.
After demonstrating
Ben Branch
the power of
disciplined long-term investment
planning, including compounding, tax
sheltering, and leveraging of assets like
homeownership, Branch offered his
audience a litany of investment dos and
don’ts. Investors should avoid hot tips
and, for that matter, vehicles that elude
their understanding. They should be
wary of all fees and expenses and the
recommendations of technical analysts. In
addition, they should avoid investing more
than 10 percent of a portfolio in any single
security.
On the positive side, Branch
recommended investing in broad-based
index funds, no-load funds, and tax
sheltered vehicles. Acknowledging the
ailing housing market, he nevertheless
applauded the long-term financial
performance and leverage associated
with home ownership. He also noted that
consumers could lower their trading costs
by using Internet and discount brokers.
And he recommended that investors
diversify internationally. All but four of 83
countries that have stock exchanges have
yielded higher average returns than our
own, he said. And international investment
allows for diversification well beyond the
capacity of the U.S. market.
Professor Crosset
Honored for Community
Service Course
In January, Associate Professor of Sport
Management Todd Crosset received
a 2007-2009 Faculty Fellowship for
Youth grant from the Rhode Island and
Massachusetts Campus Compacts. The
Todd Crosset
two-year $5,000 fellowship supports
the development of faculty who pursue
community-based learning, especially
learning that involves critical issues
affecting youth development. Crosset was
recognized for his experiential learning
class, Sport and Community Relations,
which engages students in an annual
initiative—Key Players. Each year, the
project honors ten Springfield men of
color who have a positive influence on
children in the community. Crosset will
use his award to strengthen his course
and to foster new ties between the UMass
Amherst campus and the Springfield
community.
Professors Peters and Manz
Honored for Outstanding
Journal Article
In May, “Identifying Antecedents of Virtual
Team Collaboration,” by Isenberg School
management professors Linda Peters
and Charles Manz was chosen as one of
2008’s three Highly Commended Papers
in Team Performance
Management: An
International Journal.
Peters is Dean’ s
Assistant Professor of
Management. Manz is
Nirenberg Professor of
Business Leadership.
Chosen by the journal’s
editorial team, the article
Linda Peters
appeared in Volume
13, 117-129 of the
publication. Professors
Peters and Manz have
also collaborated on
“Getting Teams Right
the First Time: Keys to
Successful Collaboration
in the Virtual World,” in
The Handbook of High Charles Manz
Performance Virtual Teams
(Jossey-Bass, 2008).
Book Debunks Stereotypes
in China of Former U.S.
Servicemen
“A generation of Chinese grew up
dehumanizing Americans and American
servicemen who fought in World
War II, Korea, and Vietnam,” remarks
Isenberg School Director of Information
Management Kaimei Zheng. “I wrote
my book, Wars in the Eyes of American
Soldiers: from WWII and the Korean
War to Vietnam (Xinhua Publishers), to
dispel such
misperceptions
among Chinese
readers. Zheng’s
book, which
collects oral
histories from
11 American
servicemen,
has sold over
10,000 copies
in China since
its publication
in January
2008. “Early
readers have
exclaimed—
’They’re [American servicemen] really
human beings too!’ That’s just the message
that I hoped they’d come away with,”
notes Zheng, who teaches a course in
business website design and leads Isenberg
School students on two-week class trips to
China.
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