Annual Oil and Gas Conference Largest Ever

Kyle Bibb, senior tax planning manager for Burlington Resources, Inc.,
conducts a session at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) Center for
International Accounting Development's 27th annual Advanced International
Program in Oil and Gas Financial Management. The 2005 session was the most
highly attended in the program's history, with 59 participants from 15
countries. During the four-week program, participants study subjects
strategic to financial management in the oil and gas industry. Center
director Adolf J.H. Enthoven, Ph.D., administers the program. Contact him
at 972-883-2321 or enthoven@utdallas.edu.


Risk Center Awarded Two Grants; Advisory Board Named

The International Center for Decision and Risk Analysis (ICDRiA) at The
University of Texas at Dallas School of Management (SOM) has been award-
ed two study grants totaling $244,474 from two French agencies.

The French Atomic Energy Agency is funding a $178,709 study focused on
risk as it relates to seismic hazards and the ruin of structures. The
French Ministry of Research, through the FX Conseil Foundation, has given
the center $65,765 for its research activities related to risk management.

ICDRiA's director, Alain Bensoussan, Ph.D., SOM's Distinguished Research
Professor in Operations Management, founded ICDRiA a year ago. The center
conducts research and serves as a forum for the exchange of knowledge on
risk as it relates to large-investment industrial projects involving new
technologies, applications and markets.

An ICDRiA advisory board headed by the chief executive officer of Alcatel
North America, Hubert de Pesquidoux, was created last spring. Other board
members, who first met on May 4, are Gilles Delfassy, senior vice
president of Texas Instruments Incorporated; Bao Yong Zheng, president of
FutureWei Technologies; and Chris Rawley, a director in the Chief Risk
Office at EDS.

Dr. Bensoussan's interest in problems of risk grew out of his experience
heading the European Space Agency (ESA) from 1999 to 2002 and the French
Space Agency from 1996 to 2003, as well as from his extensive research
background.

ICDRiA has been awarded four grants since its founding. Aerospace and
defense company EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, have
contributed $120,000 in support of ICDRiA's efforts, and the European
Space Agency has awarded the center $104,800 to study the way in which
risk management and decision analysis performed in several industry
sectors might apply to the agency.


C4ISN Grows in Partners and Programs

Growth of the Center for Intelligent Supply Networks (C4ISN) at The School
of Management is reflected in new strategic partnerships with Blockbuster
and Viewlocity. Both companies have provided top-management commitment and
enrolled employees in center programs.

Michael Sherman, executive vice president and chief technology officer of
Viewlocity, and Scott Frost, vice president of Supply Chain Solutions at
Blockbuster, have been our biggest sponsors this year in helping with
implementation of the center's Supply Chain Management certificate
program, says Divakar Rajamani, Ph.D., clinical professor and the center's
managing director.

C4ISN offers several certificate programs, which are delivered in two- day
modules and designed to provide fast-track completion, accommodating busy
professionals.

The Lean Six Sigma certificate program focuses on significant
business-process improvement. Upon successful completion, students earn
green belt status in the Six Sigma program, which combines concepts of
lean manufacturing with structured operations excellence methodology to
improve performance and results.

The center's Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) certificate program gives
those who already have significant professional PLM experience academic
training to help increase their efficiency in learning and applying new
techniques and technology. SOM is one of very few schools offering a
comprehensive certificate program in PLM, Dr. Rajamani says.

The center also offers an online certificate program in sourcing
management that prepares procurement professionals to take the Certified
Purchasing Manager exam offered by the Institute for Supply Management.

To alleviate scheduling conflicts, C4ISN has introduced three schedule
choices: Family Friendly classes on Thursdays and Fridays, Out-of-State
Friendly classes held on four to six consecutive days and Travelers
Friendly classes on Fridays and Saturdays.


Roundup of CITM News

The Center for Information Technology and Management (CITM) at The School
of Management (SOM) recently received two $1,000 finalist checks in the
Tech Titan Awards, an annual competition the Metroplex Technology Business
Council (MTBC) of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce sponsors. Winners
were announced at a banquet in August.

Founded in 1994, the MTBC fosters a supportive environment for technology
companies and members of the technology community in North Texas.

Professor Michael J. Savoie, Ph.D., CITM's director, led the center to
finalist spots in the Technopolis and Titan of the Future categories. The
Technopolis recognition goes to a service organization or institution for
outstanding leadership in bringing the technology community together. The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers won the award.

Given for the first time this year, the Titan of the Future Award
recognizes educational programs designed to address the gap between
technology businesses and educational institutions whose purpose is to
provide qualified graduates to the technology industry. The Articulated AS
Engineering Degree program at Richland College earned the award.

CITM's recognitions were not for specific projects, Professor Savoie says,
but for the center's overall efforts. Our most notable project in the
MTBC community is the Telecom Corridor Genealogy Project. The center is
building a database that will draw a digital family tree of the
telecommunication industry in Dallas.

This academic year, CITM gained two new executives in residence: Bryan
Mobley, principal consultant on telecom and information technology
practice for the Internet Business Solutions Group at Cisco Systems, Inc.;
and Shawn Alborz, program manager for the Business Process Outsourcing
group at EDS, in Plano, Texas. Mr. Mobley is an SOM Executive MBA student,
and Mr. Alborz is a Ph.D. candidate.

Executives in residence serve as advisers to me and as mentors to
students [working at CITM], as well as do a lot of marketing of the
center, Dr. Savoie says.

Dr. Savoie also encourages SOM faculty participation and periodically
recognizes those who have made substantial contributions by naming them
CITM Faculty Fellows. This honor, plus a $1,500 stipend to each recipient,
recently was conferred on Young U. Ryu, Ph.D., an associate professor of
information systems, and Hyeun-Suk (Sue) Rhee, Ph.D., an assistant
professor of information systems and operations management. Dr. Ryu's
research interests lie in data mining and artificial intelligence
technologies and in computer security. Dr. Rhee's research interests
include wired and wireless customer experience, human-computer interfaces
and computer-mediated communication systems.


IECG Names First Executive in Residence

John M. Roeder (below), a retired certified public accountant and member
of the board of directors at several publicly held companies, was named
the first director in residence at the Institute for Excellence in
Corporate Governance (IECG). The one-year appointment was announced in
late June.

Mr. Roeder, who spent more than 30 years  many of them at the executive
level  with the firm of Arthur Andersen, is advising the institute in
such areas as research topics, program and organizational structure and
fundraising. He also lectures in SOM classes and is benchmarking IECG
against other corporate governance organizations nationwide.

For more on IECG, call 972-883-4925 or visit http://som.utdallas.edu/iecg.