U.S. News & World Report: “How to Write a Strong MBA Resume” 10/26/23
Jason Rife, senior assistant dean of career management and graduate admissions, offers advice on what MBA applicants should and shouldn’t include in effective resume submissions. Among Rife’s recommendations: emphasizing leadership and analytical abilities without being redundant.

“There is such a thing as diminishing returns,” he says. “We don’t need every club you’ve been part of—just the ones where you were president, vice president or treasurer, and describe the impact you’ve had.”

Reuters: “Exxon’s Low U.S. Tax Payments Ruffle Biden’s Climate Agenda” 12/15/23
Russ Hamilton, clinical professor of accounting, explains that corporations can defer federal income tax payments under deductions passed by the Trump Administration. Exxon Mobil’s tax payments have dropped to 3% over the past five years and may stay low for several years. The decline has potential long-term implications for the Biden Administration’s plans to fund its climate change agenda.

“Under normal circumstances, the cumulative tax benefit from accelerated depreciation is meant to zero out over time as annual capital investments slow,” Hamilton says. “But if companies continue to spend money on large capital projects—like finding and developing new oil fields—payments on deferred income taxes can be postponed for years.”

The Wall Street Journal: “James Gwartney Made Economics Accessible” 1/7/24
Robert Lawson, the James M. Fullinwider Endowed Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom in the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom, co-authored an opinion piece honoring iconic economist James Gwartney, who died in early January.

“He made important scholarly contributions, but his role in educating the general public made him truly influential. Three contributions stand out: his textbook, his role in creating the Economic Freedom of the World index and his (ultimately ill-fated) help in transforming a moribund Russian economy in the early days of Vladimir Putin.”

Poets&Quants: “Best Undergraduate Business Schools of 2024” 1/21/24
SMU Cox ranks No. 26 this year in Poets&Quants’ rankings of 91 undergraduate business schools nationwide, released in January. To determine the final rankings, the publication calculates index scores for each school in three categories: Admission Standards, Career Outcomes and Academic Experience (based on the BBA Class of 2021 survey responses), each weighted at 33.3%. The Cox School has been among the top 30 schools in this ranking every year since it was first published six years ago.

Chicago Tribune: “John Bruton’s Ireland Demonstrated How Government Can Promote Peace And Prosperity” 3/4/24
Mike Davis, senior lecturer in strategy and business economics, commemorates John Bruton, who served as prime minister of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. In his opinion piece, Davis lauds Bruton for leading a government “fully engaged with the economy but limited in its reach” and for negotiations that laid the foundation for peace after 30 years of conflict between Protestant Unionists and Roman Catholic nationalists.

“It’s tempting these days for Americans and Europeans to fall into a kind of cynical despair, thinking that our economies are doomed to stagnation while the world collapses into insoluble conflicts,” Davis writes. “Bruton showed that we’re right to hope.”

Dallas Innovates: “Veteran Leader Named Managing Director of SMU’s Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership” 3/14/24
William S. Spears, the benefactor of the Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, welcomes Joshua Taylor as the Institute’s new managing director.

“With Josh leading the daily work of the Spears Institute and working with founding directors Megha and Nirav Tolia to help shape and implement their ideas, we’ve got the ideal trifecta of strategy-minded, entrepreneurial leaders to positively influence careers, spur innovation and inspire entrepreneurship among SMU Cox students who will in turn shape the economic future of our city, our state and our country,” says Spears, founder and CEO of sustainability consulting company Cenergistic.

KDFW-Fox 4: “Texas Power Grid Operator Looks to Keep Up with Increasing Demand” 4/23/24
Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute, weighs in on the growing demand for electricity in Texas. The CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told its board of directors that the factors currently benefitting the state’s economy—dynamic population growth, demand for data centers and evolving AI—are pushing demand, putting pressure on the grid to perform now and in the future.

Bullock says, “I believe [demand is] going to increase exponentially as we continue to attract more and more business.”