Blog Comments

Hi-

Just a quick note that per KSA Campaign rules, we're going to have to freeze the comments functionality of the blog until after the election is over. We've been really heartened to see the level of engagement and discourse on the part of the Kellogg student body and we look forward to finding out the results of the election in a couple days!

Thank you all for your support and feedback over the last week - we hope we've been able to communicate our vision and strategy for moving the KSA and Kellogg forward next year!

Best,
Kellogg United

Proposed changes to the Honor Code

We have been getting some great feedback on student's reaction to the proposed changes by the Honor Code committee to change the number of members of the student panel required to determine responsibility for an Honor Code infraction from 7 of the 8 members to 6 of the 8 panel members.

I would like to start a blog to hear your response to the proposed changes in the Honor Code and also encourage everyone that is concerned or interested in the changes to meet with the Honor Code committee during their office hours Wed 5:30-6:30, Thurs & Fri at lunch.

I look forward to an interesting discussion!

Managing feedback...

A 2nd year student recently e-mailed me about how Kellogg United would manage feedback if elected. Her questions were awesome and I wanted to share them with the rest of the student body. Here are her questions and my answers are posted in the next comment:

1) When gathering feedback how are you going to ensure that you hear the voice of the majority of the student body feels and not just the extremists?

2) How will you ensure that you are not overwhelmed collecting feedback, leaving no time for action?

3) How will you balance Kellogg’s current culture of being a student run school vs. implementing some controls?

Thanks for the questions!

Updates

In case you're one of those people that didn't immediately set the Kellogg United website as your homepage, you might have missed some of the updates we've made to the site in the last couple days. ;)

So, just wanted to point your attention to a couple great things we've posted online - first off, we've been thrilled to see so many people take the Kellogg United survey - we now have two links on the website where you can directly view the results as well as some of the more qualitative feedback we've seen from the survey responses. We've also posted a quick little commercial about our slate that we hope you'll enjoy.

Finally, for those that weren't able to attend the KSA Debate in person today, make sure to check the Serial as of Wednesday morning - there'll be a taped version of the debate streamed from the site.

-Ashish

The Fun Is Always In Clubbing Together

One cannot stress enough the role played by clubs in shaping the student experience at Kellogg. Given their significance, it becomes all the more critical that we continue to improve the value that clubs bring to students. As Kellogg United’s candidate for VP of Finance & Clubs, I am eager to take on this challenge. Fortunately, I will not be facing this daunting task alone. I have with me 6 dedicated souls—all 6 of them current section leaders and 3 of them part of the KSA board—to guide me toward solutions that are effective and implementable.

I would like to get your thoughts on what I believe is an issue that deserves immediate attention: the need for improved coordination among clubs. While most clubs at Kellogg are in themselves excellent, we all will benefit from their working together better. Often the same firms are on campus through various clubs increasing the number of events students feel they have to attend. At other times, there are events organized by larger clubs that could have benefited smaller clubs had both worked together in organizing them.

If elected, my plan of action is two-fold: first, to sit down with the leadership committees of larger clubs to investigate ways they can help smaller clubs, say, by organizing at least one combined event every quarter, and second, to work side-by-side with Craig, candidate VP for Career Management, to keep track of and coordinate the presence on campus of the same firms through different clubs.

What do YOU think of this issue? What other club-related issues are on your mind? Do let me know by clicking on “Comments” below.

Warm regards,

Ramesh

Using Technology to Collaborate

If you'll indulge me for a few minutes, I wanted to start a blog conversation about technology at Kellogg, and more generally about technology to facilitate collaboration. This is a set of topics that I'm very passionate about - as Tech Rep for the Cash Cows, I've heard a pretty representative sample of the types of issues everyone at Kellogg is facing. More importantly, I spent the last six years before Kellogg working on developing collaboration software at Oracle, so I'm fairly invested in the idea that technology can dramatically improve the way we work together.

So there's good news and bad news. Let's start with the good news - Kellogg's CIO David Keown and the entire KIS organization have committed to supporting Microsoft Exchange for the 2007-2008 Academic Year. For those that have struggled with sending out scheduler spreadsheets and booking rooms through Meeting Maker, the introduction of Exchange will be a huge first step towards facilitiating true collaboration. Exchange will bring a new email system to Kellogg in addition to the calendaring and scheduling functionalities. It's going to be a huge amount of work for KIS over the next several months, but KIS has the right people and resources in place to get this done, and over the next few months they're going to continue to tap into the student body to get feedback on how best to implement the functionalities provided by Microsoft.

So now onto the bad news. Or maybe we should call it the "pragmatic news." Collaboration is about a lot more than email and calendaring, and building up a truly collaborative technology environment is going to take a lot longer than just one year. Things like blogs, community feedback sites, course scheduling and bidding integration, improved file and media sharing capabilities are all things that need to be an integrated part of Kellogg's technology whole. Every cloud has a silver lining though, and in this case the silver lining is that Dean Keown and KIS really want to gather feedback about what students need to be more effective at Kellogg.

With that in mind, Kellogg United wants to hear from you - what aspects of your day-to-day experience at Kellogg would you like to improve? Assuming scheduling meetings and meeting rooms is improved, what else would help you work in teams better? Keep checking back here for more updates and ramblings as the week goes on.

Thanks for listening - hope everyone has a great weekend - look forward to seeing many of you at TG and Charity Auction Ball!

-Ashish

Little. Brown. Different.

Becoming better leaders in the future...

As Kellogg United's candidate for President, I am excited for the opportunity to work with you in shaping the Kellogg experience. Over the past six months, the members of Kellogg United contributed significantly to Kellogg by soliciting feedback from students and working in leadership positions to take action. We hope to continue our efforts as the next KSA Exec Comm.

All of our initiatives have one common goal, to strengthen the Kellogg brand. Many initiatives focus on enhancing our daily lives at Kellogg, but what can we do now to become better leaders in the future?

One initiative is to increase the adoption of Leadnet, the 360 feedback tool. Receiving 360 feedback is always a humbling experience for me. The feedback identifies my strengths, areas for development, and ways to improve. Each time, I am reminded that I can become a better team member and leader.

With our focus on transparency, feedback and action, we want to hear from you. What do you think about 360 feedback and Leadnet? Let us know so we can take action.

Warm regards,

Chau

Act globally

What really fascinates me about Kellogg's student body is not what I see, but what I don't see. And I don't see indifference. Every single person that I've met here has been trying to contribute somehow, and that is significative, because indifference can be really comfortable. Yet, you take the challenge every day, whether by putting together a study group for post-recruiting survivors in desperate need to catch up or by leading major social impact ventures.

And this is what really motivated me to run for VP Global Affairs. I've had the role in my heart since serving as the Buckets rep at KSA Global Affairs Team 06/07, where I had the opportunity to lead several initiatives with my colleagues, the school's staff and administration, like K-Smart. Now, I want to take a step further and act on your ideas to build a stronger global brand for Kellogg and to make it a better place for all int’l students.

As a kick-off to this forum of discussions, I want to hear from you about one idea that I have been recently developing at Global Affairs: alumni activation taskforce. No one can dispute that a strong and cooperative global alumni body is essential to our post-MBA careers and to build a strong brand for the school. But I've noticed that there is a lot of disparity among Kellogg's alumni clubs around the globe in terms of value added. One way to address this problem is to commit recent graduates to leadership positions in the clubs. Fresh out of school, there is no one better to embody Kellogg's spirit and serve as a spokesperson for the school, and that could strengthen our brand significantly.

What do YOU think?

Lucio

How to Tame the Recruiting Beast

Did you know that among top business schools, Kellogg has some of the fewest "rules" when it comes to recruiting? Did you know that many of the big on-campus recruiters are as overtaxed by the escalation of recruiting events as we are?

CMC has recently launched a joint student/CMC/Corporate Relations taskforce on this issue and the goal is to have new recruiter guidelines in place by early May. Some ideas that I've personally heard from students and staff have included:

- potentially limiting the number of times a company can be present on campus in the Fall to a hard number
- looking at ways to "protect" busy academic times from recruiting events, like midterms and finals weeks
- better utilizing the Spring quarter for career exploration, especially for rising 2nd years who decide to go in a different direction after their summer internship

What do you think? Which options sound the most attractive/unattractive? What other ideas do you have?

Cheers,
Craigo

Who have you met recently?

Since joining Kellogg last fall I have been awestruck by the diverse, fun, open-minded people I have met. I have:

• Learned African dance moves (from a native of Togo, no less!)


• Danced bhangra all night at a Bollywood Bash
  


• Met people of different nationalities, industries, professional backgrounds and geographies

We all laugh in recruiting presentations and meet-and-greets when a company says their favorite thing about their firm is "the people." But at Kellogg... it really is. We came here to learn great things, do great things, and meet great people.

People tend to get "comfortable" with their friendships and interactions after fall quarter ends (and I presume even moreso after their first year), missing out on opportunities to meet and interact with each other. I want to help facilitate that continued interaction throughout our two year experience.

But I'm just one voice, with one opinion. Tell me what you think... how can we improve the social and cultural events at Kellogg?

- Kelly

Intro to Action Jackson (Academics)

Hello!

I am happy to be running for the VP of Academics position in the KSA Exec. For those of you that don't know me, I am a proud MMM and Buckethead and have also represented the MMMs on the KSA Board. I am originally from the ATL (Atlanta, GA), attended school at UNC and worked in Atlanta, Germany and North Carolina for 5 years before coming to Kellogg. I am excited to be running for KSA Exec and hope to involve you in the process. In this blog I would like to collect your thoughts on some of the initiatives that I would like to champion.

Specifically, I would like to get your input on "Flexible Finals." Flexible Finals would essentially give you the option to take your final exams early (remotely) just like you are able to do winter quarter for GIM. Of course there are positive and negative aspects of such a program and I would like to hear from YOU about your thoughts!


Very truly yours,

Kennith "Action" Jackson
Candidate VP Academics