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In August 2021, Kisha Thompson and Shiyon Mathew, students in the PhD in Nursing program, represented ���ҹ����� College of Health Professions at the Digital Innovators inaugural program. This was a collaboration between Apple and the Graduate Student Nursing Society (GNSA) designed to demonstrate how nursing education can be enhanced using technology.

Kisha and Shiyon were selected along with participants from 16 colleges nationwide through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Both are practicing healthcare professionals. Kisha has been a nurse for 23 years, 15 of which have been in nurse anesthesia, and Shiyon is a critical care nurse in an intensive care unit at a hospital in New York.

The pair’s presentation introduced the use of the “Unessay” in a Philosophy of Science course. The purpose of the Unessay was to encourage students to use creative and engaging ways to convey their views based on individual interests and strengths. The project entailed identifying an issue in nursing, taking a position, and making an argument based on a philosophical perspective. Their presentation provided a visual Unessay Choice Board demonstrating five potential choices for projects: video, audio, art, music, and digital. For students who chose the digital route, they also provided several apps that might be helpful.

"I enjoyed hearing about the cutting-edge learning strategies used at other institutions,” said Kisha. “Highlights of the program were sketchnoting on the iPad, making posters and Clips videos, and creating an EPub.”

"We become somewhat complacent when we conform to tradition and norms,” said Shiyon. “Taking part in the digital program challenged me to think unconventionally, not just from the perspective of an educator, but from the lens of the learner as well. The relationship is symbiotic."

In a nod to technology, participants created a Memoji for use in the course work.

"The faculty is very proud of Kisha and Shiyon and hope to be able to tap into the new skills that they gained,” said PhD Department Chair Dr. Sharon Stahl Wexler.

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“Think about selling a car, it’s so much more in that,” said Mariama Diallo ’20. “First, you have to believe in your product or solution. Then you have to be motivated.”

“I consider myself a bullfighter,” said Eduardo Flo ’21.

Such are the mantras of the newly-formed, yet already considerably accomplished Lubin Sales Team. Founded in fall 2018, this interscholastic team, led by Lubin Clinical Professors Harvey Markovitz and Deborah Fain, has been racking up awards at numerous collegiate sales competitions throughout the country—including recognition at Kennesaw State University, Temple University, Duquesne University, The College of New Jersey, and more.

Through these compelling and practically-minded competitions, ���ҹ����� students have been taking advantage of what’s proven to be quite a unique opportunity; the competitions enable students to simultaneously hone their professional sales skills, win prize money, and even secure job and internship offers.

Markovitz, who notes that ���ҹ����� is the only college in Manhattan teaching professional sales, decided to form a sales team at Lubin after learning about the burgeoning sales competition network that continues to grow across the country.

“I go to various conferences with other professors teaching sales, I learned there’s this whole process amongst universities to develop students to become professional salespeople in a formal manner, to the extent that they can go to competitions and compete with one another,” said Markovitz. “It becomes a huge interscholastic competition network. There are about 120 schools involved.”

From there, Markovitz pitched the idea of forming a sales team to some of his students. The pitch, unsurprisingly, turned out to be quite successful.

“I was in his sales management class, he talked about his sales team, I was happy to see that I would have so many opportunities job-wise, and meet other people that would share the same passion,” said Diallo. “Professor Markovitz gave me the right sales pitch.”

As an international student, Diallo realized that the sales team could potentially open invaluable doors to companies and opportunities—some of which she has already taken advantage of.

“With the sales team, there are a lot of opportunities—winning money, being able to get a job,” said Diallo. “As an international student, it’s really hard to stay here because we need a sponsorship. Through this competition, I was able to find companies willing to sponsor me in the future, and I had a wonderful internship this summer with Granite Telecommunications.”

At Granite, Diallo even went on to win an intra-company sales competition amongst interns, first winning the competition amongst the interns in New York, then traveling to Boston to win the company’s national competition.

“I was able to win $1,000 in scholarship money,” said Diallo. “That was a great experience.”

Granite Telecommunications, alongside Guardian Life Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Tom James Co., and View, are the generous external sponsors who help fund the sales team. And while their generosity has been considerable, the companies view their sponsorship as a win-win proposition. By helping fund the team, they gain access to some of the best and brightest salespeople of tomorrow.

“Because we have these sponsors who are very generous, we are able to travel,” says Markovitz. ”What’s in it for the sponsors? They have the opportunity to take our best, hire them, make them job offers. They know these kids are trained to be professional sales-people day one out of school. They’re job ready.”

After a successful fall, the team is looking to continue to spread its wings with springtime competitions across the country, including the national competition at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Given that last year’s graduating team members secured jobs at UPS and FDM Group, Markovitz is confident that this year’s outgoing batch will continue this new, yet exciting ���ҹ����� tradition.

As for the future? Markovitz, Diallo, and Flo all believe the sky’s the limit—both for the continued growth of the team and their own personal trajectories.

“It’s the most exciting thing that’s happening at Lubin right now,” said Markovitz.

NEW YORK (July 27, 2021) — A bank executive and the leader of the oldest bank in the United States, and one of the world’s largest financial institutions, has joined ���ҹ�����’s Board of Trustees, the University today announced.

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Thomas “Todd” Gibbons, chief executive officer at BNY Mellon based in New York City, was recently elected to the board. Gibbons earned an MBA from the Lubin School of Business at ���ҹ����� in 1986.

“Todd Gibbons is an accomplished executive and seasoned leader whose career serves as a model for future generations of ambitious ���ҹ����� students,” said Rob Sands, chairman of the ���ҹ����� Board of Trustees. “We are pleased to bring his expertise to our board, and I look forward to working alongside him as we guide the University forward and continue to create opportunities for our students and graduates.”​

Gibbons was appointed CEO of BNY Mellon in March 2020. Since joining the bank in 1986, he has held numerous leadership roles, including vice chairman and CEO of Clearing, Markets and Client Management, and chief financial officer. In addition, Gibbons served as chief risk policy officer of BNY Mellon and the Bank of New York (before the merger with Mellon Financial).

“As a proud ���ҹ����� alum, I know firsthand how impactful and meaningful the university can be in educating and inspiring students,” said Gibbons. “It is a prestigious institution, recognized as the number one private college in U.S. for driving upward economic mobility, and I’m honored to join the Board of Trustees as the university continues to develop the workforce of the future and shape the next generation of leaders.”

Gibbons serves as a member of Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies working to promote a thriving U.S. economy and expanded opportunity for all Americans through sound public policy. He and his wife have four grown children and live in New Jersey.

Gibbons, who in 2015 was honored with a Spirit of ���ҹ����� Award and has been a guest speaker at the Dean’s Roundtable at The Lubin School of Business, is joining the board at an exciting time. The university is in the midst of launching a new website and branding campaign; adding 12 new online graduate programs that align with growing market demands; remaining hyper-focused on experiential learning, career readiness, diversity and inclusion, and providing a strong return on investment to its students while investing significantly in its nationally acclaimed programs such as its School of Performing Arts, College of Health Professions, Seidenberg School of Computer Information Systems, and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, which this year was ranked as the No. 1 environmental law program in the country.

In addition to adding several new board members from a variety of fields in recent months, the ���ҹ����� Board of Trustees appointed Robert Sands, executive chair of Constellation Brands and a graduate of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at ���ҹ�����, as its chairman, effective July 1, 2021.

About ���ҹ�����

���ҹ����� has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success as a result of its unique program that combines rigorous academics and real-world experiences. ���ҹ����� is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides. From its beginnings as an accounting school in 1906, ���ҹ����� has grown to three campuses, enrolling 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in more than 150 majors and programs, across a range of disciplines: arts, sciences, business, health care, technology, law, education, and more. The university also has one of the most competitive performing arts programs in the country. ���ҹ����� has a signature, newly renovated campus in New York City, located in the heart of vibrant Lower Manhattan, next to Wall Street and City Hall, and two campuses in Westchester County, New York: a 200-acre picturesque Pleasantville Campus and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains.