YOU're invited!
Kogod's Master Class Series: Fall 2024
Kogod School of Business professors lead our exclusive master classes, delving into a diverse array of current and relevant topics, from global supply chain to tax literacy.
Please note: The following sessions are only open to students admitted to a graduate program at the Kogod School of Business starting in the Fall 2024 semester.
Session 1
Managing Global Supply Chain Resilience in the Age of Continuous Disruption
March 5, 2 p.m. ET
Professor Ayman Omar
associate dean of graduate programs and associate professor at American University
The objective of this Master Class is to provide an interactive and engaging session presenting some of the challenges facing global supply chains and their impact on consumers, organizations, and governments. The session will include strategies used by exemplar supply chains to build resiliency in the face of constant disruption.
Session 2
The Service Quality Imperative: What's a Marketer to Do?
March 20, 10 a.m. ET
Professor Sarah Mady
senior Professorial lecturer at the department of Marketing at ameriCAN UNIVERSITY
Services dominate both the world and U.S. economies. Currently, in the U.S., services account for over 80% of the labor force and over 80% of GDP. Services marketing poses special challenges from customer satisfaction measurement and management to the coordination of marketing and operations in service delivery design and implementation. This session will offer insights into service marketers’ efforts to manage customer perceptions and expectations in the ever-growing, competitive service sector!
Session 3
The Kogod Small Business Tax Literacy Project
March 22, 2 p.m. ET
Professor Caroline Bruckner
senior Professorial lecturer at the department of accounting at ameriCAN UNIVERSITY
This short course will be an overview of the groundbreaking research Prof. Bruckner has done on the future of work and the growth of small business owners, and their tax literacy challenges. Since 2015, there has been growing recognition that the independent workforce is a permanent and significant portion of the overall workforce. More companies are hiring independents and more individuals are earning income outside of traditional employment. This creates tax compliance and retirement financing challenges for workers engaged in independent work. This presentation explores the latest Kogod Tax Policy Center research on these issues and recommendations to address some of the issues identified and is excerpted from recent presentations done at the Fall 2023 American Bar Association Fall meeting and the 116th Annual National Tax Association meeting.
Session 4
Accounting Information and Capital Markets
March 26, 10 a.m. ET
Professor Paolo Petacchi
Professorial lecturer at the Department of Accounting at American University
In this lecture, you will learn how accounting provides the necessary information for a capital market to work efficiently. We will explain the differences between book value and market value and how investors’ expectations can explain the gap between the two. We will also investigate how expectations are built into the prices and how the market reacts to the disclosure of new information, by looking at the market response coefficient. This is just a cross-sectional example of some of the topics that will be covered in my capstone class and more in general in our top-notch MSA program.
Session 5
Managing for Climate Change
April 29, 11 a.m. ET
Professor Stacy Swann
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Management
Climate change will be an increasingly important challenge for organizations, corporations and financial institutions. Managing risks from climate change and capturing opportunities to address climate change are becoming dominant factors in an organization’s sustainability goals. This course aims to prepare managers, executives, and sustainability professionals in all industries to begin addressing the many aspects of climate change. The course also considers climate change issues from the perspective of investors and the financial community.
Session 6
Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning for Managers
May 6, 11 a.m. ET
Professor Alberto Espinosa
Professor, Department of Information Technology & Analytics at ameriCAN UNIVERSITY
Hosted by Professor Alberto Espinosa, dive into the world of data-driven decision-making. This Master Class offers an introductory guide to leveraging predictive analytics and machine learning techniques for managerial success. From understanding foundational concepts to practical applications, this Master Class equips managers with the tools to harness the power of data in driving strategic decision-making and achieving business objectives.
Session 9
Demystifying AI and Large Language Models Like GPT: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and the Rise of Transformers
May 7, 11 a.m. ET
Professor Derrick Cogburn
Professor
Environment, Development & Health
Artificial intelligence in general, and GenerativeAI tools in particular, continue to develop at a breakneck pace. In this Master Class you will build your knowledge of artificial intelligence by digging deeper into the analytical processes and technologies that make them work. We will start by exploring text analytics and the development of language models through the use of Natural Language Processing techniques in R and Python. We will then move to an introduction to machine learning and deep learning techniques, and the technologies that drive them. We will then introduce you to the concept of the transformer which in 2017 led to the development of the large language models such as the Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT) that fuel ChatGPT along with BERT, Gemini, Claude and similar GenerativeAI (GenAI) applications.