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"It feels like yesterday that I was sitting in their seats. It's fun and energizing to sit with young, creative, optimistic minds," said Stacey Allaster, Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chairman and CEO, describing a recent stint as executive-in-residence at the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center.

The sound of excited voices buzzed through the Lillis atrium as the Women in Business Club's 2012 gala got underway. Now in its seventh year, the annual event pairs professional women with female undergraduates for an evening of networking and mentorship. This year's theme was "Unlocking Your Potential," and guest speaker Dean Kees de Kluyver drove home the value of setting high-flying goals through the example of Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space.

Are people who identify themselves as religious more likely to choose sustainable products and services? With more than seventy percent of the earth's population adhering to one of the world's seven main religions--and spending on sustainable consumption projected to grow $60 billion by 2014--this question is timely, to say the least.

Can redefining our notion of happiness help save the planet? This was the question Ehrman Giustina Professor of Marketing Lynn Kahle posed to an audience of graduate students and faculty members in his recent presentation "The Pursuit of Happiness." While our cultural wisdom suggests that people are happiest when they have lots of big, expensive things, this view isn't accurate, according to well-regarded research. In fact, once people rise above the poverty level, the correlation between wealth and subjective well-being--the feeling of day-to-day satisfaction--is relatively weak.

You've got five dollars in seed money, seven days to brainstorm, and two hours to execute your plan—how do you create value? These are the elements of the $5 Challenge, a core feature in management professor Andrew Nelson's course Recognizing Business Opportunities. Four MBA candidates from the Center for Sustainable Business Practices tackled the challenge by creating a service that would be valued by bike commuters everywhere.

The Lundquist College of Business is pleased to announce the Business Innovation Institute, the new umbrella organization for the Center for Sustainable Business Practices and the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.

Just a few weeks into the winter term, and already so much has happened--and there's plenty more to look forward to. Here's just a sampling:

This January, second-year MBA students affiliated with the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center spent three fast-paced days in New York City meeting with high-level executives at some of the most influential companies and organizations in the world of sports. The annual event marks the final trip the cohort will take together as a group, and it is one that is recalled with enthusiasm by many alums. This year's roster included an insider's view of ESPN (led by two program alums); a session at sports and entertainment powerhouse IMG; and a visit to the headquarters of Bloomberg Sports.