Sy Syms School of Business

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YU Sy Syms School of Business
Sy Syms School of Business
Motto: Our Business is the Future
Established: 1987
Type: Private
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Dean: Michael J. Ginzberg, PhD
Website: www.yu.edu/sysyms/
The women's campus of Sy Syms School of Business is located in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood.
The women's campus of Sy Syms School of Business is located in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood.

The Sy Syms School of Business is Yeshiva University's undergraduate business school for men and women. It offers business programs for men at the Wilf Campus in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood, and for women at the Beren Campus in New York’s Murray Hill neighborhood.

As of July of 2007, Michael J. Ginzberg, Ph.D., serves as Sy Syms School of Business's dean.

The school offers the unique combination of a complete business curriculum along with Yeshiva University’s Jewish studies component, affording professional preparation with a broad base in liberal arts studies. Jewish tradition provides the framework for consideration of ethical issues, an integral part of the program.

Contents

[edit] Background

Established in 1987 through a $12.5 million endowment from businessman and philanthropist Sy Syms and other business leaders, the school offers a complete business curriculum along with an intensive Jewish studies component for undergraduate men and women.

Sy Syms School offers professional preparation with a broad base in liberal arts studies. The curriculum, leading to the bachelor of science degree, incorporates the study and use of computers as part of the coursework. Jewish tradition provides the framework for consideration of ethical issues, an integral part of the student's education. All Sy Syms students simultaneously attend one of the four schools of Jewish studies. Sy Syms faculty members are committed to teaching undergraduates while maintaining respected positions in the research and professional communities. They thus offer students a thorough background in the theoretical as well as practical aspects of business.

[edit] Campus & Facilities

Belfer Hall, named for philanthropists Diane and Arthur Belfer, is one of the tallest educational structures in the world.[1]
Belfer Hall, named for philanthropists Diane and Arthur Belfer, is one of the tallest educational structures in the world.[1]

The main building on Wilf Campus is the 235ft tall Belfer Hall (named after philanthropists Diane and Arthur Belfer) that was originally built in 1968 for the use of Wurzweiler School of Social Work & Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies but now shared by the three schools. The school's students reside in the surrounding residence halls of Yeshiva University and make use of the surrounding facilities. Thanks to another generous gift by Sy Syms, students can also have a productive workout at the state of the art Sy Syms Fitness Centre located in Rubin Hall.

[edit] Academics

Students take business courses through the Sy Syms School of Business and complete their liberal arts requirements at Yeshiva College or Stern College for Women. Women undertake their Jewish studies at Stern, while men attend one of four Jewish studies options:

  • James Striar School of General Jewish Studies/Mechinah Program
  • Yeshiva Program/Mazer School of Talmudic Studies
  • Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies
  • Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program

Majors offered include:

  • Accounting (optional 5 year program leading to a B.S/M.S. in Accounting)
  • Finance
  • General business
  • Information systems
  • International business
  • Management
  • Marketing

Minors offered include:

  • Accounting
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Finance
  • Humanities
  • Information systems
  • International business
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Real estate
  • Social sciences

In addition, the school offers a selection of honors courses, with a planned honors program in development.

[edit] Entrepreneurship

The Sy Syms School of Business maintains a strong focus on entrepreneurship.

  • The Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute is one of the nation's few undergraduate programs teaching the knowledge and skills necessary for creating and developing a business. One of the first of its kind, the undergraduate program uses classroom instruction and hands-on experience to teach the intricacies of starting and managing a business. Students may take entrepreneurship courses as electives or as an integral part of the management concentration. The institute received its initial funding through a generous grant from Mr. and Mrs. Ira Rennert, for whom the Institute is named.
  • At the annual Dr. William Schwartz Business Plan Competition, students compete in front of prominent business leaders for four monetary prizes based on having the most solid and realistic plan.

[edit] Real Estate

The real estate minor that was initiated by former Dean Charles Snow has become the most popular minor in Sy Syms. The minor was designed by Professor Stuart Verstandig, who has been teaching at the school since 1999. The curriculum include courses in real estate law, appraisal, investment, finance, and management. As a part of the curriculum, top industry leaders are invited to speak. Speakers have included George H. Ross, senior counsel and executive vice president of the Trump Organization (and star of “The Apprentice”), Harris Lukashok, vice president, Bank of America; the Hon. Sandra J. Feuerstein, associate justice of the New York Supreme Court, a member of Cardozo Law School’s first graduating class and a board chairman; the Hon. Martin Shulman, a YU alum, supervising judge for New York County and an acting justice for the New York Supreme Court; Ira Bloom, director of commercial leasing, Kushner Companies; and Anita Grossberg, vice president, Corcoran Group real estate. [1]

In the past, for the real estate management course, students toured Giants Stadium as an example of a facility at an income-producing property. Students also toured Kushner Companies and Massey/Knakal Realty Services to gain a better understanding of real estate investment.

[edit] Recognition and Distinction

  • Students hail from a wide geographic area, both domestic and international. As a result, Sy Syms students have a broad knowledge of, and sensitivity to, other cultures--an experience that helps them better understand, and thrive in, an ever-growing global environment. Some foreign countries of origin of the students include Switzerland, South Africa, Iran, Brazil, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Panama, Chile, France, and Israel.
  • SSSB's Accounting and Finance programs have been successful in placing students in top firm such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and J.P. Morgan for internships and employments. Reflecting this success, David Lin, a Campus Recruiting Manager of KPMG "Each year, we have increased our hiring numbers here at Sy Syms and year after year, we have been very happy with the students that we have been getting." [2]

[edit] Notable Alumni

  • Reuben Kerben (B.S. '04) - Founder and CEO of Spiral Software Systems
  • Deborah Ifrah (B.S. '99) - VP of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan Chase
  • Joseph Markovitz (B.S. '99) - Founder of OnlySimchas.com
  • Eric Pinkis (B.S. '99) - CEO of National Foodservice Recyclers
  • Cyrus Schwartz (B.S. '91) - President of Dora's Naturals, whose ZenSoy puddings were named one of Prevention magazine’s 25 “Best New Foods For You” in 2007.
  • J. J. Sussman (B.S. '97) - Director of Business Development at SanDisk
  • Ari Zoldan (B.S. '99) - Founder & CEO of Quantum Networks, LLC, A WiMax (802.16) Company

[edit] Notable Faculty

  • Moses Pava - distinguished researcher and book-author on business ethics, financial accounting, corporate social responsibility, and the interface between religion and business.
  • Robert Zwick - founding member of the National Campaign for National Tolerance, and editor of computer books for McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, and CTI.

[edit] Notable Student Events

[edit] Executive Roundtable Dinner

This annual event provides a platform for business networking and relationship building. This past February, during the sixth annual dinner, over sixty alumni, fifty students, and a dozen board members and business leaders attended the event.

[edit] Student and Alumni Gala Dinner

What began in April 2007 as a student- and alumni-initiated celebration of the schools 20th anniversary, it is now an annual event to recognize the school's achievements and reach for new levels of accomplishment. Over the night's course, past alumni are honored and current students are given their respectable awards. Past guest speakers include Mitt Romney.

[edit] Business Stock Market Trivia Competition

First organized in 2005, under Dean Charles J. Snow's tenure, this yearly event was developed as a recruitment project to offer high school students a chance to visit the business school, meet current students and develop an understanding of the subjects taught at the school. During the highlight of the event. student teams compete against other teams in answering stock market trivia questions. The top three teams in the competition share $1,500.00 in cash prizes. The 2008 competition featured over a dozen Jewish high schools.

[edit] Future Plans

Since the 2007 hiring of the new dean, several plans are underway:

[edit] Executive MBA Program

The dean is looking to develop an "executive MBA program that would differ from all other MBA programs in the country. Given the nature of Yeshiva University, we will find a way to create a unique program. On the most practical level, it would be different in that it will not meet on Saturday and instead will be coordinated to meet on Sunday. Of course this will fulfill a need in the Jewish community." [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Real Estate Popularity on The Rise,From the Dean's Office: Issue V (September 2006), Yeshiva University. Accessed April 27, 2008.
  2. ^ SSSB Student Alumnia Gala Dinner - Video, Yeshiva University. Accessed May 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Sitting Down with New Syms Dean Michael Ginzberg, The Observer, Yeshiva University. Accessed April 24, 2008.

[edit] External links

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