Gatton Students Excel at National Biz Quiz

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 12, 2009) - Students from the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics again excelled at the 2009 Nationwide Fisher Biz Quiz with The Wall Street Journal held this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio.

The event, hosted by the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, is co-sponsored by the Nationwide Insurance Financial Leadership Rotation Program.

In the team competition, the UK trio of Kent Mulberry, a junior finance major from Lexington, Andrew DuPerrieu, a junior finance major from Paducah, and Jeff Wei, a senior computer science major from Lexington, bested students from other highly-regarded business programs such as Purdue, Michigan, Carnegie-Mellon, Wake Forest, Minnesota, University of Texas-Austin and others to come in seventh place nationally.  In all, 18 universities took part in the two-day event.

Individually, UK's Wei placed third among 54 students.

The students were put through several rounds of fast-paced, head-to-head quick response competition. Questions were drawn from six weeks of issues from The Wall Street Journal, and covered a wide array of topics including the economy, politics, international affairs, corporate strategies, accounting policies, personal finance, sports, the arts, medicine, and social trends.

As with last year's team, these students, along with alternate Joseph Craft, a business administration minor and public relations major from Houston, Texas, not only made us proud of their accomplishments, but also proud of their tremendous effort to study outside of the classroom and to represent the university so well," said Gordon Holbein, senior lecturer in strategy and leadership in the Gatton College and the team's faculty adviser. Holbein continued, "Not only did they gain knowledge for a lifetime, but they had wonderful opportunities to interact with students and faculty from other top-rated programs, and gain rich exposure to executives who supported the event."

In 2008, which marked Gatton's first-ever invitation to participate in the competition, then sophomore Jeffrey Howard of Louisville captured first place in the individual competition among 72 participants.

Gatton's three-student team of Howard, Mark Spurlin of Danville, and Ryan Hayes of Frankfort placed fourth out of 24 teams last year.

Gatton College Dean D. Sudharshan was delighted when he received the good news on the 2009 competition from Holbein and the students.

"Kent, Andrew, and Jeff are to be commended," said Sudharshan. "Their hard work in preparing for this success and their commitment to becoming truly world-ready are inspirational to all of us.

"Gordon Holbein is to be congratulated for his hard work and guidance in preparing the team and supporting these students throughout the process."