Experience Darden

Experience Darden #229: Faculty Spotlight | Jim Zuffoletti (MBA ’05)

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Jim Zuffoletti. Jim is a Darden alum, graduating in the Full-Time MBA Class of 2005, and he recently returned to Darden to serve as Entrepreneurship Community Director for the Batten Institute as well as an instructor for the Venture Velocity course. We talk with Jim about his background, his passion for entrepreneurship, what the Venture Velocity course is all about, his advice for prospective students and more.  

Experience Darden #228: Tips for Round 1 Applicants with Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Dawna Clarke

The Round 1 deadline for Darden’s Full-Time MBA program is 4 October! In the spirit of the season, we catch up with Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Dawna Clarke to hear her tips and advice for Round 1 applicants.

Experience Darden #227: Spotlight on the Darden Diversity Conference

This year’s Darden Diversity Conference will take place late October 2023, with the virtual event scheduled for 23 October and the in-person event planned for 28-29 October. In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with three first year students in Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2025 who attended last year’s Diversity Conference – Matt Au, Brianna Huff and Luis Otero. We talk with Matt, Brianna and Luis about their respective MBA journeys, the role the Diversity Conference played in their MBA research processes as well as why they think prospective students should attend this event.

Experience Darden #226: Meet Sid Parekh, Full-Time MBA Class of 2024

During this episode, we catch up with Sid Parekh, a second year student in UVA Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2024. We talk with Sid about his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, as well as his engagement with the Student Admissions Committee (SAC) and his leadership roles with Darden’s Consulting Club and the Community Consultants of Darden student organization.

Experience Darden #225: Meet Alex Hickey, President, Darden Wine and Cuisine Club (WACC)

In this episode of the podcast, we talk with Alex Hickey. Alex is a second year student in Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2024, and she is also the President of the Darden Wine and Cuisine Club (WACC). We talk with Alex about her background, how she decided to pursue an MBA, what led her to Darden, her experience serving as social rep for her first year section, WACC’s plans for the months ahead and more.    

Experience Darden #224: Re-Air: Office Hours with Bob Bruner

We’re excited to re-share one of our favorite conversations from earlier in the year – our Office Hours interview with Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner. As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financial panics. He served as dean of the Darden School from 2005 to 2015, and, this May, he retired from the Darden School in May after 41 years of service and leadership. In this conversation, we talk with Bruner about what led him to Darden, his passion for the case method, his interest in financial crises, what the panic of 1907 can tell us about financial crises generally, his thoughts on the recent Silicon Valley Bank collapse and more.  

Experience Darden #223: Pre-Matriculation Support for Full-Time MBA Students

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Managing Director of Admissions Whitney Kestner to talk about the support available to Full-Time MBA students prior to the start of school. In this wide-ranging discussion we touch upon a host of resources including CDWhy, Accounting MOOCs, B-Ready, Darden Before Darden, International Student Orientation Program (ISOP), the ‘Hoo Crews and more.

Experience Darden #222: Office Hours Spotlight | In Conversation with Professor Tim Laseter

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Tim Laseter (MBA ’94, PhD ’03). Laseter is a member of the Technology and Operations Management faculty, and he teaches courses in operations strategy, innovation and emerging technology at Darden. He maintains his connections with practitioners by serving clients as a senior advisor, speaker, workshop facilitator, and expert witness. In this conversation we talk with Laseter about his background, what led him to Darden for his MBA, what he enjoys about teaching, as well as how he discovered his interest in operations. We also discuss several of his courses, including Operations Strategy, Digital Operations, Emerging Topics in Technology & Operations, his Darden Worldwide Course and a new course he has helped develop for Darden Executive Education, “Unlocking Value of AI, Blockchain and Digital Assets.”

Experience Darden #221: Full-Time MBA App Launch | Dawna Clarke, Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Dawna Clarke

Darden’s Full-Time MBA application is now live, and in honor of the occasion, we recently caught up with Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Dawna Clarke to talk about this year’s application. During this conversation, we discuss this year’s short answer questions, choosing a recommender, Darden’s Full-Time MBA test waiver request process and more.

Experience Darden #220: Alison Neveu, VP of Admissions, GWIB

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Alison Neveu. Alison is a student in Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2024, and she is also VP of Admissions for the Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) club. We talk with Alison about her background, how she decided to pursue an MBA, her experience serving as a General Equity representative for her First Year section, what attracted her to the VP of Admissions role and much more.

Experience Darden #219: Student Spotlight | Kate Gomeliuk

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Kate Gomeliuk. Kate is a student in UVA Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2024, and she is also the VP International for Darden’s Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) student organization. We talk with Kate about her decision to pursue an MBA, what led her to Darden, navigating the first year of business school as a parent, how she decided to serve on the GWIB leadership board and more.

Experience Darden #218: Spotlight on Learning Team 6

In this episode of the podcast, we continue our ongoing series on the learning experience at Darden with a conversation with seven students in the Full-Time MBA Class of 2024 who comprised Learning Team 6 – Alyssa Tulabut, Lindsey Moran, Maryeliz Point, Peter Hamilton, Max Redpath, Rauf Aziz and Gerardo Molina Rodriguez. The team discusses how they established their team culture, how they worked together, how their Learning Team shaped their first year experience and more. Did you know? All Darden students are assigned a 5-6 person Learning Team, and this team is an important academic resource, particularly during the core curriculum.

Experience Darden #217: Office Hours Spotlight | In Conversation with Professor Yiorgos Allayannis

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Yiorgos Allayannis. Allayannis is member of the Finance faculty and an expert in corporate finance, risk management, financial institutions and international finance. His work has examined the impact of derivatives on risk and firm value, corporate governance and its influence in a firm's use of derivatives for hedging, as well as firms' financial and operational hedging strategies. Other work has examined volatility and its implications for firm value distinguishing between earnings and cash flow volatility. In this conversation, we talk with Allayannis about what led him to Darden, teaching Finance through the case method as well as his popular elective, Financial Institutions and Markets. We also discuss a number of the cases he has written across a wide range of topics, including crypto, decentralized finance, green bonds, fintech and more.

Experience Darden #216: Learning Through the Case Method with the Full-Time MBA Class of 2024

During this episode, we continue our spotlight on learning through the case method with a conversation with three students in our Full-Time MBA Class of 2024 – Alex Esposito, Ryan Smith and Vince Wang. In this conversation, Alex, Ryan and Vince reflect upon their decision to pursue an MBA, what led them to Darden, what they enjoy about learning through the case method, how Darden has prepared them to lead in ambiguous situations, their advice for prospective students and more. Alex, Ryan and Vince also share their favorite case from the First Year core curriculum.

Experience Darden #215: MSBA Spotlight with Professor Raj Venkatesan

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcasts, we catch up with Professor Raj Venkatesan. Raj is a member of the Darden Marketing faculty, and he is also a co-Academic Director for UVA’s MS in Business Analytics, a partner program between the Darden School of Business and the McIntire School of Commerce. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Raj about his background, what he loves about the MSBA program, how the program’s curriculum keeps pace with technological advancement, what skills will define the analytics professional of the future and more.

Experience Darden #214: Entrepreneurship Spotlight | Rooney Lee, Newsublease

In this episode, we continue our ongoing spotlight on entrepreneurship at Darden with a conversation with Rooney Lee, a recent graduate in our Full-Time MBA Class of 2023. We talk with Rooney about Newsublease, a network providing affordable, short-term housing for MBA, Law and Medical students he launched with two of his classmates, Xinyi Jiang and Shreyas Adiyodi. He reflects upon the inspiration for Newsublease, how the UVA E-Cup helped him refine his business concept, what’s next for Newsublease, his plans for the summer and more.   

Experience Darden #213: Meet Martin Vargas, Former LASA President

During this conversation, we catch up with Martin Vargas. Martin is a recent graduate in our Full-Time MBA Class of 2023, and he is heading to New York City to work in investment banking. We recently caught up with Martin to discuss his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, what attracted him to finance as well as his advice for prospective students. Martin also recently served as the President of the Latin American Student Association (LASA), and he reflects upon how this student organization added to his Darden experience.

Experience Darden #212: Faculty Roundtable | The Darden Learning Experience

In this episode of the podcast, we continue our ongoing spotlight on the learning experience at the Darden School of Business with a conversation with three Darden faculty members – Robert Carraway, Lynn Isabella and Marc Lipson. We talk with Robert, Lynn and Marc about how they prepare for class, what it’s like to lead a case discussion, the developmental impact of Darden’s pedagogical approach, their advice for incoming students and more. This episode is essential listening.

Experience Darden #211: Meet Omar Garriott, Executive Director, Batten Institute

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Omar Garriott, Executive Director for UVA Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology. We talk with Omar about his background in education-focused technology, what led him to Darden, his plans for the Batten Institute, what he’s looking forward to in the months ahead and more. He also discusses his book, Linked, a step-by-step guide to leveraging LinkedIn and building a career in a digital world.

Experience Darden #210: Learning Through the Case Method with the Full-Time MBA Class of 2023

During this episode, we continue our spotlight on learning through the case method with a conversation with three second year students in our Full-Time MBA Class of 2023 – Wade Clement, Lucy King and Edreana Vaz. In this conversation, Wade, Lucy and Edreana reflect upon their MBA journeys, what they enjoy about the case method, how their approach to class preparation has evolved during their time at Darden, their advice for prospective students and more. This episode is essential listening.

Experience Darden #209: Section Rep Spotlight | Madeleine Daum

This episode concludes our spotlight on the section reps for Darden’s First Year sections – A, B, C, D and E. In this podcast, we catch up with Madeleine Daum, section rep for Section E. We talk with Madeleine about her decision to pursue an MBA, what it’s like to be a double ‘Hoo, what drew her to the section rep role, her advice for prospective students and more.

Experience Darden #208: Section Rep Spotlight | Joey Howard

Over the coming weeks, we will continue sharing conversations with the section reps for Darden’s First Year sections – Section A, B, C, D and E. Up next is Joey Howard, section rep for Section D. During this conversation, we talk with Joey about his background, what led him to Darden, how he decided to serve as a section rep, his advice for prospective students and more.

Experience Darden #207: Section Rep Spotlight | Shannon McNatt

Over the coming weeks, we will continue sharing conversations with the section reps for Darden’s First Year sections – Section A, B, C, D and E. Up next is Shannon McNatt, section rep for Section C. During this conversation, we talk with Shannon about her background, applying to Darden through the Future Year Scholars Program, how she decided to serve as a section rep and more. We would also like to wish Section C a very big congratulations on their recent Darden Cup victory!

Experience Darden #206: Section Rep Spotlight | Sebastian Nabatoff

Over the coming weeks, we will continue sharing conversations with the section reps for Darden’s First Year sections – Section A, B, C, D and E. Up next is Sebastian Nabatoff, section rep for Section B. During this conversation, we talk with Sebastian about his background, what led him to Darden, what attracted him to the section rep role, his favorite Section B norms, highlights from his first year and more.

Experience Darden #205: Office Hours Spotlight | In Conversation with Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner

In this very special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with dean emeritus Bob Bruner. As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financial panics. He served as dean of the Darden School from 2005 to 2015, and, this May, he will be retiring after 41 years of service and leadership at Darden.
In this conversation, we talk with Bruner about what led him to Darden, his passion for the case method, his interest in financial crises, what the panic of 1907 can tell us about financial crises generally, his thoughts on the recent Silicon Valley Bank collapse and more.