Seven of UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business Academic Research Centers Move into U Square

Seven academic research centers in the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business have moved to a new joint location at U Square @ the Loop on Calhoun Street across from UC’s main campus.

U Square is a new $80-million development of upscale apartments, retail and office space that is now home to several UC departments, including seven academic centers from the Lindner College of Business: The Carl H. Lindner III Center For Insurance and Risk Management; the UC Center For Business Analytics; the Economics Center; the Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research; the Goering Center for Family & Private Business; the UC Real Estate Center; and the UC Center for Professional Selling.

Dubbed the “Lindner College of Business Center of Centers,” the new space is a state-of-the-art facility that further enhances interdisciplinary research, projects and partnerships among the college's many academic centers.

Directors from five of the Centers (Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Professional Selling, Insurance and Risk Management, and Real Estate) will maintain offices at the Lindner College of Business and also share a suite on the third floor at U Square @ the Loop. The Economics Center and the Goering Center for Family & Private Business will each have its own suite also on the third floor.

During the past two years, the Lindner College of Business has forged three new academic research centers. The Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management is the first of its kind in Ohio and will support academic programs and research as well as industry outreach. In May 2013, Steve Slezak, professor of finance at Lindner, was named as the center’s first director. The center will launch both an undergraduate major and minor in insurance and add graduate-level and certificate programs in the future.

As a leading player in the exploding field of analytics, Lindner launched the Center for Business Analytics in 2012, led by professor Jeffrey Camm as director, to bring together companies, students and faculty for data analysis projects that optimize business performance.

Because of the Center for Business Analytics’ world-class faculty, who are leading researchers and authors of analytics textbooks used by other universities, InformationWeek, a leading technology publication, named the University of Cincinnati’s Master of Science in Business Analytics program at Lindner one of the Top 20 programs in North America. Lindner was one of only eight business schools in the country to earn the honor.

The UC Center for Professional Selling began in 2011 and is one of a handful of schools to offer both a minor and graduate certificate in professional selling. Led by Director Jane Sojka, associate professor-educator of marketing, the center was named a Top University Sales Program for two consecutive years by Sales Education Foundation (SEF). Sojka oversees an elite group of select professional sales students who represent the UC Sales Center at both local and national sales competitions. The Center is the only school in the nation to have Neil Rackham — who was ranked as one of the world’s top sales professionals by salesgurus.net — on its staff. Rackham, the author of “Spin Selling” and a world-renowned sales expert, joined Lindner in 2012 as executive professor of professional selling.

With seven of the Lindner academic research centers in one central location, Lindner College of Business aims to foster greater cross-collaboration, as well as partner on research projects with other colleges across UC.