Contact: Maridith Geuder
MSU human resource team members (from left) Sutton Holcomb, Truman Abbe and Amber Crausby, with adviser Matthew Stollak.
In fast-paced competition patterned after the TV quiz program "Jeopardy," a three-member Mississippi State student team is bringing home the top prize.
Truman Abbe of Vicksburg, Amber Crausby of Pontotoc and Sutton Holcomb of Clarksdale, all senior management majors at the university, recently pitted their skills against 15 other teams at the regional Human Resources Games and Student Leadership Conference in Austin, Texas. They were among university and college participants from five states.
They earned first-place honors by racking up more than 41,000 points. The second-place group from St. Louis (Mo.) University could manage only 21,000 points.
"Questions are based on the type found in the Professional in Human Resources Examination," said team adviser Matthew J. Stollak. "This is tough competition and these students distinguished both themselves and Mississippi State."
Stollack, an assistant professor of management, said the exam measures skills in such areas as workforce planning, compensation and benefits, and employment and labor relations. MSU advanced to the regionals after winning the state contest in February, he added.
The Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va., annually sponsors six regional contests prior to its national convention. The MSU team faces the other first-place regional winners June 23-26 during SHRM's 2002 assembly in Philadelphia, Pa.
By winning at the regional level, teams earn travel expenses to the national event, at which members of the overall winning group receive a cash prize of $1,000 each.
"This kind of competition gives students both the edge they'll need for the certification exam and the opportunity to interact with human resource professionals," Stollak said. "It also sends a strong signal to employment recruiters that some of the best and brightest young H.R. minds can be found at Mississippi State."