Contact: Phil Hearn
A team of Mississippi State seniors has won a share of the national championship in a fast-paced human resource management competition.
MSU team members Michelle Young of Calvert City, Ky., Lesha Smith of Carthage and Melanie Carnaggio of Calhoun City defeated teams from Penn State, Utah State and North Carolina en route to the championship match at the 55th annual conference of the Society for Human Resource Management in Orlando, Fla., June 23-24.
Representing the campus chapter of SHRM, the Mississippi State team was leading the championship match against St. Norbert College of De Pere, Wisc., during the H.R. Games National Finals when problems with the computerized game board forced a halt in the competition. SHRM officials then stepped in and declared the two finalists would share the national title.
"We are extremely proud of Melanie, Michelle and Lesha," said MSU chapter faculty adviser Tim Barnett, an associate professor of management in the College of Business and Industry. He noted SHRM, based in Alexandria, Va., represents more than 170,000 professional and student members nationwide.
Barnett said contestants in the fast-paced, question-and-answer H.R. competition--patterned after the classic television game show, "Jeopardy"--were quizzed on a variety of subject areas that included management practices, compensation, staffing, performance appraisal, and labor relations.
"They spent hours and hours of time studying and practicing for the contest," said Barnett, who accompanied the MSU team to the national event along with management professor Steve Taylor. "They exhibited great knowledge of the H.R. field and handled themselves with poise and class under very difficult circumstances, especially during the last round of competition."
The MSU team earned a berth in the national championship event by finishing first for the second straight year among collegiate teams from Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas in regional competition at the University of North Texas in Denton in April. Barnett shared coaching duties at the regional with 2000 management graduate Ann Havard, now a technology specialist at the Starkville Public Schools' Emerson Family Center.
"They are terrific representatives of Mississippi State University," Barnett said of the winning MSU team.
Editor's Note: Young, a psychology major, is the daughter of Charles Young and Elizabeth Thomason of Calvert City, Ky.; Smith, a management major, is the daughter of Ron and Beverly Brown of Carthage; and Carnaggio, also a management major, is the daughter of Joe and Judy Carnaggio of Calhoun City.