http://emba.utk.edu/admissions/corporate-sponsors.asp

Here is a little fun fact for everyone... If you click on the above link "Pilot Flying J" is not a sponsor.

What the heck is this?

It's the College of Business' magazine.

a family has a right to "Trump" up any commercial places like the Donald clan sees fit, but is it asking too much of our governor to be a little less whore-ish as it relates to our State university?

I got this in the mail a couple of days ago (I have a B.S. and M.S. from the College of Business, so I'm on their mailing list).

If you look hard, you can see the word "Magazine" in tee, tiny letters. But there's not one single word on the cover that identifies this as a publication of either UT or the College of Business.

The College renamed itself the Haslam College of Business a few years ago, after Big Jim donated $$ for a new business building. I don't understand why naming the building after him (which UT did) wasn't sufficient to honor him. AFAIK, this is the only UT college bearing a person's name (I fear, however, it won't be the last).

I guess UT, which is obsessed with "branding" these days, considers renaming the magazine the next logical step.

There's also an ad on the back page for Haslam gear, with the hashtag #HaslamWorld. From the ad: "Show your Haslam pride.... don't forget to share your Haslam spirit.....tag yourself in Haslam gear."

You couldn't make this stuff up.

I thought this was a photoshop. Geez.

As a biz alum (nope didn't major in journalism which probably surprises none of you folks), I got one of these too and also was like WTH? Prior biz college magazines made it clear it was a UT college of biz publication. But here's my beef. Why is money being spent at all for these pricey glossy magazines? I'm certainly not going to want to send my money as an alumni when I see in my face wasteful spending

Presence. Name recognition. Or not-so-subliminal advertising.

And in the spirit of standardized testing, the answer is "all of the above."

Reeks of favoritism, dependency, conflict of interest, etc. Also could be quite embarrassing if there are new indictments in the Pilot scandal. (Don't recall that the investigation is over.) All the university needs is another scandal, this time (partially) outside the athletic department.

UT has sorely (and surely) lost its way.

I get that some folks don't like the Haslam, but it's not like this is uncommon. Many top schools in the country have programs within the university that are named after prominent donors. With the name would come a branding effort to match.

I don't have time to look them up, but a couple names that are pretty synonymous with their associated programs come to mind for me:

Fuqua School of Business at Duke University
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse
Whitman School of Management at Syracuse
John F. Kennedy School at Harvard

I had a conversation with a Syracuse alum today, so those are fresh on the mind, but this isn't uncommon. Each of those schools heavily brand their named school.

Plus, it's a freshly tainted brand where the taint may not be over. All for a fossil fuel middleman distribution company that can't control the quality of its product and made most of its profit from beer, tobacco, junk food, and lottery tickets. Now they're just part of the super-rich where no rules apply.

This is an example of capitalism run amok. A game where few win and the world has not been made a better place.

I'm a business alum. Why didn't I get one? Not that I want one, but I need a reason to complain.

to "Tag yourself in Haslam gear," and use a hashtag like #HaslamWorld,

Seriously?

No, of course not.

My point was simply that when a school is branded after a donor, you're going to see it trickle through all the materials.

I'm not even arguing that it's well done on the magazine. The examples Randy posted are all better examples of branding the family name with the school on the magazine cover.

My point was more about the trend of schools being named after prominent donors and alumni. It's been happening for years and given their contributions, the naming is entirely appropriate.

What's this grudge match between the Stokelys and the Haslams? Every time the Haslam name goes up the Stokely name comes down. It's beginning to remind me of one of those Worldwide Wrestling Championship deals from the early eighties. Speaking of which, it was sad news about Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream. RIP.