Craig School HR teams will compete in regional competition

The Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno, captured third and fifth place in the California “HRGames” hosted by California State University, Fresno, on Feb. 23-24.

The Craig teams competed against 10 other California teams. The top five teams in the State competition are eligible to compete in the Regional Competition to be held at Fresno State in April. Participating universities were Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Long Beach State, San Jose State and California State University, Stanislaus.

Member of the Fresno State team capturing third place were Yinmun Chi and Trisha Pfister of Fresno and Amy Van Laar of Clovis. Members of the fifth-place team were Suzy Kazaryan of Fresno, Kacie O’Dell of Clovis and Ashley Pinley of Quartz Hill.

University advisers for the teams are Professor Diane L. Decker, Dr. Rudy J. Sanchez and Dr. Jill A. Bradley.

“These students were selected to participate because they are very accomplished academically, and, very importantly, have a competitive spirit,” said Sanchez. “The performance of our Craig School of Business students is clear evidence that our top students are, at least, the equivalent of the top students of any institution in California.”

The competition is based on the “Professional in Human Resources” (PHR) exam given by the national Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) organization. The students test their knowledge in all areas of management practices, employee selection, labor and employee relations, compensation and benefits, training and development, and safety and health in a “Jeopardy” game-show format.

Both teams will proceed to the Regional Competition to be held on April 27-28. In the regional, Fresno State will compete against other State finalists from Hawaii, Montana, Idaho and Washington.

Major sponsors of the California HRGames were CalSHRM, Human Resources Association of Central California (HRACC), the Business Associates at Craig School of Business, SHRM of Tulare/Kings County, PIHRA Foundation, and the SHRM Student Chapter at Fresno State.