Sep 1, 2004 -- In an event signaling the growing importance of YU's Sy Syms School of Business as a center for economic and business study, the school will host the 31st annual conference of the Northeast Business and Economic Association (NBEA) from Sunday, Sept. 26 through Monday, Sept. 27. All conference events will take place at 215 Lexington Avenue, SSSB's Beren Campus home. NBEA, formerly the New England Business and Economics Association, was founded in 1973. The organization promotes multidisciplinary research in business and economics and seeks to improve the exchange of applied and theoretical research among interested parties. The annual conference is NBEA's primary tool for meeting its aims. More than 150 research papers on various business and economic topics will be presented during the two-day conference by scholars, researchers, and academicians from across the country. John Malindretos, PhD, visiting professor of finance at Syms, was instrumental in getting the NBEA to choose Syms as host for its annual conference. Charles Snow, PhD, Sy Syms Dean, said being chosen as host site is an honor that reflects the growing respect Sy Syms School of Business is garnering. "It is certainly a feather in our cap," Dean Snow said. "That so many academicians and researchers are willing to come here to present their findings is really wonderful for our school." Students will be on Sukkot break during the conference, whose primary audience will be its participants. Among those participants will be two Sy Syms students presenting research based upon a business they launched with the help of Syms' Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute. Although the conference itself is regional in nature, its participants are from a wide range of universities and companies, from the University of Hong Kong (China) and the University of Melbourne (Australia) to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the US Government Accountability Office. Also participating are scholars from Texas A&M, Boston University, Babson University, and Central Michigan University. Among the research topics to be presented are: "CEO Pay Package and Board Reform: The Case of NYSE," "Forensic Accounting in US Litigation: A Look at Fraudulent Financial Reporting - A Short Case Study," "Investment Opportunities and Dividend Policy: Deregulation and Diversification in the Utilities Industry," and "The Impact of Gasoline Prices and Income on the Demand for Gasoline in the US: 1960-1995." To learn more about the NBEA conference and YU's participation in it, please visit www.nbea.us.