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About the GSB

 

From the Dean

2005 State of the School

Dear Friends,

I hope that this letter finds each of you productively engaged—whether in business, family, or social service activities. At the University, we are in the early stages of some exciting developments in graduate education that will significantly engage and strengthen the role of the Graduate School of Business. University President John Hennessy has articulated a compelling vision for graduate education that has tremendous social value and relevance.

A New Multidisciplinary Vision for Graduate Education

As one of the world’s great research-intensive universities, Stanford has a long history of transferring knowledge to the larger community. The University must not only continue to create knowledge, but by encouraging interdisciplinary education and research it must also make it possible to apply that knowledge to find solutions to difficult societal challenges. The President has identified five interdisciplinary initiatives: health and the biosciences, international peace and security, the environment, the arts and creativity, and education.

Stanford, perhaps unique among leading universities, combines tremendous academic strengths across seven schools—business, engineering, medicine, law, education, humanities and sciences, and earth sciences—all located on a contiguous campus. That makes us well positioned to pursue interdisciplinary initiatives where, for instance, engineering and business students can easily walk across the street to work with a research physician at the Medical School or a soon-to-be teacher at the School of Education.

How does all this affect the Business School?

The Stanford Graduate School of Business will be an integral part of the University’s vision for expanded interdisciplinary learning. It is only through well-managed institutions that we can take advantage of new discoveries and find solutions to difficult problems, and it is the Business School’s role to understand organizational performance and to develop leaders to build or manage the organizations that drive a society.

This past academic year President Hennessy established a Commission on Graduate Education to explore how to better prepare Stanford graduate students for their careers. The Business School is at the center of that discussion. Chuck Holloway of our faculty serves as co-chair of the Committee and colleague Jim Baron is a member.

The School is already finding many opportunities to enable and to practice interdisciplinary learning. We are making important logistical changes in class scheduling to make it easier for students to enroll in both business and University courses. We currently have 31 courses cross-listed with other schools at Stanford. In biosciences, for example, Stefanos Zenios of the Business School’s operations faculty teaches in a two-quarter course offered jointly this year by the schools of business, engineering, and medicine. Students develop skills essential to employ new biomedical technologies that address unmet medical needs. They learn the first critical steps in inventing, patenting, early prototyping, and developing new concepts. Much as they will after graduation, teams of engineering, medical, and business students work together to address a real problem. This is a crucial form of experiential learning—giving students an opportunity to work with others of different skills and backgrounds, teaching them how to communicate and lead, and how to work with people across the globe.

Addressing environmental issues, a new Business and the Environment course was introduced in spring 2005, facilitated by operations professor Erica Plambeck of the Business School, Dean Pamela Matson of the School of Earth Sciences, and Engineering School Prof. Jim Sweeney. The interdisciplinary course brought together students from across campus in weekly discussions with leaders from the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Topics included: value-driven sustainable development, the business case for renewable energy, sustainable business entrepreneurship, and corporate partnerships.

In the arts, our Center for Social Innovation, which focuses on applying management disciplines to social problems, is already providing management education to the leaders of nonprofit arts organizations through a two-week non-degree course, the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders-Arts. Directed by Business School faculty member James A. Phills Jr., this program involves eight other leading GSB faculty colleagues.

The Center also brings together the schools of business and education for an interdisciplinary approach dedicated to strengthening our schools. At this year’s education conference, sponsored by the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, Prof. Tony Bryk described his research findings that in k-12 schools where greater trust exists among faculty colleagues and administrators, students perform better. He teaches two courses that are cross listed in the schools of business and education.

While giving our students opportunities to work across disciplines, the Business School will likely provide management education to other graduate students in the sciences, international affairs, professions, and the arts. Most of the University’s graduate students move into positions with non-academic institutions and businesses—and at a level where they have the potential for real impact. Our faculty are increasingly engaged in research and learning “across the street” at the Stanford Institute for International Studies—the focal point of the University’s international initiative, launched in April with $94 million in alumni gifts. Our faculty members also are involved in research and programs at the University’s new Stanford Institute for the Environment.

More Global Content at the Business School

Within the Business School we have been keenly aware of the need for our curriculum to be more global. Thirty percent of MBA students and faculty and over half our executive program participants are international, and we need to improve the quantity and scope of international content—especially in our core curriculum. The launch of our Center for Global Business and the Economy in 2004 was an important catalyst. We are currently conducting an audit of core courses to measure the extent of international cases and related content. In addition, 21 new international cases are in preparation. We plan to host an entrepreneurship faculty member from China’s Tsinghua University Business School for a third year.

Faculty and staff also are exploring a virtual student exchange program which would pair our students with Tsinghua students by email and other remote means for a quarter; and then create an in person overseas exchange during a school break period. Our student study trips and Global Management Intern Experience program continue to provide international opportunities for learning.

New Facilities to Meet New Needs

Our efforts to be more interdisciplinary and to offer more small seminars and team project courses that help students learn problem-solving and management will require new ways of organizing our teaching and learning. Unfortunately, our main buildings are outdated and inflexible—short on seminar and breakout rooms, lacking variable size classrooms, and not conducive to the kind of learning community interactions we envision for the future of management education. We are currently exploring the possibility of moving the entire GSB campus to an area across from the School’s Schwab Residential Center. This is still in the exploratory stages as many zoning and financial hurdles have yet to be overcome.

At minimum, the new campus would allow us to create a variety of classes—from large lecture to small seminars to team projects. Funding is essential. My hope is that in the coming months we may be able to determine that such a project can be envisioned with your help. This year, we commissioned an ad hoc campus committee, chaired by Robert Bass (MBA ’74), to explore these possibilities. I hope to be able to report progress in this area in 2006.

The impact that Stanford and the Business School have had on management and social organizations over the years is significant. I look forward to your support as we expand that impact in more effective and meaningful ways in the near future.

Sincerely,

Robert Joss
Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean
Sloan '66, MBA '67, PhD '70

If you would like to share your thoughts, email me at joss_robert@gsb.stanford.edu

If you would like to tap into the ideas and activities at the Business School, go to https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/lifelonglearning/