Building Community Is Not a Given

by DEAN ROBERT L. JOSS

As we went to press with this magazine, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had taken place only a few weeks prior. Already, the Stanford Business School community—like many other families and communities—has been profoundly affected by these acts. With two of the four hijacked planes bound for California and estimates of more than 6,000 casualties, it seemed inevitable that our community would be touched directly. With great sadness, I must tell you that word reached me that Bryan Jack, MBA ’78, was lost in the plane that struck the Pentagon. Our deepest sympathies are with his family and friends.

It has given me comfort, however, to see students, alumni/ae, faculty, and staff coming together—talking, praying, and sharing. On September 11, the new students, here for their second day of orientation, gathered with staff and faculty for a vigil in the Birds courtyard. In addition, we were relieved to see, in the early aftermath of this tragedy, that so many of you reported your safety to fellow alumni through a temporary database set up by Rian Schmidt, MBA ’96.

Community is not something we take for granted. We work at making collaboration the hallmark of a Stanford Business School education. Indeed, community building was the central theme of our new student orientation program this year. 

In addition to ensuring that students build strong ties with faculty and staff while they are here, we feel it is essential to involve alumni in the life of the School, now more than ever before. We need you to help nourish the culture and resources of the School. And we have developed new avenues to help you do so. For the second year in a row, alumni are helping us in the selection process of the next class by conducting applicant interviews. We urge more of you to do so and in the process help shape the quality of experience you have personally known at the GSB for those who are coming after you.

Alumni also participated in an all-new student orientation panel this year. The panel’s purpose was to give students a sense that the School is bigger than any single one of us and that the GSB experience is both a privilege and a gift, since alumni donations underwrite a significant portion of our annual operating costs. At an informal lunch and a subsequent dinner, alumni who attended the event shared advice on how to make the most of their two years. We had also planned a separate Alumni Perspectives panel to help students see themselves as part of a larger network, but we postponed it until later in the year due to the emotional impact of the September 11 events just two days before. 

We are trying to make it easier for you to engage with the School. We have expanded alumni services to include a monthly news digest of events, research summaries, and information about the School that has appeared in the media. We’ve had good feedback so far. Take advantage of this service and others by visiting your alumni Web site (https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/). If you would like to receive email communications from the School, log on to the Alumni Directory (https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/directory/index.html) and update your email information.

We are also expanding a section on your Web page called Lifelong Learning, which will increasingly offer book suggestions, reading lists, and academic resources that you may find relevant. We are currently featuring synopses of some of our new second-year seminars—preterm one-week classes with a maximum of 12 participants designed to give students and faculty an intimate, in-depth opportunity to explore a research topic.

Our alumni services Web page also features an improved career network service, and we are looking for more alums to join our mentor program for students. 

September’s terrible tragedy forced us to cancel our September alumni program in Hong Kong, but rest assured it is being rescheduled. And next March we plan to be in Europe with Professor Haim Mendelson, who is a thought leader in the field of information management. In what will likely be a period of uncertainty ahead for all of us, I hope that you will rely in part on your GSB community for support.