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GSB Oral History Program

Welcome to the Oral History Program of the Graduate School of Business

 


The program is dedicated to the preservation of the collective memory of the School through recorded interviews of faculty, staff and alumni.

 
 

Spotlight

Watch the panel discussion held on May 29 in commemoration of George Leland Bach, Stanford faculty member who played a decisive role in the transformation of business education in the Twentieth century.

Step back into the past and listen to Dean Ernest Arbuckle and Professors Theodore Kreps and Alexander Bavelas discuss the role of business education at a 1959 symposium.

[Icon - Audio]1959 Speeches

How have Stanford Business School faculty influenced future leaders? Lessons That Stand The Test Of Time is a fond look back at how inspiring teachers shaped today's executives.

In Memoriam

Emeritus Faculty member Gayton Germane died on January 17, 2009 at the age of 88. Read his obituary.

Background

The Program was inspired by the realization that it has been more than 80 years since the Graduate School of Business was born, the brainchild of Stanford alumnus Herbert Hoover, and that memories of the earlier years of the School are rapidly receding. This suggests a need to capture those institutional memories permanently, if there is ever to be a formal history of the School. It is intended that material generated by the program will provide a rich resource for future educators and historians.

Advisory Board

Our distinguished Oral History Advisory Board includes senior business school faculty. The first Board (term 2007 - 2009) included former Dean Arjay Miller and emeriti faculty Robert Augsburger, Charles Bonini, Robert Flanagan and James March. The incoming Board (term 2009 - 2011) includes Emeritus Professors Charles Bonini, Alain Enthoven, Robert Flanagan, David Montgomery and James Van Horne. The Board advises the program on its general direction and suggests specific candidates to be interviewed.

Progress

The Advisory Board held its first annual meeting on Stanford campus, Tuesday, September 4, 2007. All members were in attendance: Arjay Miller, Robert Augsburger, Charles Bonini, Robert Flanagan and James March, with Paul Reist as Chair. It was agreed that the Program will drive toward two principal foci: (a) capturing the inception of the School's New Curriculum, as it happens, and (b) recording recollections of senior members of the Business School community. The Program will build resources for future research, and gather raw material that can be used to write an eventual history of the Graduate School of Business.

Since the 2007 Board meeting, Jackson staff have been energetically advancing the program. Interviewees include Professors Garth Saloner and David Kreps, Professor Emeritus James T. S. Porterfield, Professor Emerita Joanne Martin, Dean Emeritus Arjay Miller, Associate Dean Emeritus Paul Johnson, GSB alumnus George Jedenoff and others.

On October 15, 2008, the Advisory Board held its second annual meeting at the Graduate School of Business. The progress of the Program was reviewed, and new candidates for interviews were proposed.

The next annual meeting is scheduled for October 15, 2009.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Kathy Long, Director of Jackson Library, and Karen Wilson, Christina Einstein, Cathy Castillo, Erica Richter, Lynne Reynolds and Roxanne Nilan for their support and enthusiasm in helping to implement this program.

Questions?

Contact Paul Reist, Manager, Oral History Program