GSB | Chicago: GSB's 100th Birthday Celebration

ALUMNI TRAVEL FROM NEAR AND FAR TO CELEBRATE THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH THE GSB, MAKE NEW ACQUAINTANCES, AND RENEW OLD ONES.

ALUMNI CAME FROM near and far, 1,100 strong, to start the celebration of the GSB’s 100th birthday.

“Welcome back to a business school with true substance and real staying power,” Dean Robert Hamada greeted guests at the second annual alumni celebration and GSB Centennial kickoff.

Alumni came from the Loop and from London, not to mention California, New York, and even Singapore to celebrate their association with the GSB, make new acquaintances, and renew old ones. They networked over cocktails at the Gleacher Center and at dinner at the Sheraton. They also celebrated 100 years of excellence in business research and teaching, innovations in business education, and successful graduates who made their mark on the world.

Before dinner, Dean Hamada, Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, served up a slice of GSB history to illustrate just how much the school has to celebrate.

“Imagine yourself as a student or faculty member say between the academic years 1975 and 1982,” he invited guests. “You might have just finished a class in Rosenwald Hall with George Stigler, walked past Ronald Coase and Ted Schultz on the way to lunch, ate lunch at the Quadrangle Club where Milton Friedman was holding court in one corner, Gary Becker in a second, and Merton Miller in a third, then walked from lunch past Bob Lucas and Bob Fogel on the way to a class taught in Business East (now Stuart Hall) by Fischer Black or Myron Scholes. At that time, you wouldn’t have even known what they were destined to. But that’s the kind of education we were providing you. We are a community where scholarship is seen as a road to a profession, but it is also a destination in itself.”

“The other thing that gives the school its substance and staying power is you”–the school’s 30,000 plus accomplished alumni, Hamada added. Three of them were singled out for special recognition as the 1997 Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented.

After dinner, keynote speaker Merton H. Miller entertained the audience with a whirlwind tour of GSB history, touching on the legacy of the deans he has known in his 34-year tenure. Miller, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Finance, also set the record straight on the nature of GSB research.

“For much of the century, we have had the reputation of being fixated on theory and other-world issues. That’s never been true, but it’s an image we haven’t managed to shake. Our highest regard has always gone to work with empirical relevance, not just mathematical elegance.” In the future, Miller predicted, GSB researchers will shift from positive, descriptive studies to normative work. “With so much need for sense in government, where so many not only believe there is a free lunch but try to give [free lunches] away, we must increase the ratio of [bureaucracy] combat to research,” he noted. “Please join us in our efforts to bring to the unenlightened the logic of markets.”

‘We Owe the World’: Former GSB faculty member Rob Kolson and fellow political satirist Aaron Freeman kept the crowd laughing with hits like Milton Friedman’s theme song, “Laissez Faire,” sung to the tune of the Beatles’ “Let it Be.” After poking fun at local politicians, the pair wrapped up the evening with a rousing chorus of “We Owe the World.”

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					ALUMNI TRAVEL FROM NEAR AND FAR TO CELEBRATE THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH THE GSB, MAKE NEW ACQUAINTANCES, AND RENEW OLD ONES. ALUMNI CAME FROM near and far, 1,100 strong, to start the celebration of the GSB’s 100th birthday. “Welcome back to a business school with true substance and real staying power,” Dean Robert Hamada greeted guests at the second annual alumni celebration and GSB Centennial kickoff. Alumni came from the Loop and from London, not to mention California, New York, and even Singapore to celebrate their association with the GSB, make new acquaintances, and renew old ones. They networked over cocktails at the Gleacher Center and at dinner at the Sheraton. They also celebrated 100 years of excellence in business research and teaching, innovations in business education, and successful graduates who made their mark on the world. Before dinner, Dean Hamada, Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, served up a slice of GSB history to illustrate just how much the school has to celebrate. “Imagine yourself as a student or faculty member say between the academic years 1975 and 1982,” he invited guests. “You might have just finished a class in Rosenwald Hall with George Stigler, walked past Ronald Coase and Ted Schultz on the way to lunch, ate lunch at the Quadrangle Club where Milton Friedman was holding court in one corner, Gary Becker in a second, and Merton Miller in a third, then walked from lunch past Bob Lucas and Bob Fogel on the way to a class taught in Business East (now Stuart Hall) by Fischer Black or Myron Scholes. At that time, you wouldn’t have even known what they were destined to. But that’s the kind of education we were providing you. We are a community where scholarship is seen as a road to a profession, but it is also a destination in itself.” “The other thing that gives the school its substance and staying power is you”–the school’s 30,000 plus accomplished alumni, Hamada added. Three of them were singled out for special recognition as the 1997 Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented. After dinner, keynote speaker Merton H. Miller entertained the audience with a whirlwind tour of GSB history, touching on the legacy of the deans he has known in his 34-year tenure. Miller, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Finance, also set the record straight on the nature of GSB research. “For much of the century, we have had the reputation of being fixated on theory and other-world issues. That’s never been true, but it’s an image we haven’t managed to shake. Our highest regard has always gone to work with empirical relevance, not just mathematical elegance.” In the future, Miller predicted, GSB researchers will shift from positive, descriptive studies to normative work. “With so much need for sense in government, where so many not only believe there is a free lunch but try to give [free lunches] away, we must increase the ratio of [bureaucracy] combat to research,” he noted. “Please join us in our efforts to bring to the unenlightened the logic of markets.”
					‘We Owe the World’: Former GSB faculty member Rob Kolson and fellow political satirist Aaron Freeman kept the crowd laughing with hits like Milton Friedman’s theme song, “Laissez Faire,” sung to the tune of the Beatles’ “Let it Be.” After poking fun at local politicians, the pair wrapped up the evening with a rousing chorus of “We Owe the World.”
			E-Mail GSB Chicago - Front Page - GSB Home - Current Issue -Archive