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Nearly 100 alumni and friends of Chicago GSB had a chance to hear Dean Edward A. Snyder’s report on the school Saturday.
We have a great value system. Let’s sustain it, strengthen it, and honor it. And let’s get more aligned around relationships that matter, especially those that benefit our students and alumni, the dean said. I think the second part is new for the GSB, and for the university as well.
Drawing on material he gathered at forums with students, faculty, and staff, Snyder outlined the GSB’s strengths and challenges at a panel discussion that followed the dedication of the Hyde Park Center. The school excels in having the best discipline-based faculty, a population of extraordinary alumni, a value system rooted in critical thought, a superior reputation in the marketplace and with corporate recruiters, and the best set of facilities, he said.
But Snyder also noted the challenges, including increasing the GBS’s endowment; broadening its reputation beyond such areas as finance; strengthening its image globally; addressing the school’s inconsistency in rankings; and improving alumni connectivity.
Our approach, over the last three and a half years, has been a ‘mixed strategy' of challenge, adherence to values, and change, Snyder said. Let’s sustain and strengthen the GSB culture of critical thought, and build a more aligned GSB, focused on internal and external relationships that enhance the professional development opportunities for our student and alumni.
Among the changes underway are making a concerted effort to build new recruiting relationships, from correspondence opportunities to the Corporate Contact Initiative to global staffing of the Career Development Office, as well as sustaining relationshipbuilding efforts by Career Services. A traditional marketing campaign was launched to illustrate that GSB graduates have the ability to solve problems they've never seen before, the dean added.
Quoting Kevin Murphy, George J. Stigler Professor of Economics, Snyder summed up the GSB’s approach to management education. Discipline-based knowledge is important. Empirical evidence is important. Good decisions follow from good analysis. And try to stay away from the fads.
I think we're getting convergence within the GSB around this, the dean said, quoting from a BusinessWeek story on business school rankings. Everything is grounded in theory and analytics, Blaine Barnett, ’04, told the magazine. In every class, it was ‘prove it to me,' show it to me,' tell me why you think that,' give me the data.' It’s a way of thinking, a way of conceptualizing the problem.
Snyder added, We're very clear on who we are, and on our value system. We're very comfortable being part of the University of Chicago.
Patricia Houlihan