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Broad School Dean Search - Full Position Profile
Brief position advertisement
Members of the search committee
Michigan State University seeks a strategic, entrepreneurial and collaborative leader to serve as the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Broad College of Business/Graduate School of Management in a time of extraordinary opportunity. The Dean will articulate a compelling vision for the School characterized by distinctiveness in its undergraduate and graduate programs, world-class research, and a central role in the University’s upward trajectory on global and interdisciplinary initiatives. S/he will energize and inspire the Broad School community to weave its expertise into university-wide approaches that address the most complex challenges facing business and the broader society today. These include the globalization of talent, markets, and supply chains; the drive for sustainability; increasing pressure for accountability from governments, customers, and business partners; and the opportunities that exist at the intersection of management, the natural sciences, engineering, social science, and the humanities.
The Broad School has a well-earned reputation for excellence in its research and teaching, ranking among the top 25 business schools in five disciplines. Long a leader in international business, some 70% of Broad School faculty have affiliated themselves with international business along with their home disciplines. The School has a large and highly selective undergraduate business program with focused academic and career programming, including experiential learning labs and strong ties to mentors in the business community. The School offers full-time and weekend MBA programs, specialized masters programs, and PhD programs through each of its departments.
The Dean will unite the School around a vision of what it can become, linking the Broad School’s strategy to the global interdisciplinary initiatives of Michigan State University, addressing the global-scale problems that overwhelm narrow single discipline approaches. S/he will foster stronger partnerships with other colleges in the University, encourage the development of interdisciplinary programs, and lead the University’s initiative on global sustainability. The Dean will develop a clear and compelling strategy to position the School for future competitive success, increase the School’s visibility at home and abroad, and generate the financial resources to make that vision a reality. The Broad School will be a leader by seizing the opportunity to create new intellectual capital, engage actively with practitioners, and put its graduates in high demand in the world marketplace.
The University has retained the executive search firm of Isaacson, Miller to assist with the search. Applications, nominations and inquiries should be directed in confidence to the firm as indicated at the end of this document.
THE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1855 as an autonomous public institution of higher learning, Michigan State University has always been an innovator in research, teaching, and application of knowledge. In 1863, Michigan State was designated the beneficiary of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act endowment, becoming one of the earliest land-grant colleges in the United States and serving as a prototype for future institutions. From these origins, Michigan State has evolved into a comprehensive, world class university, offering a full spectrum of programs and attracting gifted professors, staff members, and students. The University has been an elected member of the Association of American Universities since 1964.
Michigan State enrolls approximately 46,700 students, including 10,300 graduate and professional school students; employs more than 10,000 faculty and staff members; and has total annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. The University offers more than 200 programs of study at the bachelor, master’s and doctoral levels. For detailed information on the University’s colleges, please see www.msu.edu.
Excellence in undergraduate education is a hallmark of Michigan State University. MSU enrolls 36,400 undergraduate students, who hail from all 83 Michigan counties, all 50 U.S. states, and about 130 other countries around the world. An educational innovator, MSU has long been committed to international study. MSU’s study abroad program is the largest of any single-campus university in the nation, offering more than 200 programs in over 60 countries on all continents, including Antarctica. The Broad School accounts for the largest proportion of students studying abroad.
MSU is a national leader in scientific and engineering research and development, reporting research expenditures of approximately $376 million in FY08. Emphasizing the development of practical ways that new knowledge can be applied to address complex societal problems, MSU research is intertwined with its graduate education mission and enterprise and is characterized by multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary thinking and collaboration. The University’s research spans plant biotechnology to nuclear physics to K-12 education and has produced discoveries that benefit the lives of people around the world. Current research activities extend across campus, from creative activities in the arts, to basic and applied studies in the physical, natural, and social sciences. Sponsored investigation is funded by government, industry, and campus units, with the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Agriculture being the top federal funding agencies.
A robust research infrastructure and first-class facilities support and enable these far-ranging research activities. Supporting and promoting economic development is central to MSU’s land-grant mission. The MSU University Corporate Research Park, a business incubator adjacent to campus, provides access to first-rate facilities and faculty to advance research and development and enable the commercialization of intellectual property. In addition, MSU Technologies, which was established in 2007, serves as a multidisciplinary business organization to provide commercial talent and leadership to transfer MSU’s discoveries and innovations to industry. The Office of Inventions and Copyright works directly with faculty to support the protection of intellectual property and works with MSU Technologies to market itellectual property to foster commercialization and create new revenue streams. MSU Technologies works with the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the Broad School to assist in developing curriculum and attracting students to entrepreneurial careers.
Leadership
Lou Anna Simon has been Michigan State’s president since 2005. After earning her doctorate in administration and higher education from MSU in 1974, she became a member of the MSU faculty. She served as provost and vice president for academic affairs from 1993-2004 and interim president in 2003. Dr. Simon has developed a set of principles, "Boldness by Design," that outline her aspirations for the University. The design preserved and advanced MSU’s land-grant values and identified five strategic imperatives: enhance the student experience; enrich community, economic, and family life; expand international outreach; increase research opportunities; and, strengthen stewardship. The goal is that MSU will be recognized worldwide as the leading land-grant research university in the United States by 2012, the sesquicentennial of the Morrill Act of 1862. The University, tying its land-grant origins and history to global aspirations, describes its destiny as "world-grant."
Kim A. Wilcox has served as Michigan State University's provost and vice president for academic affairs since August 2005. He came to MSU from the University of Kansas, where he served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and vice provost for general education coordination from 2002 to 2005. Before that, he served for three years as president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents.
The Campus and Location
MSU boasts a beautiful, 5,200-acre suburban campus in East Lansing, three miles east of the Michigan state capital. The campus includes over 600 buildings and is fortunate to have very little deferred maintenance, confirming the administration’s prudent fiscal management of its facilities over the years.
The campus has a wide range of athletic, cultural, leisure, and entertainment resources. A Big Ten University, MSU supports 12 men’s and 13 women’s intercollegiate sports and hosts year-round national sporting events at its multiple stadiums and arenas. MSU welcomes a variety of national and international artists and events at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, which houses four theatres. The University also supports major museums: the MSU Museum, a historical and anthropological museum and the Kresge Art Museum, which houses nearly 7,500 works of art spanning 5,000 years of human history. In addition, plans are underway, based on the generous gift of Eli and Edythe Broad, to erect a new art museum building for expanded art and cultural programming. The Abrams Planetarium features a 150-seat sky theater. The University’s award-winning horticultural gardens – six distinct gardens comprising over 7.5 acres of living laboratory - are an important feature of the natural beauty of the campus. An additional 15,000 acres throughout the state are used by MSU for agricultural, animal, and forestry research.
East Lansing offers an affordable cost of living, an attractive quality of life, and easy accessibility. A 90-minute drive from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, East Lansing is a combination of historic small-town atmosphere and cosmopolitan sophistication with a highly diverse population. There are approximately 50,000 residents in East Lansing and around 500,000 in the surrounding communities, many of whom are faculty, staff, and students at MSU.
THE ELI BROAD COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
The Broad School has 125 full-time faculty and five departments: Accounting and Information Systems, Finance, Management, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management and one independent, industry specific program, The School of Hospitality Business. All six units offer degrees at the undergraduate level and graduate levels, as well as concentrations in the MBA program. The work of the School is supported by an administrative staff of 100 and 50 academic specialists.
Currently, about 5,000 students are enrolled at the undergraduate level, and almost 800 students are enrolled in specialized masters, doctoral or MBA degree programs as well as various Executive Development Programs, making Broad one of the largest business schools in the country.
Elvin Lashbrooke has led the School as interim dean since July 1, 2008, after having been a student, faculty member, and administrator for two decades. He has helped to implement international initiatives that have been at the forefront of both the School’s and the University’s agenda. The Center for Global Sustainability has been established and is scheduled to open in September 2009. The School has been forging partnerships with other business schools around the world to open additional research centers to support its international initiatives, which are described in greater detail below.
History
The Broad School at MSU began as the School of Business and Public Service in 1944. In 1956, the business administration program gained the formal status of a college within the university known as the College of Business. In the 1960s the school established its first MBA program and an off-campus program which has now evolved into the Weekend MBA program. The Broad School received initial AACSB accreditation in 1953.
In 1991, Eli Broad (pronounced as in "road") made what was at the time the largest gift commitment ever made to a public business school. His $20 million commitment to the Eli Broad College of Business and the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management – both renamed in his honor – was designed to help Michigan State University's new full-time MBA program emerge as one of the nation's top graduate management programs.
Mr. Broad is a renowned business leader who built two Fortune 500 companies from the ground up over a five-decade career in business. He is the founder-chairman of both SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation). The son of Lithuanian immigrants who settled in Detroit, Broad graduated with honors from Michigan State University in 1954 with a degree in accounting. His support for the college continues every year.
Organization
The Dean’s office at the Broad School is organized to support the academic programs and ensure a well-functioning set of administrative operations. The academic programs are led by three Associate Deans. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs oversees faculty issues along with the undergraduate and doctoral programs. The Associate Dean for MBA programs oversees both the full time MBA and the weekend MBA programs. The Associate Dean for International Activities manages a wide range of international business research centers, institutional partnerships, and intra-university international programs.
The Broad School offers specialized masters programs in four areas. They are the MS in Accounting, MS in Operations and Engineering Management, the MS in Supply Chain Management, and the MS in Market Research. These programs are managed by the departments as are the Broad School’s seven doctoral programs.
The Budget Director, Director of Human Resources, the Director of Development, the Director of Communications, and the Information Technology Services Operations Manager all report to the Dean. This structure provides for close coordination of finances and staffing decisions. The Director of Development, with a staff of five, supports alumni relations and fund raising for the Broad School and maintains a close coordinating relationship with the University Advancement Office.
Undergraduate Education
There are approximately 5,100 undergraduate students enrolled at the Broad School. Finance and Accounting are the most popular areas of concentration, making up almost half of the student majors. Those fields are followed by Marketing, General Management, Supply Chain Management, General Business – Pre-Law, and Human Resource Management.
Undergraduate students gain admission to the Broad School as juniors but the School’s Undergraduate Academic Services staff works with students from the time they attend an Academic Orientation Program prior to the start of their freshman year. On average, 1,500-1,800 students participate in the Broad School’s orientation each summer. The competitive admissions process includes innovative efforts to equitably consider many factors besides grades to ensure admission of talented, well-rounded, and diverse students into the School.
As part of an overall strategy to attract and support outstanding students, the Broad Freshman Program offers special features for approximately 150 first year students by invitation only. These students live as a group in Shaw Hall, which is located next to the Broad School, sharing their academic and social lives with others who have a strong interest in business careers. They are selected for this Program based on both academic promise and personal qualities. They have the opportunity to enroll in special reserved sections of high-demand freshman courses and participate in the Broad Freshman Seminar, which focuses on leadership development and provides additional academic and career guidance. First and second year MSU students also have the opportunity to be selected as Broad Scholars, giving them stipends and an opportunity to work closely with individual Broad faculty on scholarly activities.
Because admission to the Broad School is highly competitive, the School enrolls a significant number of students who are in the MSU Honors College. The Honors College selects from MSU’s admitted class those with very high academic credentials and the personal drive and skills to benefit from a more individualized undergraduate program. These students have academic advisors who are affiliated with the specific college in which they enroll and qualify for participation in research, seminars, and other opportunities available to top students.
The Broad School is also developing special programs for its most outstanding undergraduates in order to create learning experiences that match those at any institution in the nation. One example is the opportunity to participate in the Financial Markets Institute (FMI) that was started three years ago to merge academic and professional development for highly motivated students who are interested in careers in the capital markets. These students have individual mentors - most of whom are alumni working in financial markets firms - visit firms around the country, and secure internships and training to prepare them for jobs in financial services. Many of these FMI students are also in the MSU Honors College.
Graduate Education
MBA Programs
The Broad School offers two MBA Programs:
The Full-Time MBA is a 21-month program, offering four concentrations that can also be packaged with secondary concentrations. Students in the Full-Time MBA program typically have about five years of work experience; approximately 35 percent are international. The program caters to "career changers" who have little formal business experience and would like to switch careers, as well as an equal number of "career enhancers" who would like to use their degree to advance within their current field. There are approximately 200 students enrolled in the program.
The Broad School has unified its two part-time accelerated MBA options into a multi-location Weekend MBA making the program more accessible to managers throughout the state and region. The unified program combines the best of the two predecessor programs - an accelerated structure with classes every other Saturday offered in both the Detroit metro and Lansing areas. The program runs three cohorts and includes two residencies that bring the students in the different geographical locations together. The repositioned weekend MBA program continues the most distinctive features of the former EMBA, including the "learning laboratory" project and leadership development. The first class in the newly combined program exceeded enrollment expectations with 162 participants. This program positions MSU Broad very well to meet the needs of students who are building their professional skills and credentials in a format that accommodates the needs of their careers and personal lives.
Specialized Masters Programs
There are currently nearly 200 students enrolled in specialized masters programs, which include the MS in Accounting, the MS in Supply Chain Management, and the MS in Operations and Engineering Management.
The Master of Science in Accounting program prepares students for careers in the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) profession, including specialties in assurance services and taxation. Graduates of the program also are recruited for positions in consulting firms, government agencies, and industry. There are typically about 150 students in this program.
The Master of Science in Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an innovative blend of in-residency classes and e-learning segments for working professionals taught by leading-edge researchers, teachers, and practitioners in the field. Faculty at Michigan State were leaders in establishing Supply Chain Management as a field of study in business schools. The Department has been recognized for some 50 years as one of the best SCM programs in the world. SCM is ranked #2 among business school SCM Programs, alongside MIT.
The Master of Science in Operations and Engineering Management is a five-year integrated degree program open to select students in MSU’s College of Engineering who major in mechanical, electrical, chemical engineering or applied engineering sciences. Engineering undergraduates desiring admission to the MS program must complete certain business-related course requirements in the areas of accounting, economics, and supply chain management as part of their undergraduate engineering degree. The program offers this select group of students the opportunity to gain engineering expertise in their chosen undergraduate major and combine it with graduate management training.
The Master of Science in Market Research was approved by the University in April 2009 and will launch in January 2010, enrolling its first group of graduate students.
PhD Programs
The Broad School currently has 67 students enrolled in doctoral programs in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology Management, Management Policy & Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management, Marketing, Operations and Sourcing Management, and Logistics. Broad School doctoral programs are designed to prepare individuals for an academic career in research and teaching at a major research university. Doctoral students are in residence on a full-time basis during their programs of study, which are typically four to five years in length.
The School of Hospitality Business
Founded in 1927, The School enrolls approximately 865 undergraduate students and 25 graduate students and boasts nearly 10,000 graduates worldwide, including a number of leading academicians and industry executives. The mission of The School is to continually enhance its leadership position in hospitality business education through teaching, research, and service. The School offers an exceptionally well-crafted curriculum, taught by innovative professors who are leading textbook authors, sought-after consultants, and respected researchers. Degree programs are offered at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The School is recognized as one of the top-ranked hospitality business schools in the world.
Career Services
The Broad School has been recognized for the quality of its career services office for many years. In 1999, through the generosity of the Lear Corporation, the Lear Corporation Career Services Center was opened to serve the needs of undergraduate business students, students from other colleges with interest in business, and the employers interested in this talent. This center provides career development support to students via online resources, group workshops, and individual advising sessions. It hosts hundreds of employers annually for job interviews, corporate presentations, career fairs, and the like. Center staff members also offer leadership training and coordination support to student organization officers. The Lear Center is supported by an advisory board comprised of representatives from 14 leading companies.
This year, the Lear Center won an Innovation Excellence Award in the area of marketing and branding, presented by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The award recognizes an exceptional marketing campaign for college career services offices. The Lear Center won the award for its partnership with Union Pacific Railroad to create The Union Pacific Media Studio.
The MBA Career Services Center provides career development and job opportunity support to students in the Full-Time and Weekend MBA Programs. Through highly individualized service, students receive advice on career selection, resume preparation, networking, interview skills, and job-offer negotiation strategies. The Center also offers interviews, company presentations, career fairs both on and off campus, and corporate visitations and treks.
Both the Lear Corporation Career Services Center and the MBA Career Services Center encourage students to participate in summer internship opportunities. The Broad School views these experiences as a critical extension of the college’s emphasis on hands-on learning.
Multicultural Business Programs
The purpose of the Multicultural Business Program (MBP) is to improve the recruitment, retention, and graduation rate of multicultural students by providing opportunities for them to develop full academic and career potentials. These programs promote a success philosophy by fostering a positive awareness of personality, gender, physical, and cultural differences.
MBP provides continuing support to graduation, with individualized academic counseling support, career development, and placement. The programs are primarily funded by corporate gifts and the University general fund. They currently serve more than 850 multicultural students enrolled in business or pre-business majors.
In addition, MBP also coordinates the annual Summer Business Institute, attended by approximately 60 incoming freshmen with business as their designated major. It provides early intervention in multicultural students' college careers to maximize their potential for academic and professional achievement. The Multicultural Business Programs office also offers a tutorial program in 12 academic subjects, with current enrollments between 350-375 students per semester. The number of students applying to and being accepted into the tutorial program continues to increase every semester.
Executive Education
The Broad School manages both custom and open enrollment executive education programs that are offered on the main campus in the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development and in Troy, Michigan in the Management Education Center. MSU has offered Executive Education programs for more than 50 years. The faculty and leadership in Executive Education develop custom programs tailored to meet the executive development needs of individual companies.
The Broad School also manages a wide range of open enrollment programs on both the campus in East Lansing and at the Management Education Center in Troy. These include programs in Strategy and Leadership Management, Financial Management and Control, Hospitality Business, Marketing and Sales, Supply Chain Management, and Strategic Planning as well as programs geared for specific industries and several designed around tools and techniques.
Opened in 2001, the 96,000 square foot Henry Center was built with a generous gift from alumnus Jim Cornelius and was named after Dean Emeritus James Henry. The Center has state-of-the-art classrooms, over 30 additional meeting rooms, a dining center, and offers access to a championship golf course, fitness center and spa.
Innovative Teaching and Research Initiatives
Experiential Learning Centers
In the last several years, with corporate partnership encouragement and support, the Broad School has fostered an environment of hands-on learning. The Team Effectiveness Teaching Lab is a favorite of first-year MBAs who start their graduate program with a five-week leadership and teamwork course taught through simulation games. MBA and undergraduate students join together in a leadership and team management course where the graduate students recruit, lead, evaluate, and receive feedback from teams of undergraduate students in a competitive environment. Professors and doctoral students researching self-managed teams share their knowledge and test their findings with students working in the lab.
Through the Financial Analysis Laboratory, a team of graduate and undergraduate students manages a $4.5 million portfolio on behalf of the MSU Foundation and with oversight of a board of experienced professionals. The students’ results have been very competitive with those achieved by professional money managers.
The IBM On-Demand Supply Chain Laboratory is used by both undergraduate and graduate students to observe and test supply chain decision making using simulation software. Lab use is incorporated into a number of courses from the beginning undergraduate supply chain course through PhD courses to observe, develop decision experience, and research supply chain dynamics. The lab facilitates leading-edge research with professors and PhD students actively studying such key industry topics as decision support systems, process flow, and sustainability.
The Department of Accounting and Information Systems houses the Ernst & Young Center for Accounting Business Communication to help their master’s students prepare for leadership roles. The Broad School operates the Business Communications Center within the Lear Corporation Career Services Center to assist all undergraduate students in developing their written and oral presentation skills.
As noted above, the Financial Markets Institute (FMI) was created to provide a group of honors undergraduates with extensive contact with finance practitioners as well as intensive academic experiences. Through its Board of Advisors, FMI provides each participating student with an individual mentor and opportunities to visit financial management firms around the country.
Research Centers
In 2004, the Broad School was selected to receive MSU Research Excellence Funds to create and fund the Center for Leadership of the Digital Enterprise (CLODE). The center explores how firms can creatively and successfully integrate their IT investments and management processes with business processes, strategies, and governance to gain competitive advantage. In its more than five years of operation, CLODE has recruited numerous global corporations as part of its Corporate Partnership Board. The Corporate Partnership Board helps the center shape its research agenda toward solving real-world problems in addition to funding many of the center’s initiatives. As an initial venture, the CLODE research faculty developed a simulation training platform to help executives and students learn the Digital Enterprise intricacies of international supply chain management. Known as the Supply Chain Operations Decision Environment (SCODE), this computerized simulation platform provides an experience for executives and students to manage and lead a digital enterprise.
The Institute for Entrepreneurship was created to bring together the teaching and research activities of Broad School faculty working on entrepreneurial issues across several disciplines into a more effective, concentrated initiative with strong ties to the business community. The institute is working with dozens of local and statewide businesses facilitated by grants from foundations and the state.
The institute is comprised of two centers that leverage Broad School faculty expertise: a Center for Venture Capital, Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance (CVCPE), and a Center for Entrepreneurial Strategy (CES). The Broad School offers a specialization in entrepreneurship for undergraduate students, as well as several electives in the MBA program.
Global Initiatives
As Michigan State University as a whole has substantially expanded its engagement in issues and challenges that are global in nature, so too the Broad School is building on its long history as a focal point for the study of international business, global markets and supply chains, and the role of governments in both supporting and regulating those activities. Some of these programs are well established while others are now being launched to seize the remarkable opportunities that globalization presents for MSU. In connection with the University’s wide ranging international activities, some 1,400 MSU faculty members are engaged in research and teaching initiatives in 176 countries.
The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) has been identified by the U.S. Department of Education as the nation’s leading National Resource Center in international business since 1990. CIBER links the human resources and information needs of U.S. businesses with the international education, language training, and research capacities of universities across the U.S. The mission of the Center is to leverage MSU’s resources to provide superior education, research, and assistance to businesses, public policy makers, academics, and students on issues of importance to international trade and global competitiveness. Accordingly, CIBER works with some 25 different centers in the University, including the Center for the Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) which, like CIBER, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
With MSU’s focus on being a "world-grant" university, CIBER has a prominent role in implementing the Broad School’s strategic plan on "global initiatives." CIBER is the creator of globalEDGE: Your Source for Global Business Knowledge (globaledge.msu.edu). This site offers more than 5,000 global resources, diagnostic tools for managers, and an interactive forum for business professionals, among other things, and has been identified by Google as the most frequently consulted online resource on international business. Additionally, CIBER engages in some 60 different projects annually, such as training programs, benchmarking of global value chains, and diagnostic tools. CIBER is a preferred provider of international business information to the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as to a variety of small, medium, and large corporations.
In addition to CIBER, The Broad School’s International Business Center (IBC) is home to the Academy of International Business, which publishes the leading Journal of International Business Studies. The IBC, together with Undergraduate Academic Services, manages faculty-led and exchange study abroad programs in which a growing number of undergraduate and graduate students participate.
The Broad School also created an undergraduate specialization in International Business; the first students earning these credentials graduated in May 2005. Students choose from a wide range of international business courses in the disciplines of Finance, Management, Marketing, Business Law, and Economics. They gain an appreciation of other cultures and workplace diversity through the language and study abroad/internship requirements of the specialization.
With support from many groups within the college, students comprising the Broad International Business Forum have organized an annual "Greater China Supply Chain Conference" that attracts more than 300 industry representatives and students, as well as speakers from throughout the United States and China. Students have demonstrated a commitment to educating their colleagues and highlighting their own global capabilities to industry through this forum.
In 2007, the University created MSU Dubai as a non-profit higher education institution established to promote world-class research, teaching and scholarship. MSU Dubai offers students and professionals from the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East, and the wider region undergraduate and post-graduate degree programs, beginning on a phased basis over the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years. All MSU Dubai degrees are equivalent to those offered by Michigan State University in the United States. The MSU Dubai programs have been selected to help meet the professional, management, and technical skills needed in Dubai, UAE, and the surrounding region.
From its inception, MSU Dubai has counted on the deep involvement of the Broad School in developing programs that link together the managerial and business practice dimensions of global education with elements from other disciplines. Accordingly, the Broad School is playing an ever more central role in developing MSU Dubai programs and ensuring that they address the needs of a global student body and the companies that employ them. The leadership of the University looks to the Broad School to lead the effort to help MSU Dubai achieve its highest aspirations as the cornerstone of MSU’s efforts to become in fact and in perception the "world grant" university of the 21st Century.
The Broad School has begun offering introductory business courses at MSU Dubai. Students in this program will earn an undergraduate degree in General Management with a specialization in International Business. After taking much of their coursework in Dubai, students will come to the East Lansing campus for a semester to take higher level courses to complete their specialization in International Business.
In Fall 2009, MSU will launch a broad-based, multidisciplinary, University-wide initiative called The Center for Global Sustainability. The Center will support research sites and faculty exchanges in cooperation with university partners in many countries around the globe. From other parts of the University, the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Social Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine will be engaged with the Broad School in several selected areas: food, energy, and pharmaceuticals. From the Broad School, faculty members in Supply Chain Management, Marketing, and Hospitality Business expect to be heavily involved.
CURRENT SITUATION
The Broad School faces strong competition on every dimension: for students, for faculty, and for financial resources. While the undergraduate program is highly selective and its enrollment is capped, it nonetheless places a substantial teaching requirement on Broad faculty. Highly regarded and central to the University’s mission, the undergraduate program requires resources in excess of those that are now available. Especially as the School continues to search for ways to add distinctive elements of excellence to its undergraduate program – e.g., more individualized advising and mentoring in the students’ majors, strengthening connections to companies in the most relevant fields, and involving undergraduates in faculty research projects – the resource requirements will grow.
Competition for quality students at the master’s level is intense. MSU is one of two top-tier research institutions in Michigan. The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has a significantly smaller undergraduate enrollment and larger graduate programs than MSU. Other institutions in the state also compete for part-time MBA students on the basis of price, schedule flexibility, and ease of access. In addition, the Full-Time MBA program competes with the best programs in the U.S. and abroad. Historically the rankings of top business schools have focused on their full-time MBA Programs. The Broad School has found it increasingly difficult to compete in this area due to its relatively small MBA enrollment and constrained resources. MSU has done very well in the rankings of some of its departments and the addition of undergraduate and part-time MBA business school rankings in the last few years provide a broader array of benchmarks.
The State of Michigan’s economy was impacted by the severe downturn in the auto industry, exacerbating the university’s budget challenges. However, the University has fared well under the circumstances. Unlike many other universities across the country, MSU did not require staffing furloughs and has granted salary increases in the current budget year. State appropriations to MSU represent a declining portion of its revenues, placing more emphasis on tuition and fundraising as sources of income. While the Broad School has been subject to modest university budget cuts, the college has received solid support from the university’s administration. There are nearly 70,000 Broad School alumni, of whom approximately 11 percent are financial supporters. There is a strong sense in the School that alumni are loyal and could be encouraged to increase their support significantly. The Broad College of Business Alumni Association Board of Directors as well as several departmental and programmatic advisory boards offer significant potential to further enroll alumni and representatives of the business community in the School’s cause.
There is tremendous opportunity for partnerships with other colleges within the University. Some of them have already been established, for example with the colleges of agriculture and engineering. The leadership of the University sees great opportunity for the Broad School to play a leading role in developing partnerships within and outside the University to address the largest challenges facing society and the global economy. These problems require multidisciplinary approaches. Many funders of research on these mega-problems will put large amounts into well-conceived partnerships that have the potential for finding solutions. The Deans of other colleges at MSU look forward to working more closely with the Broad School on such initiatives.
An example of the power of this cross-college cooperation can be found in the recent decision of IBM to place its "on-shoring" effort in software engineering on the MSU campus. As the corporation considered a number of university communities, a factor that tipped the balance in favor of East Lansing was that the Deans at MSU are highly collaborative and knowledgeable of one another’s programs and priorities. MSU is much less parochial than most large universities and this ability and desire to work together serve the University and the separate colleges extremely well.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The Dean of the Broad School is the academic and administrative leader of the School. As such, s/he will define the strategic direction, ensure the academic excellence of the undergraduate and graduate programs, manage the School’s fiscal resources, build its endowment, and represent the School effectively and collaboratively within the University and to a broad variety of external constituencies. S/he will work closely with Department Chairs and Associate Deans to focus resources on the college’s strategic priorities. Reporting to the Provost, the new Dean will be joining the Broad School at a time of great potential. The following challenges will be of particular importance:
Develop and articulate a compelling vision that builds on the Broad School’s strengths and seizes opportunities to develop distinctive programs. Lead the effort to develop and gain deep support for a focused strategy that will unite the faculty and attract the resources necessary to realize that vision.
The Dean’s vision and strategy should attract high caliber students to world class programs while recruiting and retaining the best faculty across the School. This vision should also leverage the University’s wider resources, collaborating with other MSU colleges to apply the expertise of Broad School faculty to the strategic and operational challenges facing organizations in engineering, the sciences, social services, government, and the arts while playing a leading role in the University’s global initiatives.
Diversify and expand the college’s funding streams to create a more sustainable financial model.
Declining state support for the University along with the intense competition among top business schools requires a new mindset with respect to its business model. The Dean will evaluate all of the college’s sources of revenue and work with the faculty and the University to explore and exploit new revenue opportunities.
Develop and lead an ambitious effort to engage alumni and strengthen fundraising for the School’s growing needs.
The Dean will generate increasing gift support for the annual budget to strengthen research and program development. S/he will also lead an expanded development effort to meet the School’s substantial needs for additional physical space, technology infrastructure, and endowment. In support of these external relations initiatives, develop a marketing and branding campaign that effectively positions the School in the U.S. and around the world.
Play an active role in helping Michigan State University be the leader in understanding and contributing to the state’s economic development challenges.
The Dean will be a leader in the University’s efforts to stimulate economic growth and create economic opportunity in the state of Michigan. The Broad School is uniquely positioned to play a vital role in this area and the Dean will work with University colleagues, state officials, and leaders in the business community to find solutions to the state’s economic distress.
Be an advocate and visible presence on behalf of the School, both inside and outside the University.
The Dean will be the principal sales person for the Broad School with all constituencies. S/he will interact easily with students, encourage and support the staff, and enthusiastically tell the School’s story in a compelling way to alumni, corporate leaders, the media, and others in the global world of management education.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The University seeks an individual with a record of distinguished achievement in the management of a complex enterprise who is able to provide visionary leadership to the Broad School. The successful candidate will have experience enabling her/him to lead in a premiere academic setting; a compelling perspective on issues confronting business and society globally, and the ability to develop and articulate to all stakeholders a vision and strategy to reach a sustainable position among the world’s top business schools. The dean will be a leader with outstanding collaborative skills; a strong record of recruiting, retaining, and developing diverse and highly talented people and uniting them in a compelling purpose; and professional achievements and/or academic qualifications commensurate with a senior academic appointment.
In order to meet the Challenges that have been set forth, the University seeks an experienced individual who ideally has the following qualifications:
- Experience as a strategic leader with a record of success that brings constituencies together around a common goal;
- A record of accomplishment as a scholar or intellectual leader, coupled with a commitment to research as a foundation for learning and teaching;
- A demonstrated understanding of management education and a vision for its future;
- Success in fundraising activities;
- Experience in outreach to the business community;
- Experience in managing and allocating limited resources judiciously;
- Ability to balance and execute internal and external responsibilities;
- A demonstrated commitment to building additional diversity among the School’s students, faculty and staff; and
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
TO APPLY
Michigan State University has retained Isaacson, Miller to assist the Eli Broad College of Business Search Committee in its identification and review of candidates. Inquiries, referrals, c.v.'s and letters of interest should be sent in confidence to:
Martha Brest, Managing Associate
Isaacson, Miller
334 Boylston Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02116
Email: 3552@imsearch.com
Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged.
MSU IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.