Working together to achieve excellence
I am happy to report to you that the school is very strong. The students in all of our MBA programs are outstanding. They all bring valuable work experience to the classroom, and our residential two-year MBA students have the highest GMAT scores ever. Our Executive MBA programs continue to grow. With 72 new students, the EMBA program in Palisades is at full capacity. The Cornell- Queen’s EMBA continues to expand as we add new markets; this year, we enrolled 122 new CQEMBA students.
We are making progress implementing all of the initiatives in our strategic plan. Addressing a commitment to program innovation, we are adding to our elective curriculum and have introduced five “breadth” and seven “depth” elective concentrations in the residential curriculum to empower students to customize their MBAs and brand themselves for the marketplace. For example, students may choose a breadth concentration in consulting or sustainable global enterprise and a depth concentration in financial analysis or marketing analytics.
Ethical leadership is more important than ever in the current environment. We are extending our leadership focus by offering all students the opportunity to analyze their leadership style, and work with coaches to address areas of concern and assess progress.
This will be another difficult year for job placement. You can help! If you know of a job, post it on our listserv, JohnsonJobs, or contact our Career Management Center. If you can offer career advice, consider signing up as a coach through JS-Coaches. Our Web site describes these opportunities, and it also presents the many career services we offer our alumni. For example, the Management Library is offering alumni access to sophisticated career and business research tools, and we held a Career resources forum for alumni in New York City on November 5.
Some goals will take longer to achieve due to financial restrictions. I’m proud to report that even in this difficult year our alumni came through, and annual fund giving was extraordinary — second only to fiscal year 2007-2008. Yet, we need help from each and every one of you to accomplish our goals. Small and large gifts matter; participation is key financially and in rankings.
The fall semester has been filled with exciting events. H. Fisk Johnson ’79, MEng ’80, MS ’82, MBA ’84, PhD ’86, chairman and CEO of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., met with our students October 22 when he was on campus to speak as the Robert Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education. In November, Johnson School students, faculty, and staff organized the 16th Net Impact Conference, focused on exploring ways businesses can contribute to alleviating poverty and addressing environmental issues. Our Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise worked with many other schools and colleges across Cornell. The conference brought 2,000+ students and business professionals to campus, including over 100 alumni. Speakers included Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE; Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, chairman and CEO of ITC Limited; and Kevin McGovern ’70, chairman of the Water Initiative. Our students also organized excellent symposia in marketing, health care and biotech, and strategic human resources, leadership, and organizational effectiveness.
Our faculty continue to do fascinating research that contributes to business practice and win awards and recognition. The list is long, so please visit our Web site, ThoughtLeadership@Johnson, to read about their research.
Challenging times make me appreciate more than ever the value of being a part of the Johnson School community. Thank you for all that you do for the school and for each other. Please stay in touch with news about yourself and your ideas for us, and best wishes for health and success.
L. Joseph Thomas
Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean
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