Two Business Schools Launch New Knowledge Networks

Thunderbird School of Global Management has started the Thunderbird Knowledge Network, a free, interactive website and quarterly executive newsletter designed to share insights on global business issues and trends. Content, from such sources as Thunderbird faculty, alumni, and corporate executives around the world, will include a blog by Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has created a new online knowledge resource for leaders of the aerospace and defense industry: the Wharton Aerospace & Defense Report. Hosted on the Wharton Executive Education website, the report offers news, faculty and industry analysis, podcasts, and research reports.

Kelly School MBAs Reach Out to Entrepreneurs in Peru

A March service learning program developed by MBAs in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business provided an international experience while connecting students with entrepreneurs at the “bottom of the pyramid” in Peru. In a two-week trip, Professor Roberto Garcia and 20  MBA students provided consulting for five small enterprises, including two clothing manufacturers, a jewelry maker, a pharmaceutical company, and a cosmetics firm. The Peruvian companies were identified as having both the potential to export goods to the United States and serve as important local employers.

Garcia, a clinical associate professor of international business and co-director of the Kelley School's Supply Chain and Global Management Academy, said that the outreach involved multiple partners—in this case a non-governmental organization, the Kelley MBA students, and the entrepreneurs themselves—“all coming together to help these companies move forward and contribute to economic development of the country.”

ACE Publishes Summary of Presidential Dialogue on International Partnerships

A new publication from the American Council on Education, available for complimentary download, explores how partnerships that engage universities, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and community groups can best navigate today’s fast-changing international landscape. The Power of Partnerships: A Transatlantic Dialogue reports the observations of a gathering of 28 college presidents, rectors, and vice chancellors as part of an ongoing initiative between ACE, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, and the European University Association.

BIZ BRIEFS

• The University of Chicago Booth School of Business has revised its executive MBA curriculum. The new curriculum increases the number of required courses, enhances leadership offerings, and gives students the option of earning a concentration in finance, marketing, or strategy.
• Rotman, the magazine published by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, has partnered with Harvard Business Publishing to sell its content on the HBP website. Content will also be available for course packages.
• Babson College has received a full five-year EQUIS accreditation from EFMD, the European Foundation for Management Development. The third US school to earn EQUIS accreditation, Babson joins 115 other EQUIS-accredited schools in 33 countries.
• Teaching how businesses can improve their bottom line by addressing social and environmental issues has paid off for Robert Klassen, a professor of operations at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Klassen’s course, “Managing for Sustainability Development,” was recently awarded the inaugural Page Prize for Environmental Sustainability Curriculum, in the international category, from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. First place in the award’s US category honored the MBA Sustainability curriculum in the Donahue Graduate School of Business at Duquesne University.
• Adding to its bases in Boston, Dubai, and Shanghai, Hult International Business School, is adding a campus in London. Historically a postgraduate institution, Hult will use its London campus to offer an undergraduate program that combines business, international relations and communications.

FROM THE FUNDRAISING DESK

The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University has received US$15 million from an anonymous alumnus, the lead gift in a US$60 million capital campaign.

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has pledged US$2.5 million over the next five years to the University of Missouri-St. Louis toward construction of a new building for the school’s College of Business Administration.

The Foundation for Enterprise Development has committed US$2 million to the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University to establish a chair in employee ownership, the school’s first endowed professorship and, it is believed, the first named chair anywhere in employee ownership.

London Business School has received what it described as a “multimillion pound” gift from Tony and Maureen Wheeler, co-founders of Lonely Planet Publications, to establish a chair in entrepreneurship

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has received US$1.5 million from Renee Haugerud and her husband John H. Murphy in support of a global finance center in the school’s College of Business.

At UCLA, the Anderson School of Management has received US$1 million from Richard S. Ziman in support of graduate student fellowships and the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate.

NEW PROGRAMS

NUS Business School and HEC Paris signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership and a new joint MBA double degree. Separately, the first class was formed in January for the HEC Executive MBA, Russia, offered in collaboration with the Graduate School of Management at Saint Petersburg State University. ... The Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto has announced the Schulich India MBA, in partnership with S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research in Mumbai, slated to begin next January. Students will complete their first year in the program in Mumbai, then move to Toronto for their second year. ... In partnership with Point Carbon, an energy news and analysis firm, London Business School has created a program on carbon finance and analytics, developed for professionals who want to excel in the global carbon and energy markets. The program will be offered in four short seminars starting in May.… The Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego, is partnering with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to offer an executive development program that teaches business leaders the basic science behind climate change and how to compute the return on investment for going green.… The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University has started a new master’s degree track for media professionals who want to develop skills for the digital age. Students have the option of taking some classes through the media management major at the university’s Kellogg School of Management.… “Creative Cultures: Making Innovation Work” is the theme of an executive education program that IESE Business School will offer May 4-8 in New York City. The program will show business leaders how to make innovation an integral part of their company’s culture.… George Mason University has announced plans to start a Master of Science in Real Estate Development program this fall.… The Yale School of Management has partnered with Yale Law School to create an Accelerated Integrated JD-MBA program that will enable students to earn both degrees in three years.… This fall, Thunderbird School of Global Management will offer an evening MBA program targeted to working professionals. Admission requirements, curriculum, and credit hours mirror that of Thunderbird’s full-time MBA, but part-time students can take up to three years to complete their degree.… The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland has created an Initiative for Social Value Creation, designed to engage students in courses and experiential learning that build understanding of how businesses can create both economic prosperity and transformative social change. The Smith School has also partnered with MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society, to deliver an 8-month, 16-session program on The Business of Practicing Medicine.… The Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina has started a one-year, interdisciplinary Master of International Business program in conjunction with the university’s College of Arts and Sciences and School of Law. The Moore School has also launched in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a program for undergraduates that includes two years of study in Hong Kong.… A new English-language international MBA offered by the Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration at Tel Aviv University will capitalize on Israel’s location and entrepreneurial orientation to attract students from multiple cultures, especially Asia, India, and the Arab nations.…

The Clarkson University School of Business has started an online MBA program in supply chain management.… The Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University is starting a master of science in accounting program, the first graduate-level program in the school’s 22-year history.… Viterbo University is adding a “4+1 BBA to MBA” option that enables students to complete both an undergraduate and graduate business degree in five years. Program emphases include ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability.… “Profiting with Sustainability” and “The Advanced HR Business Partner Programme” are among new executive development offerings recently announced by the Henley Business School at the University of Reading.… The new MBA program at Lakehead University in Ontario will start this September.… Prominent fashion schools IFA Paris and POLIMODA Srl have collaborated to create a Master's in Fashion Business and Retail program that will be taught in both Florence and Shanghai.… Lamar University has added a new MBA concentration in enterprise resource planning and started a combination BBA/MBA program.… LIM, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, has established an MBA program with concentrations in fashion management and entrepreneurship.… India’s University of Pune has announced that it will establish a campus in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Plans include an MBA program as well as an Executive MBA.… The College of Business at Lipscomb University has established a new School of Executive Education.… Antioch University New England now offers an accelerated MBA in Organizational and Environmental Sustainability.