Focus and Goals

I hope this second installment of my newsletter finds you well and ready for a festive and restful holiday season. Our visioning effort is now in full gear and beginning to yield results. Our faculty and staff continue to meet in small groups to discuss various faculty, departmental, programmatic, and other initiatives we should consider as we move forward to shape the future of the college. A rich array of postings on our internal strategic planning website has generated lots of interesting ideas, and the outline of a set of proposals is beginning to emerge. These ideas will be fully explored in the months to come, beginning with faculty discussions on January 14 and 21. The latter meeting will also be attended by University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere, UO Provost Jim Bean, and the Lundquist College of Business's Board of Advisors.

Although many details remain to be worked out, it appears a final strategic plan will have four major components:

The first concerns faculty development and advancing the college's research agenda. Forthcoming proposals will focus on growing the tenure-track faculty, enhancing our stellar roster of non-tenure track faculty, creating further incentives for high-quality research, and strengthening our doctoral program
The second deals with programmatic initiatives. At the undergraduate level, our focus will be on balancing quantitative growth with quality, on increasing options for students to study abroad, and on increasing opportunities for experiential learning. At the graduate level, among other topics, we will be talking about how to grow the MBA program during the next few years, whether to shorten its duration, and how we can improve our rankings and placement
The third area of focus concerns the more effective integration of the college's centers of excellence in our research and teaching mission. One attractive option under consideration is the appointment of a “professor of practice" in each of the centers—adding individuals who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and who can bring a lifetime of experience, a network of business contacts, and an outside perspective to the college
The fourth set of proposals entail creating an expanded presence in Portland—potentially in cooperation with Portland State and Oregon State universities—focused on developing a partnership with business through executive degree education, short courses, and a business policy forum.

These four sets of proposals echo the three themes I discussed in my previous update. Advancing interdisciplinary activities (adopting a broader view of business issues) is reflected in a number of proposals, as is the further internationalization of the Lundquist College of Business. With respect to the latter, I just returned from Europe where I had the opportunity to discuss study-abroad opportunities, possible exchange programs, and internships for MBAs at European companies. And for our Nyenrode fans out there: YES, WE WILL HAVE AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM AGAIN, STARTING IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS. And, of course, Portland features prominently in our plans.

So there it is. Progress and momentum are in the air. I am extremely upbeat about our future and look forward to further engaging with our faculty and staff on these important issues in the New Year. First, however, we should take some time to reflect how fortunate we are to be in a position to consider these exciting proposals. So have a wonderful holiday, and accept our best wishes for a prosperous 2011.

Sincerely,