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September
2001
Purpose:
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To examine McIntire’s core
strengths, distinguishing
qualities, and unique capabilities |
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To identify barriers to further
progress |
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To articulate immediate needs and
long-range aspirations |
Results:
Core
Strengths and Distinguishing
Qualities
In the Envision McIntire discussions, a picture emerged
of a School that is energetic, ambitious, and
nimble, a School
that can adjust quickly to changing conditions,
from emerging
technologies to major shifts in the global
marketplace. McIntire
also appears to inspire great loyalty — in
its faculty,
its students, and its alumni. This loyalty grows out of a
culture of excellence that places considerable demands on
students and faculty but also reaps many rewards.
They aspire
to be the best in all that they do, and they can
realistically
pursue this goal because of the school’s
distinguishing
qualities: focus on core missions; a strong sense
of community
and shared values; an abiding openness to change
and innovation.
Focus on Core Missions
McIntire does not attempt to be all things to
all people.
Its primary focus is undergraduate business education with
complementary graduate programs in select areas.
A high premium
is placed on the quality of students admitted
into the undergraduate
program and the quality of the teaching they receive once
they enter. Faculty members are productive scholars in the
McIntire School, but never at the expense of
their teaching.
Indeed, the School’s innovations in
curriculum and instruction
are viewed as valuable contributions to new
knowledge in themselves
and could be a significant export to the greater academic
world.
Other factors that give McIntire a competitive
advantage:
Without an MBA or doctoral program and its
attendant demand
for faculty time and resources, the School can
focus its attention
on its undergraduate education.
In contrast to many other major business schools,
classes are kept to manageable sizes. This promotes healthy
student-faculty interaction, both within and
outside the classroom,
and in turn leads to alumni loyalty and
engagement. Students
value the faculty’s dedication to good teaching, which
further strengthens their ties to the school. By
keeping student
numbers in equilibrium with faculty resources, the School
is able to maintain exceptionally high standards.
In addition to going through the
University’s
admissions process, McIntire students are selected a second
time. This reinforces their sense of being part
of an exceptional
community and fosters both camaraderie and the
desire to excel.
They take pride in being part of the McIntire School, and
they take pride in the University, with its
Jeffersonian heritage
and its tradition of honor and student
self-governance.
Students enter McIntire after two years
in the College,
which gives them a strong liberal arts
foundation. Once they
enter, they receive a broad business education, rather than
being pigeonholed into narrow concentrations. As a result,
faculty members are not narrowly
compartmentalized, and students
enjoy wider career options after graduation.
Due to their success, alumni feel a
lifelong obligation
to the school, and they give back not only with
their financial
contributions but also by helping students with
their career
choices, by teaching classes and delivering lectures, and
by adding a real-world dimension to
McIntire’s programs.
Sense of Community and Shared Values
Although it is serious about its purposes, and although
it is part of an institution that is steeped in tradition,
McIntire offers a comfortable informality that
makes it welcoming
to new faculty and students.
Both new and longtime members of the
faculty appear
to be largely in sync with one another and with the current
direction of the School. They share a strong dedication to
McIntire and its students and a willingness to go the extra
mile on their behalf. Their culture seems to be
one of collegiality,
openness, and candor. One gets the sense that
they truly enjoy
what they are doing and take pleasure in the School’s
student-centered approach to business
education.
Openness to Change and Innovation
McIntire values its entrepreneurial spirit
and its willingness
to take risks. One example cited is the M.S. in
the Management
of Information Technology Program, now one of the
School’s
recognized strengths. McIntire’s approach to
this Program
is highly flexible, enabling it to adapt quickly
to emerging
technologies and changes in the marketplace.
A more recent example is ICE, the Integrated Core
Experience. Introducing this groundbreaking
curriculum required
significant changes in the way faculty organize
their courses
and conduct their classes, but they demonstrated that they
are not afraid to break out of established structures. They
see ICE as a successful innovation that other
schools should
consider adopting. It is a product of
McIntire’s extraordinary
maneuverability.
As one participant noted, the faculty
are servants
to a business world that is constantly changing,
and the key
to success is staying one step ahead of everyone
else. Another
pointed out that, except for the School’s commitment
to students and excellence in teaching, all else is subject
to change.
Goals and Aspirations
McIntire would like to give greater exposure
to its innovative
approaches to business education and to position itself as
the standard setter among schools with
undergraduate programs.
Faculty would like to make greater contributions
to research without diminishing their teaching
efforts. This
will require having the resources to give faculty time off
from teaching to pursue their scholarly
interests. The School
takes pride in having faculty who are gifted both
as researchers
and as teachers, but it recognizes the dangers of
sacrificing
one activity for the other. Providing more time
for academic
inquiry will raise the stature of the School and
will increase
its ability to compete for distinguished scholars who are
also devoted to the classroom.
Faculty expressed a strong desire to
build new partnerships
with alumni and their businesses to bring more real-world
elements into McIntire’s programs. In addition, they
would like to offer more opportunities for alumni to come
back to the School to update their training or to prepare
for new career moves. This would require not only
new programs
but also improved facilities. Faculty also
expressed trepidation
about putting too much emphasis on executive
education, noting
that it could draw attention away from the
School’s core
mission of undergraduate education. They called
for developing
programs that lever off of existing strengths.
McIntire is open to expanding distance learning
opportunities, but only if they meet the
School’s current
standards, both in terms of students’ qualifications
and the quality of instruction. "If we’re going
to do it," said one participant, "we’ve got
to be the best. It has to be something we can be
proud of."
Another pointed out the risk of "cheapening
the degree,"
and called for maintaining the same quality of
students "regardless
of where they are." Still another wondered
if it is even
possible to offer the McIntire experience through distance
learning, given the importance of student-faculty
interaction
in the School’s culture. He suggested
instead that technology
be used to increase contact with students on
Grounds.
McIntire, which has the largest
percentage of international
students of any school at the University, would
like to develop
more opportunities for students to spend time
abroad. Current
programs are modest, but they offer very
rewarding experiences.
There is also a strong interest in being part of
new University-wide
efforts to create programs in Europe and Asia; these could
be valuable bases for research and case-writing
activities.
Other aspirations voiced by the faculty
include:
Concerns and Barriers to Progress
Faculty members are acutely
aware that
continued progress is not assured, and they wish
to make every
effort to stay on a positive trajectory.
They feel especially constrained by the
School’s
facilities, which do not compare well with those
of peer institutions
and thus hinder McIntire’s ability to compete for the
best faculty and students. Installation of new technology
added valuable tools for teaching and research,
but it exacerbated
the School’s space problems. As one faculty member put
it, "What’s special here are the
students and faculty;
we’re embarrassed by the facilities.
It’s a tribute
to our colleagues that we can do what we do in
this setting."
The School fears complacency. Administrators and
faculty members want to stay hungry and ambitious, always
striving to make improvements.
As the School changes and moves in new
directions,
it must ensure that each faculty member has the opportunity
to contribute in ways that draw on his or her
unique strengths
and abilities. None should be left in the cold.
Several participants voiced concern
about sustaining
the School’s resources. Appropriations from
the Commonwealth
now represent less than half of the School’s funding,
and they worry that the downturn in the economy
will endanger
other sources of support, including alumni and
corporate philanthropy
and specialized executive education programs. One solution
is to build up the School’s unrestricted
endowment, which
would buffer the School from the vagaries of the
marketplace.
The School finds it difficult to recruit minority
faculty, especially those with spouses in
established careers.
Collaborations between the McIntire faculty and
colleagues in other schools are productive but ad hoc. No
University structures or incentives encourage this kind of
interchange, leaving it up to individuals to take the time
and initiative to build these linkages. There are
many promising
possibilities for cross-disciplinary work with faculty in
such fields as economics, environmental sciences,
urban planning,
systems engineering, psychology, and statistics, as well as
the arts and humanities. Noting that
undergraduates on their
own combine commerce with other majors, faculty raised the
possibility of joint degree programs, such as a tax program
that involves the law school.
Those who must deal with the
University’s administrative
areas expressed frustration that they often
experience a lack
of cooperation and a lack of responsiveness to
the School’s
needs. In some cases, the University’s bureaucracy, in
their view, stymies risk-taking and
entrepreneurial spirit.
Conclusion
The Envision McIntire discussions revealed a
School that
is dynamic and forward thinking. Faculty talk
openly and often
about how they can improve what they do, especially in the
classroom, and there is a strong sense of shared mission.
There are worries that hard-won strengths may be
eroded, both
by current deficiencies (particularly inadequate
facilities)
and by loss of funds due to the contraction of the economy.
Faculty members clearly have the drive and
creativity to overcome
such problems, just as they have the flexibility to adjust
to changing needs and conditions in the
marketplace.
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