A Message From The Dean

Dean’s Response to Bloomberg Article

The facts: Response to negative press on the SOM - Bloomberg.com article

Some of you may have seen an article, "Colleges Flunk Economics Test as Harvard Model Destroys Budgets", on Bloomberg.com. The article focuses on the financial challenges facing higher education and includes references to Simmons, BU, and Harvard. I am concerned because the article focused on the School of Management and gave quite a negative profile. The article raises questions about the sustainability of the investment in the School and in the new building on campus. We strongly disagree with the way the reporter framed the article or the implications that he draws.

The College has submitted a formal rebuttal to the article. But, as stakeholders in and ambassadors for the School, I wanted you to have the facts. I also request your support in countering the reporters negative portrayal of the SOM. Key points for you to know include:

1) The SOM portion of the new building cost less that the proceeds for the Commonwealth Ave campus. As a whole, the College has made a significant investment in infrastructure because we believed that a state-if-the-art urban campus was important to competing effectively – a first class library, a welcoming student center, underground parking, and beautiful quad, the new SOM/Academic building.

2) The SOM strategy to strengthen our competitiveness includes new, state-of-the-art facilities, AACSB accreditation, and building a larger faculty. I am very proud that we have accomplished all of these objectives this year.

3) The reporting is accurate that we have had a drop in MBA enrollments since the peak in 2002. While enrollments at all business schools in the Greater Boston area have migrated downwards since 2002, we have had a percentage loss that is moderately greater. At the same time, we had the largest entering MBA class in January since 2002. We saw that as a very positive sign and as a direct reflection of the impact of the new building on attracting high quality students.

4) Our undergraduate management enrollments doubled in the last five years as have the number of our majors.

5) Until this year, our executive education had increased revenue by 60% since 2002. This year we are down in revenue because of the economy. We have attracted top quality companies as long standing partners in executive education: EMC, Deloitte, Eli Lilly, Time Warner, Verizon. We also have strong relationships with HP, KPMG, EMC and Pfizer through the Conference.

6) Finally, I was shocked that the reporter called the building “empty”. Our building is rarely empty and classrooms and team rooms are in high use, at least in the SOM wing of the building. I am always struck by how much it is being used.

Our strategy calls for growth of 55% in total enrollments (MBA and undergraduate) in five years and we are focused on achieving this goal. I believe that AACSB accreditation and the new building provide a powerful platform for us to take the School to a new level. All of our work on AACSB accreditation was aimed at ensuring we have an excellent program and have the external verification of that excellence in order to attract high quality students and faculty.

I welcome your comments and I encourage you to submit comments to Bloomberg.com providing an alternative view on the strength of our institution. I need your support to challenge this article.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aoglHAxZffTI