Aligning Curriculum Revision with Strategy SBAA Summer Workshop July, 2017 Nate Bennett, Associate Dean J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University

The Journey at Robinson Development of Mission, Vision, Values (MVV) Understanding Role of Curriculum in Supporting/Living MVV Incenting Efforts to Innovate in the Curriculum to Support/Live MVV Feedback, Evaluation, and Evolution Next Steps, Lessons Learned

Context: The Robinson College of Business GSU serves about 55,000 students RCB serves about 8,000 students 6500 undergrad 1500 master & PhD Main campus downtown; Masters programs at Buckhead campus Traditional academic units, plus Health Administration, Hospitality, Real Estate, Risk & Insurance, and International Business

Context: The Robinson College of Business Faculty ~200 Full time faculty; about 60% T, TT, 40% NTT ~20 FTE of PT instructional faculty Student Diversity Roughly 1/3 African-American, 1/3 White, 1/3 Asian/Indian At the graduate level, 70% domestic, 30% international Masters program enrollment overwhelmingly part-time

Development of Mission, Vision, and Values Year long process with broad RCB community/stakeholder involvement Largely “capturing” who we already are and what we already do, rather than trying to invent or discover Previous administration had developed a “Vision 2020” document; this effort was to evolve rather than disrupt that plan entirely Labeled “Advancing Vision 2020”

Advancing Vision 2020 Core Values Mission Openness Rigor and Relevance in research and education Collaborating with partners to co-produce value Power of Markets Ensure a diverse student body emerges prepared to create value in business, government and non- profit organizations

No one gets closer to business than Robinson Vision

Three Strategic Initiatives Goal 1: Empower Students to Seize the Opportunities of the Technological Revolution Infuse analytical programming skills broadly across the curriculum Unleash the creative drive of our diverse student body Expand programs that develop the communication, teamwork, and collaboration skills needed to achieve success Extend the classroom to create an immersive and experiential environment Goal 2: Foster Research Necessary to Produce Insightful Business Leaders Broaden faculty base to increase computational and methodological capabilities Foster strategic research partnerships for mutual benefit Develop a sponsored research portfolio funded by government, foundations, and corporate entities Design structures that promote solving what matters to the future of business and society Goal 3: Lead a Purposeful Community Develop leaders who engage both the societal context and global markets Empower Robinson’s alumni base to contribute to our success Demonstrate how business leadership skills can be used to improve the Atlanta and global community Improve our internal execution capabilities and transparency to strive for excellence

What will this mean for our research posture? Broadening the faculty portfolio Organizationally Disciplinary Faculty-line types Build our sponsored research portfolio Dramatically increase opportunities for government funded STEM-based research Dramatically increase partnerships with businesses Greater outreach to the rest of the university Broaden success metrics to include those not typically associated with business schools

Understanding How the Curriculum Supports MVV Work with faculty to align: The curriculum, with . . . A student’s current and future career preparation needs . . . And Advancing Vision 2020

Incenting Efforts to Innovate the Curriculum Focusing first on “Bright Spots” Examples of success PACE Program and resulting initiative on immersive experiences Examples of not successful yet PMBA Curriculum

The PACE Project & It’s Influence on Other Efforts 1 - Real Business Projects: The program should have a large project component. Does the program have a scope, a defined set of deliverables, and a schedule? 2 - Real Business Settings: Does the program take students out of the classroom and into the field? 3 - Real Business People: Does the program introduce the students to industry professionals? 4 - Real Business Problems: Are the problems the students are solving real and current (as opposed to a simulation or case study)? 5 - Real Business Impacts: Will the project produce a measurable business impact for a real company?

Feedback, Evaluation, and Evolution You do get what you measure 111 courses or initiatives were identified as potential experiences Rubric developed, 19 found to meet at least 2 of the criteria in the Rubric Now way to show faculty what we want more of, to measure it, and to quantify it in terms of what we are delivering to our students

Next Steps Identifying ways to increase student involvement that “work” with part time and fully employed students Moving the effort beyond early adopters on the faculty Better leveraging these signature experiences in our student recruitment efforts and in our Career Advancement Center

Lessons Learned Context matters What is the issue of the day? What is the big problem you want to address? What do you care passionately about? Is it big enough and bold enough for someone to care? Engage a lot of stakeholders, but never lose ownership of the process Mission and vision, regardless Act with purpose