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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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”

6. 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

7. No one gets closer to business than Robinson
Vision

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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