Annual Report 2003
Foundation for the Future
Foundation for the Future
New Building, New Departments for a New Era
For the Isenberg School of Management, the current reporting period was a time of watershed accomplishments; of new beginnings. In September 2002, the Isenberg School and its 3,600 students moved into the $16 million 47,000 sq. ft. Harold Alfond Management Center, arguably the most pedagogically sophisticated, architecturally elegant building in the history of the UMass Amherst campus. With its state-of-the-art case rooms and abundance of meeting and study spaces, the Alfond Center instantly transformed the SOM community’s self-image and public perceptions of the School among parents, recruiters, and the region’s business community.
In a second pivotal event, the School welcomed into its fold two new departments—the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Department of Sport Management. The marriage gives the School two industry niche specialties through programs with strong national reputations, established department infrastructures, and strong industry ties. The departments also strengthen the Isenberg School with 31 new faculty members, 850 new students, and thousands of new alumni. When the Isenberg School held its first school graduation ceremony in the Mullins Center in May, graduating seniors from the two new departments walked proudly alongside their peers from the school’s traditional programs of accounting, finance, management, marketing, and operations management.
The School also welcomed its first Isenberg Professor of Integrative Studies, internationally renowned statistician and quality control expert, Soren Bisgaard. The $2 million Isenberg professorship, endowed by the School’s eponymous benefactor, Eugene M. Isenberg, aims to build bridges across traditional academic disciplines of science, technology, and business. In his first year at the University, Professor Bisgaard introduced a campus-wide course for technology-savvy student entrepreneurs, and planted the seeds for productive relationships between the Isenberg School and the University’s science and technology communities.
And the Isenberg School’s world class research group, the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM), gained unprecedented momentum. CISDM, which is editorial home to the leading periodical in its field—The Journal of Alternative Investments—moved into spacious, technologically sophisticated quarters on the third floor of the Alfond Center. In August 2002, CISDM acquired a multi-million-dollar set of alternative investment data bases (renamed the CISDM Database) from the investment service firm, Zurich Capital Markets. In January of 2003, CISDM (as one of two founding cosponsors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analysts program) was instrumental in the first-ever round of accreditation exams for alternative industry professionals.
“We are proud of these accomplishments and the faculty and alumni support that have made them a reality,” emphasizes Isenberg School Dean Thomas O’Brien. “But we must never lose sight that we are a work in progress. What we’ve done—through years of program development and alumni generosity—is build a strong foundation for the future.” That future, observes O’Brien, comes with clear objectives. “First and foremost, we owe it to the citizens of this state to increase our student population—by as much as 50%. We are currently falling short in meeting our responsibility of offering a high-quality, affordable business education to sufficient numbers of the Commonwealth’s deserving students. Because our resources are scarce, we are turning away great numbers of qualified candidates. Our undergraduate admissions standards are as competitive as any on campus.”
To meet that challenge will require renewed investments in faculty and classrooms. “We now have five endowed professorships and we need more—as many as ten others—in subject areas like accounting, marketing, hospitality, and sport management,” notes O’Brien. “But our greatest challenge is to attract a new generation of younger business educators through partial endowments and other means. It is junior faculty who will secure our competitive future. Without them, we’ll never renew our energy and accommodate additional students.”
A competitive future also requires continued investment in the School’s buildings and technology. “We need to complete the modernization of our old building and add a new wing with additional classrooms for the Hospitality and Tourism Management program,” O’Brien continues. And we must continue to improve student services and update our technologies by growing our Annual Fund.”
All of those priorities, notes O’Brien, will take center stage in a new campaign that will begin within the next year. “If you want to witness the outcome of the previous Campaign for the School of Management, please visit us in Amherst. “When you’ve seen the Alfond Center and chatted with our students and faculty, you’ll see what a transforming force alumni support can be. It has allowed us to build a rock solid foundation for the future—a future that with renewed alumni participation can only shine brighter.”
Other articles in this section:
What a Difference a Semester (and a New Building) Can Make!
Academic Excellence: Virtual and Otherwise
Practicums, Plant Visits, Consulting Projects and Other Out-of-Classroom Experiences
Building Diversity Through DiMES