A Message to Alumni

from Dean's Desk, Alumni E-Newsletter
September 3, 2003

Dear Yale SOM Graduates,

It is with great pleasure that I write to you from the Dean’s Desk of the fourth alumni e-newsletter. The summer has been a busy one, and I would like to take this opportunity to update you on progress in a few key areas.

We have continued in our plan to add to the senior faculty with the appointment of Jacob Thomas who joins us from Columbia Business School as Professor of Accounting. Professor Thomas focuses on the relation between accounting information and stock prices. He is a prized teacher and researcher, who is a wonderful addition to the core of our faculty.

You will also hear elsewhere in the e-newsletter about two key appointments in our Admissions Office. Anne Coyle succeeds Jim Stevens as Director of Admissions. Anne brings great experience to the school, including directing global recruitment of advance professional degree hires for McKinsey, and directing admissions for the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell. In addition to Anne, Nicole Lindsay joins us as our new Associate Director of Minority Admissions. Nicole earned her MBA/JD degree from the University of Virginia where she participated in many activities, including the Student Recruitment Faculty Committee and the Black Business Students Forum. She brings with her a wealth of experience with and commitment to minority recruiting.

We are establishing a Program on Social Enterprise, under the direction of Professor Sharon Oster, which will serve as an organizational umbrella for a variety of projects relating to the management of non-profit institutions as well as the overlap between business and social responsibility. The Program on Nonprofit Organizations, most recently housed at Yale Divinity School -- now located at SOM -- and the Yale School of Management -- The Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures are two such examples.

In addition, we are in the process of expanding two of our programs with other schools at Yale in significant ways: Environmental Management, with the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, under the direction of Professor Garry Brewer, and the joint MBA-MD degree program with the Yale Medical School, under the direction of Professor Howard Forman.

You will hear much more about these new programs in the coming year. But from my perspective, these new programs -- along with the centers, institutes, and joint-programs that are currently in place at the school -- are particularly important because they provide focus on areas we consider to be most significant in terms of the impact we can have on the world. They allow us to attract faculty and students with interest in these areas. They give us a critical mass of expertise and experience in a few selected areas that cut across sectors and that we like to hold up as a reflection of the school. They also reach across Yale and encompass the efforts of professors in other parts of the university.

Finally, in September, the school will proudly celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Charter Class of 1978. History was made twenty-five years ago as the first professional managers graduated from Yale, and there is tremendous excitement as the members of that class look forward to connecting with one another and faculty, and to re-experiencing that special time together with the school’s founding dean, Bill Donaldson. Additional information regarding milestone reunions for other classes will be forthcoming.

We have much to look forward to as we begin the new academic year and welcome our newest class to the Yale School of Management. As always, we continue to invite (and encourage) you to participate in the life of the school, in special events, or as a volunteer in admissions or career development, as our dedicated network of alumni continues to build and to grow.

Best regards,

Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean