Message from Dean Edward A. Snyder

Dear Yale SOM Alumni:

I’d like to give you a sense of where we are in the academic year and the progress we’ve made on several important fronts.

Yale’s full-time MBA students and many faculty members have returned from first-year International Experience seminars, Global Social Enterprise and other project-based work, and recruiting treks. Faculty are engaged in a stunning set of research projects that confirms my view that being in a top business school is a special environment in terms of its connection to the world.

March and early April provided me with terrific opportunities to meet many Yale SOM alumni. During my travels I also have met with business leaders, policy makers, and heads of enterprises to provide them with updates on the rich diversity of Yale MBAs and our view of leadership challenges facing societies around the world.

I continue to be impressed by the powerful sense of commitment to the school, to what it stands for, and to excellence on the part of Yale SOM students, alumni, faculty, staff, and others who support our mission. The clarity and coherence of that commitment, along with the impressive accomplishments of our alumni, affirm my belief that Yale SOM’s mission to educate leaders for business and society is right on the mark. That mission has at least three interpretations, all of which are relevant and important:

• We educate purposeful leaders who will pursue their work with integrity.
• We educate leaders for all sectors of society—public, private, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial.
• We educate leaders who understand complexity within and among societies in an increasingly global world.

I am excited about Yale SOM’s position and advantage in developing leaders in all sectors and to meet the multi-faceted challenges that societies face. Yale School of Management is the most integrated and involved with its home university of any top business school, and we are working to deepen our ties with the Yale World Fellows, the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, and other schools and departments across the university. This connection to Yale, as well as Yale SOM’s innovative integrated curriculum and history, ensures a great flow of students and faculty who are broadminded, curious, and able to take on important issues. It also draws a diverse profile of students. This is just the combination of mindset and abilities that businesses and enterprises need in today’s deeply interconnected world.

Our admissions and recruiting statistics reflect that Yale SOM’s distinctive positioning is being noticed and valued. The individuals who make up our full-time student body are impressive individually and collectively, and the number of enterprises who work with us though on-campus recruiting, engagement with student clubs, job listings, and other formal and informal channels continues to grow. In short, organizations that hire MBAs value what our students have to offer. Beyond the numbers, the energy in our classrooms, the excitement of admitted students at our recent Winter Welcome, the enthusiastic notes I receive from recruiters about the quality of our students, and the impressive devotion to the school among our alumni reflect our strong position. Our MBA-e students and graduates are equally impressive, and their focus on critical issues in healthcare is an important contribution to business and society.

The research of Yale SOM faculty continues to shape business theory, policy, and practice, and the high quality of our faculty also ensures that Yale MBAs benefit from a rigorous, practice-oriented academic experience. Equally important, our faculty are developing the next generation of thought leaders: PhD candidates who add vitality to our intellectual community. And our non-degree Executive Education programs influence the practice of business and government through our work with leadership groups from corporations, governments, and other organizations around the world.

We have significantly expanded our global reach, an important component of Yale SOM’s commitment to educate leaders who understand the big issues facing businesses and societies in all regions. Later this month we will host the launch of the Global Network for Advanced Management, an innovative, collaborative network of twenty-one top business schools from both economically strong countries and countries on the horizon of economic development, which will expand opportunities for Yale SOM students and faculty. The school’s new Master of Advanced Management (MAM) program will welcome its first cohort of students in the fall term, enriching the discourse among students in elective courses and at the school more broadly. Importantly, we have built upon the work of Sharon Oster and others to develop Yale SOM into a truly great relationship-building enterprise, both at home and abroad, and I thank the many alumni and other friends of the school who have engaged with us.

Finally, a benefit of this year’s mild winter in New Haven is that the construction of Edward P. Evans Hall, our new and transformational facility, is on schedule. The rapid development of the building’s frame underscores the sense of new possibilities. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I wanted to share a link to the Evans Hall construction website.

I look forward to providing future updates in the alumni newsletter, and at alumni events, about ongoing developments at the school. For now, let me close by saying how delighted I am to be part of Yale SOM, and how energized I am by the students, alumni, faculty, staff, and other friends and partners of the school whom I have met and worked with so far.

Best regards,