The Lally School of Management and Technology is readying itself for several initiatives it hopes will bring it greater national prominence. The overall goals for the entire management program lie in “raising the Lally School’s national reputation and breaking through the threshold,” says Interim Dean Robert Baron.
With 38 faculty members, 500 undergraduates, and 500 graduate students, the Lally School hopes to attract ever more talented students and faculty to improve the school’s ranking. In the latest rankings, the Lally School received high ratings in several publications.
The undergraduate business program was rated in the top 50 by US News and World Report, the undergraduate en-treprenuership program took sixth in Success Magazine, and the management information systems graduate program ranked 28th in Best Graduate Business Schools.
Many believe higher rankings and a superior reputation will allow the school to attract top-quality students and faculty, along with increased endowments.
“Overall [the School] finds itself in a period of change that presages great growth,” says Richard Burke, director of master’s programs.
At the forefront of the changes that are occurring in the Lally School, many new goals are in place as well as curriculum changes, hiring new faculty, and a major search for a new dean.
Among the curriculum changes, the MBA program, the largest program in the School, is undergoing a major restructuring. The last restructuring ten years ago gave the MBA program a management and technology focus, which was a unique idea at the time, and allowed the Lally School to set itself apart from the other business schools.
“We need to renew ourselves by increasing the emphasis on leadership and communication and changing the way students think and behave.” Burke feels that the future corporate managers the school trains cannot have narrow views—they need to take a broad view of the entire organization and how things work as a system.
Two years ago, the faculty voted on the creation of the “transformational experience” central component of the program. The underlying goal was to change the way students view themselves and view the world.
Toward this aim, a cohort initiative has been developed in which all first-year MBAs will work as teams in integrated activities which link to wider components of the program. While organizers are still working to finalize many aspects of the “transformational experience” they hope this initiative will be in place for fall of 2002.
The MBA program is also realizing that its small size limits how high the program could rank. The program, with only 45 entering students per year falls just short of the minimum level of 50 incoming students to rank.
“The program needs to increase its numbers in order to create a quality program,” explained Professor Philip Phan.
“The top ranked schools bring in quality students, faculty, and endowments, and that is our goal for the MBA program at Rensselaer, ” continued Phan.
One option is to offer up to 20 full-time scholarships each year to attract top students. This option leaves 30 students paying full tuition; currently most students receive a subsidy to attend RPI over larger schools in big cities. Another idea would provide partial subsidies to all students and find other means to attract the top students. However, Lally faculty have hinted that the increased tuition rates for graduate students may hinder the recruiting process for the MBA program.
Undergraduate programs are also in the process of undergoing significant modification. According to Robert Sands, assistant dean of undergraduate programs, elements of “program refinement” are continually at work to improve and integrate courses.
One initiative for the undergraduate program looks to place a greater focus on foreign exchanges. Sands would like to increase students participation in exchange programs by increasing the number of overseas universities that have exchange agreements with the Institute. An arrangement is in the works with two management schools in Singapore, said Sands.
“It is generally a one-semester exchange deal, yet it tends to be one of the highlights of the students’ learning experience through maturation, traveling experience, and enrichment,” said Sands.
Another major initiative that many expect to improve the quality of the Lally School is the addition of new faculty.
Seven new, top-quality faculty members were hired for the fall 2002 semester.
“All the professors that were hired come from the traditional areas of management but are interested in management and technology to fit the focus of the Lally school,” said Baron.
The search for a new dean of the Lally School has generated significant interest in recent months. Professor Robert Baron has filled in as interim dean since last summer and is eager to return to teaching and researching, a task that he has found to be difficult while serving as interim dean.
Presently, the search committee has several candidates lined up for evaluation. So far one candidate has completed the off-campus screening process and has met with faculty and students on campus.
A second candidate is scheduled to visit campus later this month. The search committee hopes to select three candidates and then conduct a closer evaluation of the candidates including participation in a school-wide open forum. The school expects to have the new dean in place by June in order to facilitate the transition.
More than any other school, Lally School students often hail from the halls of corporate America and by its nature the school has close ties to corporations. Several programs are looking to take advantage of these links; for example, undergraduate students will soon have classes at AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, and Accenture to enhance the students’ understanding of the course content.
Corporate representatives may speak about interviewing, resumes, site visits, and topics like “How to be successful at the first 90 days on the job.”
Another idea involves the Undergraduate Management Society, Epsilon Delta Sigma, taking field trips to visit corporations and to experience site visits while still at the undergraduate level.
Another concern between the Lally School and its corporate students was the recently announced graduate tuition increase.
“We have met with some and are in the process of meeting with our largest corporate sponsors concerning what this increase will mean to them and their employees,” said Dr. Jackson.
“One corporate representative was encouraged by the move and said ‘maybe [other schools] will respect you more’ because of this initiative,” revealed Dr. Jackson.
The Lally School is indeed in a state of change and growth to move forward in the technologically based business world.
In facing many challenges like the Dean search, curriculum reform, and new program innovation, the Deans, faculty, and staff are working hard to make changes happen and to integrate these changes most efficiently to benefit the students.
Baron is confident that the Lally School is poised for the next step up, which is “strengthening our programs, raising the quality of the management school, and getting more national recognition.”
