Giving Thanks

It's been a busy semester and I'm taking a moment to reflect on my (work) blessings

My fall semester has been super-busy. Too busy. Because of an unexpected leave of absence, I was given additional responsibilities. I’m currently serving as interim dean of the School of the Arts this semester, on top of my normal duties as dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business. This has been rewarding but has kept me incredibly busy - too busy to be healthy in the long run. Further, I haven’t had time to think or reflect as much. But with this little break around Thanksgiving, I want to document some of the things that have happened this semester at work and give thanks.

While this post is different than most of mine, I hope you find it interesting. Further, I hope this might give casual readers some insight into the life of a business school (and sometimes school of the arts) dean.

Here are brief descriptions, with photos, of some of the amazing experiences I’ve had this semester.

1. A trip to London with our SWSB London Program students (late August)

I accompanied our students on their flight over to London as they started their semester abroad and got to spend a few days there. On the trip, I participated in several visits across London with students and met with several of our partners abroad. Here’s a great photo of us in front of Tower Bridge, which isn’t far from where the students are living this semester.

2. A great presentation at Susquehanna by Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley (September 5)

I’ve been a Jason Riley fan for a long time. His biography of Thomas Sowell (one of my favorite economists) is amazing and I always find Jason’s columns thought provoking. He visited Susquehanna and his talk was titled The Problem with Social Justice. It was a great presentation and it was wonderful to have a crowd of 300+ attend and learn from him.

3. Three outstanding business school deans visited campus (late September)

We welcomed Paul Grimes, Lynne Richardson, and Josh Hall to campus as part of our AACSB Reaccreditation visit from September 22-24. They are three top business school deans and also great people. I’ve known all three for a long time and have always had a great amount of respect for them.

Their visit was wonderful and they provided us with some amazing advice for how we can keep improving. We are one of the top undergraduate business schools in the world and always want to find new ways to serve our students.

4. A visit to KSU, Kansas City, and Denver to present on innovative ways to teach economics (late October)

I traveled in late October and presented to teachers and college students. This trip took me to Kansas State University, the Kansas City Federal Reserve, and Denver. It was amazing to interact with teachers and students and fun to work with the Foundation for Economic Education, who organized the days at the KC Fed and in Denver.

5. A NYC trip to Cartier and Tishman Speyer (October)

On October 29th, alumni hosted our business school students at Cartier (yes, the Cartier) and Tishman Speyer. You might not have heard of Tishman Speyer, but they own Rockefeller Center. It was a great day for students to learn about luxury goods and luxury real estate and those types of days are special for students and fun for me.

So much to be thankful for

These five highlights are just a sampling of the great experiences this semester. Other amazing things include hosting wonderful speakers like Mary Cianni, Phil Magness, and Valente Frazier; trips to Washington and Philadelphia with students; seeing so many alumni and friends at homecoming; an advisory council meeting with our amazing alumni who give their time to help students; and so much more.

I have enjoyed working with folks across campus I don’t normally work with, and they have all been wonderful.

What about this spring?

My spring will be exciting for a different reason. Stay tuned (and subscribe) for an update coming in about a week!