Big things are expected from the tenure of the new business school Dean, George Daly. This is the man who put New York University’s Stern School of Business on the map and raised more money for the school than had been gathered in the previous century. Daly is a doer, and we hope he will keep Georgetown’s unique character in mind as he gets down to business.
Starting off on the right foot, Daly is inviting any undergraduate with ideas about the direction of the McDonough School of Business to share them with the Committee for Strategic Planning. Conceding that this is both a symbolic gesture and an effective method of gathering inspiration, Daly told the Voice he would consider everything, but that he would not feel fettered to any one suggestion.
The student body should welcome this gesture as an extension of student enfranchisement in our University. Today, the MSB is rated 26th in the country by U.S. News and World Report. It could be set to climb the ladder, just as Stern did.
Daly has told reporters that he came to a lower ranked program for the chance to make a real improvement. At Stern, he capitalized on NYU’s connection to the entertainment world by creating a world-class entertainment management program. He should do the same at Georgetown by taking advantage of our unique Jesuit identity.
Among the various schools at Georgetown, the business school is perhaps the most separate from the more easily “well-rounded” Schools of Foreign Service, Nursing and the College. The MSB students we spoke to asked for some of the less critical requirements to be consolidated, allowing more time for the liberal arts.
More importantly, others asked that ethical questions be integrated into the finance case studies that they tackle in their courses every day. Daly himself has discussed giving extracurriculars a human touch.
The most important thing is to make sure the business school remembers its identity. It is a place where future corporate leaders learn that ethics and service matter just as much as the bottom line.
If Daly succeeds in this, it will matter more than any fundraising success or magazine ranking.
