September 2024 Message from the Dean

Dear colleagues,

Fall is officially here! Going back to my elementary school days, fall has always been my favorite season — I have always loved “back to school,” the changing leaves, and the crisp autumn mornings. I hope you are also enjoying the season.

And our fall is off to a big start with some exciting “new beginnings.” As you hopefully saw, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a long-term lease for a second Ross School of Business campus in downtown Los Angeles. This is an important strategic step forward for us. It will allow us to better serve the West Coast as well as Asia and beyond through our Executive MBA and our non-degree executive education programs. Having more extensive offerings and visibility through this location will allow us to extend our reach and reputation and further our strategic goal of being globally recognized as a premier source of knowledge, talent, inspiration, and connection. Additionally, this location will be a place for us to host events, conferences, short courses, and more for Ross, as well as our larger U-M and alumni community. Please check out this video if you would like a sneak peek at the site. And a huge thanks to the many people who were involved with site visits, negotiations, and communications around this, and a very special thanks to our CFO Sean O’Neil who spent so much time working through different options and finalizing our arrangements.

There have also been a host of events that help us mark the transition into Fall. For example, Homecoming Weekend gave us an opportunity to welcome our alumni from all over the world back to campus for many events, including a special alumni awards ceremony and dinner and a big tailgate in our Davidson Winter Garden. A special thank you to our Advancement team for planning these events that are so important to maintaining the strong sense of community that is such a defining feature of Michigan Ross and U-M. It was also great to see the football victory in our first BIG10 game of the season against the University of Southern California. There were many visitors in town for this, and since USC is one of the few universities that have a sense of school spirit in the same league as ours, that made the victory especially fun.

We also held our annual State of the School address on Tuesday. Thanks so much to those of you who attended — it was great to be able to share the progress that we’re making as a school across all our areas. For your reference, here is the slide deck from the presentation. Additionally, please visit our Mission in Action page to keep up with updates and metrics regarding our strategic priorities.

Looking forward to the month ahead, here are a few important events:

• On Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. in the Tauber Colloquium, we will be hosting the annual Joseph and Sally Handleman Lecture. This year, we will be welcoming Jessica Watson, the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop, and unassisted around the world. Her accomplishment highlights the power of resilience, persistence, and problem solving in the face of unimaginable challenges, along with the importance of celebrating small milestones and progress. Please join us — RSVP and attend this event.
• On Oct. 25, we will host a centennial capstone event for all faculty and staff, as well as our Alumni Board of Governors and members of our Ross School Advisory Board. Please join me in the Davidson Winter Garden at 4:15 p.m. that day for some brief remarks and a toast celebrating our school’s 100-year anniversary. This is also an important date for all of campus as it will be the official launch of the campus-wide capital campaign, Look to Michigan. Look for announcements from campus on some of these events.
• Also, our upcoming All Staff Meeting is on Oct. 29. This is an opportunity for staff to come together and discuss important topics across our school. At this event, we will also vote in our annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest, which is always fun, creative — and competitive!  

As usual, I want to remind everyone of my upcoming office hours, which can be found on the dean’s office webpage. In October, the in-person office hours for faculty and staff will be held in the Winter Garden on the following dates and times:

• Tuesday, Oct 1 from 4:15-5 p.m.
• Monday, Oct 14 from 4:15-5 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct 22 from 4:15-5 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct 29 from 4:15-5 p.m.

To close, I hope everyone’s fall semester is off to a great start. And since we are in a city named for its beautiful trees, I hope you make time to get outside and enjoy the fall colors and cooler weather.

Kind regards,

Sharon