March 2025 Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you enjoyed a little downtime at the start of this month when our students were on winter break. With that behind us, it is hard to believe commencement season is just around the corner, and we are already gearing up to celebrate launching our graduates into their next chapter.

This has been another busy month at Ross for all of us. We are happy to report that signage has gone up at our Los Angeles location in The Grand LA. Here are some photos to check out. Since our goal with the LA location is to increase the size of our Executive MBA Program in LA and our executive education offerings, especially on the West Coast and internationally, this visibility is an important part of our plans to expand our revenue opportunities.  

We also hosted our spring Ross School Advisory Board meeting last week. The board, which is made up of highly accomplished alums and business leaders, convened in NewLab in Detroit rather than Ann Arbor this time around. It was great to get their insights on a range of topics related to long-term strategic planning at Ross, including, for example, their insights on how career opportunities for our graduates may change 12-24 months out. And they were very excited to see the NewLab and Michigan Central spaces downtown. NewLab’s maker space and co-working facilities are very impressive, and we were able to showcase how Ross is engaged in Detroit through programs like the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, and also highlight the many offerings in entrepreneurship through our Zell Lurie Institute. Many thanks to the Office of Advancement, Business+Impact, and ZLI for all they contributed to our meetings.

I also want to highlight a few other events that took place this month. 

On March 12, we hosted our first-ever Michigan Ross Pickleball Social at Wolverine Pickleball. This was such a fun event! Approximately 60 people showed up to play or learn the sport and hang out with colleagues from across the school. A very special thank you to Ivory Wright in the Office of Digital Education for masterminding and helping coordinate this.

On March 20, we hosted our annual Mitchell Lecture, welcoming Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, for a very interesting talk regarding ethics in journalism, business, and satire. Ben is an award-winning journalist with experience at outlets such as NBC, who took over and reoriented the business model at The Onion. It was especially interesting to talk with him about ethics, news, and world events in an age of disinformation, and it was great to see a strong turnout for that event. Later that same afternoon, our Advancement team hosted the annual Donors and Scholars event, bringing current scholarship recipients and donors together to meet and spend time together. This is sometimes the only opportunity our students have to meet the individuals behind their scholarships, and it is always so gratifying to speak to and interact with those who are so committed to Ross and support our success through scholarships. We also honored the Harris family with our Legacy of Excellence Award for the 300+ students they have supported over the years through their philanthropy.  

And, on March 22, the Michigan Music Business Club and ZLI hosted a terrific event on the music business that included a fireside chat with Isaac Slade, former lead vocalist of The Fray. (The Fray was nominated for four Grammy awards, including for their hit song “How to Save a Life,” which was featured in the opening of the popular TV show Grey’s Anatomy). Slade discussed how The Fray went from being a local Denver band to their meteoric rise, including some of the pivotal business milestones and personal inflection points related to their success. Slade also treated attendees to a short performance of a few of their hit songs, including “How to Save a Life,” “You Found Me,” and “Over My Head.” It was quite a thrill to see this performance in the Robertson Auditorium! Thank you to ZLI and our students for an extremely well-attended and impactful event.

Looking forward to next month, I invite you to join me and other colleagues for a Ross volunteer opportunity on April 12 from 9 to 11 a.m. in Gallup Park. We will focus on climate/sustainability and work with the Huron River Watershed Council to clean up the park. It is our third event in a series of volunteer activities, bringing faculty and staff together to serve our local community. Please RSVP here if you would like to participate in this final event of the academic year. I want to thank everyone who participated in these activities and your ongoing support of our mission.

In April, the in-person office hours for faculty and staff will be held in the Davidson Winter Garden on the following dates and times:

• April 8: 3:30-4 p.m.
• April 15: 4-4:45 p.m.

The Zoom office hours for faculty and staff will be held on April 29 from 4:15 to 5 p.m. Please contact Heather Cooper for an invite with the link to join.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your hard work. Best wishes for a productive few weeks as we head into the home stretch of the semester!

Kind regards,

Sharon