September 2025 Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

The fall season is officially here! The leaves are starting to change color, classes are in full swing, and a lot is happening around the school.

I want to start by thanking everyone who attended the State of the School yesterday, where we talked about our accomplishments over the past year and our updated strategic priorities. Thanks to your participation and input in our summer strategy sessions, we’ve refined some of these priorities and started working on related activities. For anyone unable to attend, please check out the slide deck here.

As part of these conversations, we have been discussing artificial intelligence and how it could and should impact the student experience, research, internal processes, and how we position ourselves to external stakeholders concerning artificial intelligence. As part of these conversations, we have developed a school-level philosophy related to using AI in the classroom. We are also pleased to announce the launch of a new AI concentration in the MBA program, designed to equip students to lead in an AI-enabled business world. My most sincere thanks to our faculty and the MBA program teams for their hard work in developing this concentration. 

In addition, we are proud of the progress we are making on our partnership with Google around developing AI agents to further our thought leadership related to AI. You can read more about it in this story. One example of what we are doing in this area includes the Zell Lurie Institute’s stellar work in developing ZellBot, which is an AI tool for entrepreneurs’ venture planning. If you want to check it out, email zlicontact@umich.edu for access. We are also moving forward with our AI Learning Lab sessions and launching a task force on AI and research. 

Thanks as well to all 252 of you who took advantage of the Google training on Gemini this morning. We will follow up with another message on how to access the recording and resources here and at Google as you further explore AI. In the meantime, if you have specific questions, please reach out to Bill Hegyi (whegyi@umich.edu) on our IT team. So many of you have been involved in our AI efforts to date, and I especially want to thank Andrew Wu for his instrumental role in building the relationship with Google in this area.

On a different note, we are excited to host a joint event with U-M Athletics in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, around the football game against USC, to highlight all we are doing in LA.  If you happen to be in the area, the event will take place at the Jonathan Club (545 S. Figueroa St, Los Angeles) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It will be a great opportunity to showcase our new location for the Executive MBA cohort in LA, as well as our executive education and events facilities. Our location on the West Coast is an important part of continuing to elevate our reach, reputation, and brand across the United States and the globe — it will be terrific to have a state-of-the-art facility there to better highlight our academic excellence and to take better advantage of the business world opportunities represented there.

Locally, there are several other opportunities for our community to connect in the next few weeks, including our next Meeting Free Day on Oct. 8. On that day, all faculty and staff are welcome to attend our fall flannel fest open house from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Tauber Colloquium. Feel free to come wearing your favorite fall (flannel!) attire to enjoy cider, donuts, and conversation with colleagues. 

We will continue celebrating the fall season with our annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Voting will take place after our All Staff Meeting on Oct. 29 from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Tauber Colloquium. Many of us look forward to this fun, creative, and competitive event, which includes the chance to vote for your favorite pumpkin! HR will share more information soon.

In addition to these events, I’d like to remind you of opportunities to connect with me directly during my upcoming office hours, which can be found on the dean’s office webpage. Going forward, my in-person office hours are now on Wednesday afternoons in the Davidson Winter Garden and on the following dates and times:

• Oct. 15 from 4:15-5 p.m.
• Oct. 22 from 4:15-5 p.m.

In other news, our Homecoming football game is next Saturday, Oct. 4. We will cheer on our Michigan Wolverines against the Wisconsin Badgers at noon. Our Advancement team has planned a whole host of excellent events to welcome our alumni back to campus. It is always great fun to hear about the amazing things our alumni are doing in the world and how their time at Ross shaped their personal and professional successes.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication as we dive into the fall semester.  Best wishes for a productive and enjoyable fall.

Kind regards,

Sharon