Q&A: Senior Associate Dean Roman Kapuscinski on the Importance and Impact of Centers and Institutes

The centers and institutes at Michigan Ross play a critical role in fostering collaboration, experimentation, and professional growth. To shed light on their impact, we spoke with Roman Kapuscinski, senior associate dean for faculty and research. He shares how these hubs connect faculty, staff, students, and alums, and provide various hands-on learning opportunities for students to network with entrepreneurs and other business leaders.

What role do the Ross centers and institutes play in advancing the school’s mission?

Centers and institutes attract incoming students. Many students join Ross because of our centers and institutes. Many of our alumni talk about centers and institutes when they relate back to their time at Ross. They engage faculty and staff, and they create communities around exciting activities and ideas. Not surprisingly, they play a significant role in advancing the school’s mission of building a better world through business. While linked to Ross, many institutes offer programs for students from Ross and other colleges across the university. Each one focuses on a specific business function, such as technology, entrepreneurship, real estate, operations, or sustainability, and offers a range of programs that allow students to gain experience outside the classroom. Many of them help students build leadership skills. 

Internally, these centers create an environment that fosters focused collaboration, learning, and innovation. Externally, they showcase Ross and the broader university’s strengths and expertise locally, nationally, and globally. We see that the centers are very flexible; they adapt their offerings to what’s most useful or interesting to students and other participants.

Can you share a specific instance of a successful faculty collaboration with a center or institute?

One recent faculty collaboration comes from the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship and Cheng Gao, assistant professor of strategy. Gao collaborated with Zell to launch the Zell Lurie Entrepreneurship Research Seminar Series, which brings together practitioners, educators, faculty, and students to discuss a range of topics — not just entrepreneurship, but also its connections to innovation, technology, and strategy. This mix of perspectives leads to lively discussions and has been hugely popular.

Successful faculty collaboration with the centers and institutes happens in nearly each of them. Business+Tech partners with faculty to design and run programs such as Datathon. Within the Tauber Institute, faculty might work with students to design a conference on artificial intelligence and manufacturing, or in the Weiser Center for Real Estate, design a conference on investments in Real Estate. Faculty routinely supervise student projects sponsored by centers.

Why is it beneficial to have these centers and institutes as part of the Ross community?

Centers and institutes are a huge asset to the Ross community, opening doors for staff and faculty to get involved, connect, and grow professionally. They enable faculty to supervise real-world projects, lead innovative seminars, and participate in conferences that keep teaching and research fresh. Some centers, like the Mitsui Life Financial Research Center and Paton Center for Research in Accounting, are heavily focused on faculty research and provide funding, host external speakers, and organize symposia and other events that bring the academic community together. These centers not only support faculty but also organize events and provide financial support for students. The Center for Positive Organizations builds on research initiated at Ross and disseminates it both among faculty, practitioners, and students.

Staff benefit in their own way, too. While most events aren’t designed solely for staff, many, such as the Positive Links Speaker Series, are open to everyone in the Ross community, giving staff the opportunity to hear from top experts and make new connections. Additionally, staff members who work directly in centers and institutes often choose their roles based on their personal passion and expertise. For example, someone interested in sustainability may work with the Erb Institute, or someone drawn to entrepreneurship may join ZLI. This means that staff with specific interests have the opportunity to work closely with leaders, faculty, students, and outside practitioners in their respective areas of interest.

Are there focus areas that a center or institute has that give Ross a competitive edge among leading business schools?

I am going to provide a few examples, but effectively, each of our Centers and Institutes sets us apart: the Sanger Leadership Center developed the Michigan Model of Leadership, a practical, hands-on approach that emphasizes self-awareness, collaboration, and adaptability. The MMOL has become a well-known and influential approach across business schools, and continues to shape how we teach and inspire students.

Tauber, in partnership with Michigan Engineering, brings students face-to-face with real business challenges through intensive summer internships. Ross students team up with major companies and collaborate in cross-disciplinary groups alongside engineering students. Faculty actively advise on complex, technical challenges that companies face today. This direct engagement exposes both students and faculty to emerging industry trends, making the learning experience dynamic and immediately relevant.

Erb partners with the School of Environment and Sustainability to run projects that address real environmental and social challenges in the business world. Students tackle issues that companies are dealing with, and faculty help guide these projects, which often lead to new insights and research. This collaborative approach puts Ross at the forefront of sustainable business education, and Erb’s reputation continues to attract students who want to make an impact.

Tozzi was among the first academic trading floors. Business+Impact is focused on its motto of turning insights into action.

In your opinion, what are some of the most exciting new directions or initiatives coming from a Ross center or institute?

There’s a lot of innovation happening lately! One standout is the new Real Estate Finance and Investment (FIN 566) class launched by the Weiser Center for Real Estate just this month, which is very unique among business schools. This class gives students hands-on experience managing specialized real estate investment funds. Students work alongside industry experts and practitioners, learning how these complex investments operate and making real decisions in a controlled, educational setting. The class offers a unique opportunity for students to develop practical skills that are hard to find at other business schools.

Another exciting development is Business+Impact’s deepening partnership with the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurship Project. DNEP is expanding its base in Detroit at the U-M Center for Innovation, bringing students and resources even closer to local startups and communities. Through DNEP, students work directly with local businesses as consultants and get to engage in valuable, hands-on activities.

On the technology side, many centers are engaging with artificial intelligence. Ross is collaborating with Google on agentic artificial intelligence, building educational platforms with digital AI mentors — interactive characters that answer questions and guide students using the professor’s expertise and teaching style. ZLI is already piloting some of these AI-powered models. These will be extended further, thanks in part to Andrew Wu, associate professor of Technology and Operations.

All in all, there’s a spirit of experimentation and progress across the centers and institutes, keeping Ross at the cutting edge of business research and education.