September 2026 Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

The fall semester is well underway, and there is a great deal happening across Michigan Ross.

I want to begin by thanking everyone who joined us for our State of the School. It was an opportunity to reflect on what we accomplished together over the past year and to share insights related to the year ahead. I am grateful for the many ways faculty and staff contribute to Ross every day, and I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate with so many of you at the reception. For those of you who couldn’t attend, the slides we used are here.

We also recently celebrated the naming of the Andrew Lawlor Office of Action-Based Learning in honor of Professor Andrew “Andy” Lawlor. Andy played a central role in building action-based learning at Ross into what it is today. Beginning with his first MBA entrepreneurship course in 1982, he brought his experience as an executive into the classroom and helped turn MAP from an innovative idea into one of our signature global programs. Over the years, he provided guidance to nearly 3,300 MBA students working on 680 projects. Even after his retirement, Andy continued to volunteer his time with the OABL team. It is fitting that the office now bears his name, and we are grateful for the vision, teaching, mentorship, and leadership he brought to Ross for more than four decades. I am deeply grateful to the Weiser family for its generous gift, which made it possible to name the office in Andy’s honor and create a lasting tribute to his contributions to Ross and to action-based learning.

This week in our AI Business Transformation Speaker Series, presented in partnership with the Handleman Lecture Series, we welcome two speakers. Yesterday, I talked with JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, and today, we will hear from Rich Lesser, global chair of Boston Consulting Group. I enjoyed the conversation with Jamie on a broad range of topics, from AI to his connections to Michigan and leadership, and I look forward to hearing Rich’s perspective on how the consulting field and BCG are navigating the opportunities and challenges that AI brings. Conversations like these are an important part of our effort to understand how AI is changing businesses and, in turn, how we should prepare our students to lead in that environment. These conversations also provide important insights into where rigorous and thoughtful research is needed to better understand how this technology is impacting nearly every discipline related to business. Next semester, we will welcome the editor-in-chief of The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes, so be on the lookout for information on that event.

Also, coming up on Friday is the pilot of the Signature Learning Experience sprint in our MBA program that many of you have been instrumental in helping us to develop. A special thanks to the FTMBA team and to our faculty track leads (Josh Botkin, Erik Gordon, MS Krishnan, and Jeff Sinclair) for moving these efforts forward so effectively. We look forward to the launch and feedback on how it goes so we can continue to refine this as part of our efforts to set up our MBA students to get the most out of their learning experience here.

Earlier this month, we also celebrated the opening of our new campus in Los Angeles. The opening brought together Ross alumni from across the West Coast, as well as members of the Los Angeles and broader U-M communities. Establishing a more permanent Ross presence in LA is an important step in expanding our reach, reputation, and impact. Check out some of the photos in this month’s Ross Report feature story, as well as in my column in The University Record.

As always, I welcome opportunities to connect with faculty and staff during my open office hours. My next in-person office hours will be Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 4:15–5 p.m. in the Davidson Winter Garden. I will also hold a Zoom session on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 4:15–5 p.m. Information about both sessions is available on the Dean’s Office webpage.

Thank you for all that you do for Michigan Ross. I hope the semester is off to a strong start, and I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming events.

Kind regards,

Sharon