Letter from the Dean
As we conclude another academic year at the Whitman School of Management, I am excited to share more of the stories of success that underscore our commitment to offering cutting-edge education that prepares students for the dynamic world that awaits, our continued innovation and an unwavering emphasis on excellence.
Unsurprisingly, over the last year we’ve kept pace with one of the most important technological advancements facing society—that of artificial intelligence. Over the last year, we’ve trained our faculty, staff and students to become more comfortable with AI, and it’s become increasingly pervasive throughout our curriculum. We even hosted a live case competition where students developed AI strategy for an alumni-run business, the Chocolate Pizza Company. Our faculty has been monitoring the development of AI and are carrying out research on how AI is impacting corporations and industries across a variety of fronts, and many of our alumni have taken on leadership roles in a variety of AI-related positions in their professional careers. Whitman is expecting AI to have a deep and broad impact on business, and our students are already being expected to use AI with great levels of comfort as part of their internships. This is truly a technological advancement that will profoundly impact how we work in the future.
Whitman has also endeavored to keep close ties with industry. As part of this, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Salzberg program. This program brings together experts in supply chain management from academia and industry. Our long-standing supply chain management program is one of the areas where Whitman has distinguished itself—and Salzberg is perhaps the crown jewel in that program. Further, we brought in an exemplary set of leaders to be part of our IMPACT Speaker Series to discuss AI at a global scale, transforming culture, managing difficult situations and team building, among other topics. Our globally top-ranked entrepreneurship program celebrated a milestone 10th anniversary for our Orange Tank competition and our second anniversary of our ’CUSE50 event recognizing the 50 fastest growing alumni-founded businesses. These are just a few of the ways that we connect students to amazing entrepreneurs and business leaders.
At the heart of our work are our students. In this issue of the magazine, we highlight some of our most impressive students. These students are exemplary in their own ways—including dedicated student entrepreneurs, highly engaged students supporting others and students who are balancing their studies with exciting work experience, to name just a few ways our students excel. This year we had not one but two seniors recognized by Poets&Quants as two of the best and brightest students in the country. Their accomplishments reflect the high caliber of our students and the quality of education at Whitman.
Many of these initiatives and others—such as our work with donors and parents—exemplify our dedication to fostering a learning environment that is among the best in the nation. Some of the performance metrics that we follow—such as job placement for graduating seniors and national rankings, remain very high. We saw our undergraduate placement rate reach its highest yet—98.7% among those actively seeking jobs. We also saw record-breaking starting salaries for both our undergraduate and MBA programs. We received a No. 1 ranking in the country for private schools based on return on investment, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, and we recently received our highest rankings for our MBA in 25 years.
As we continue to evolve our school, we remain committed to providing our students with the tools and knowledge necessary to lead and innovate in their future careers. Thank you for being an integral part of the Whitman community for an eventful and productive year. We welcome your support and engagement—and we’ve highlighted a few ways to be involved in this magazine. I look forward to continued success for the Whitman community in the time ahead.