A Message
from the Dean

For generations, earning a business degree meant being “set for life.” Business graduates followed the “4+40 Plan” — four years of college provided everything needed for a forty-year career with the company that hired them straight out of school. 

How times have changed. Graduates are no longer “set for life.” Universities must now prepare students not just for their first job, but for their second, third, fourth, and beyond. While the future has always been hard to predict, what we can foresee is the need to equip graduates for tomorrow’s jobs — many of which do not exist today, will be in industries yet to be created, and will require the use of technology and skills yet to be invented. 

Our most sacred trust is to prepare and inspire students for this ever-changing world. We must become more interdisciplinary. As all business becomes technology business, we must create opportunities for students to cross disciplinary boundaries and pursue interests that do not fit neatly into one domain. Our programs must prepare graduates to meet tomorrow’s needs for digital and tech-savvy interdisciplinary talent and solutions. Our sister schools and colleges will be our best partners in this endeavor. 

We must also continue to make business education more experiential. Experience-based education keeps learning relevant and forward-looking. It integrates current and emerging practices into our programs, providing students with engaging ways to learn about both. It deepens understanding of analytical concepts and tools, builds confidence in their use, and hones skills essential for their successful application. It fosters real-world critical thinking and soft skills, and provides a powerful context for developing leadership and teamwork capabilities.  

Our goal is for all students to have opportunities for relevant experience-based learning during their programs, building on the rich portfolio that we already offer that includes the Bridge Program, Consulting Field Projects, Smart Woman Securities, Super Analytics Challenge, and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, just to name a few. This approach will enable Pitt Business’s programs to go beyond helping students master the fundamentals of business to equipping them with the full set of professional capabilities needed for success in the twenty-first century. 

Our most important strategic partners in pursuing this goal will be our alumni and recruiters. We need to increase the number of alumni and companies with whom we work closely and deepen those relationships – not just for recruiting purposes, but to enrich our programs, keep them relevant, enable high-impact research, and enhance professional development opportunities for students, faculty, and staff. Our new Office of Strategic Partnerships, featured on here, will play a key role in facilitating these partnerships. 

We have the highest aspirations for our students and Pitt Business, but we cannot achieve them alone. The School needs support from alumni, parents, and partners around the world. Just as important as financial support are gifts of time and talent — speaking to students on campus, mentoring them, lending expertise to faculty, advising on curricula, hosting experiential learning projects, hiring students as interns, and more. I invite and encourage you to renew your commitment to the School, to the impact it had on you, and to the impact it will have on the leaders of tomorrow.