Dean’s Q&A: Sarah Nutter, Lundquist College of Business

Lundquist College of Business will launch a new Master of Science in Finance in 2018, allowing student to do a joint MBA-MsF degree.

How would you describe the Lundquist College’s strengths?

Some of the things we are known for are sports business and green sustainability. When you say sustainability or sports management, the first words out of your mouth are “Oregon.” They are already embedded here in our DNA, and our faculty are doing research in these areas. The state is known for it, the school is known for it, and it’s something we should be known for globally.

That, and entrepreneurship and innovation, will be what I really focus on here. We will be the center on campus for how you practice entrepreneurship. Students all over campus will come to our lab to learn the craft, and we’ll be known for driving innovation.

The finance center is also really amazing. That center does amazing work, and donors are actively engaged with helping students at the undergraduate and graduate level get incredible jobs.

From what you’ve seen so far, what is the MBA experience like for students at Lundquist?

Our students have between four and five years of experience, and the program is medium-sized. We’re looking to have 70 students per class this year, so it’s a smaller program. But it’s collaborative and engaged, and students are in and around with us all the time. I have already caught the excitement of the MBA program.

We have students coming to live and work in Eugene, which is a medium-sized town, and the vibe of the college is collaborative and focused. Students pick one or more centers to be involved with, and they dig into those topics. Our largest emphasis in the program is around sports and sustainability, so one would expect that students identify with those coming in.

There’s a focus on industry learning and going on tours. There’s an engaging Asia experience that most of our students do. And I think that the whole tightness of the group makes a difference. Students form life-long relationships with classmates, faculty, and with the region, too.

A key thing about the MBA program — what’s unique about it — is the individualized attention that each student gets. That’s what I see happening, that’s what’s really special. They’re a person, not a number.

What types of careers do MBA graduates go into after the Lundquist College?

Many of the students go out, like other MBAs, into the expected careers: finance and accounting and investment banking. Our students who go into sustainable business work in all kinds of fields: food and beverage, sports apparel, and more. In terms of sports business, we’re a hotbed in Oregon, so they’re going out to product companies like Nike. They work for teams and leagues, and they work for news and media and gaming companies. And for students in entrepreneurship and innovation, some start companies and have successful launches, and others use those skills to enter into small high-growth organizations.

But many of these work together. You might have someone interested in sustainability and entrepreneurship, and they tailor their path and work with the centers and the faculty to craft their own future.

Are there any plans or opportunities you see for the Lundquist College to create new programs?

Yes, the MSF program — the Master of Science in Finance. We’re already working to combine that with the MBA, so students can earn the MBA and that in two years plus one quarter.

We’re working on the sports product management program in Portland, too. Sports is a big area for us, so I would expect us to lean into that more over time, and bring the expertise that we already have to other graduate programs. And I think the same is true in the sustainability area.

Those are a couple of things, and we’re also thinking about ways to help students who are undergraduates leverage into graduate programs that would allow them to hit the ground running. We have our 3+1 program in accounting, and now a 3+1 program in finance, too.

At my former institution, we introduced a Master’s of Science in Management program for people who have an undergraduate degree in a major other than business. It gives them the business fundamentals to accelerate their careers. That program is high-value for students and allows them to rapidly succeed once they have their first jobs. We’ll be looking into specialized master’s programs like that, and I think we can really add high value.

What is the value of business education today? What do business and MBA graduates bring to the table?

I’m passionate about this. What MBAs and business education bring to the table is a well-rounded professional who understands from the ground up how to build a successful business, how to translate ideas into action, and how to execute.

The single most common reason for people to come back to graduate school in business is because they’re missing the business fundamentals, most often accounting and finance. But they’ve been successful in their professions — they’ve been successful engineers, scientists, journalists, artists, doctors — and they see a point in their careers where they’re transitioning to a leadership role.

They also need to understand strategy, how to make teams work well, and setting a direction for a business. There’s this transformative experience that happens in graduate education, where you’re taking an individual who is already incredibly accomplished, and they’re coming back and saying here’s the missing piece in my portfolio. All of those are skills we don’t come by naturally — they’re learned skills. So we’re setting the stage for these people who are already accomplished, to move on and take leadership positions.

And at the undergraduate level, what happens when you have a business education as an undergraduate is that you are set up for success. You understand how organizations work, and you bring to the table not only your functional expertise, but a broad understanding of how businesses operate.

In today’s environment, whether you’re an artist or a chemist, whatever your passion is, I’m a huge advocate of students at least minoring in business. You could be an artist who’s going to run a business someday, or a chemist who wants to work for an organization, and if you understand how that organization works, you’ll be a better contributor.

What advice do you have for students considering an MBA today?

I think the biggest one is fit. Really look for the right fit for you. I think there are many schools that do graduate education well, so when you look at it, what you really want to look at is fit. Do they have the kind of culture that I would be successful in?

Our organization isn’t huge, but it’s focused. It’s got its four centers. Do you want a platform like this? Is that where you learn best? Are these areas that resonate with you? Fit is huge. Is the organization the kind of place that will allow you to thrive?

How does it feel to be the first female dean of the Lundquist College?

You know, I think that as the dean — and this is my second deanship — I don’t know if there’s any particular way that I feel about this. I think it feels good, but I don’t think I’ve had any sense that there’s anything strange about that. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have opportunities for leadership in mostly male-dominated contexts. When I was a female Ph.D. student, there was only one female faculty member. When I joined George Mason it was also a male-dominated atmosphere.

Being from a farm environment, people just lean into their strengths and execute them, and I’m not sure if there’s any concern about where you came from. It’s what you can do. So as the first female dean, I guess I’m excited to be part of this organization and help build out something beautiful, so when we leave we’ll say we left it better than we found it.

What do you hope your legacy at Lundquist will be?

Well, whenever it’s time for me not to be here, and I don’t know when that is, I really hope that my legacy will be that we have built on an already strong foundation, that we put students first, and in doing so, we enriched the community around us and built a solid structural foundation for the school.

I can talk about legacy in saying that I hope we’ll be the number-one green MBA in perpetuity, and that is true, but the durable thing is what we build into the lives of our students and our faculty and staff. That we create a space where people come and learn, and when they leave they stay engaged with us forever. That’s when you know you have success. Connectedness that is maintained for a lifetime, and people who say “That place changed my life.”

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