Michigan Receives Anonymous $5M Donation For Ross Scholarships

University of Michigan, Ross School of Businss

An anonymous donor has gifted $5 million to the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business for scholarships directed to students who have “demonstrated notable determination to succeed in business and in life,” according to a report in Crain’s.

The donation established the True Grit Scholarship Fund, which will cover partial and full-ride scholarships for select domestic and international business students, according to a Tuesday news release from the university. The fund was named and created by a Michigan Ross alumnus who wants to remain anonymous, the university said.

“I’m incredibly excited to announce the new True Grit Scholarship Fund to support students who have overcome challenges to pursue their business education at Michigan Ross,” Scott DeRue, dean of Michigan Ross, said in the release.

CEIBS dean appointed to GMAC board

CEIBS Dean Yuan Ding

CEIBS’ international credentials received a major boost Tuesday (January 26) with the appointment of Vice President and Dean Yuan Ding to the board of the Graduate Management Admission Council. Ding has been named a dean director and will begin his term immediately.

GMAC has 229 member schools (including CEIBS), representing 34 countries worldwide. The organization administers the Graduate Management Admission Test that continues to be the primary exam used for admission to business schools. The GMAT system is used by around 2,300 schools across the globe, covering 7,000 individual programs, and around 9 out of 10 new MBA enrollments around the world each year are made using a GMAT score.

Ding is only the second representative from an Asia-based school currently on GMAC’s board, which features leaders from elite business education institutions such as Wharton, Oxford Saïd, UC-Berkeley Haas and Imperial College.

“Representation on the GMAC board is a solid acknowledgement of the progress made by our school since its foundation, and enables us to both learn from their profound experience, and share our China-based knowledge, to further the development of business education worldwide,” Ding says.

“CEIBS and GMAC are organizations which both place paramount importance on the value of international collaboration, and as such we look forward to working with GMAC to promote the role business education can play in cultivating leaders who can help solve the world’s problems, and promote mutual understanding across borders.”

University of Chicago’s Polsky Center launches new deep tech accelerator

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago has launched the Compass, a first-of-its-kind deep tech accelerator program for early-stage startups and technologies created by researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

“Backed by a 25-year history of launching successful ventures, and leveraging business expertise from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Polsky Center created the Compass to focus on launching new, innovative companies,” says Christine Karslake, Ph.D., MBA, managing director, science ventures.

Participants gain access to world-class resources over the six month program with the goal of being investor-ready at the conclusion of the accelerator. Teams receive ecosystem introductions, mentorship, and educational training, and have the opportunity to access additional talent and funding for their ventures.

$3.2M Gift to create new ESG group at Georgetown McDonough

The Steers Center for Global Real Estate at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business has announced the launch of the Steers ESG Solutions Group, established through a $3.2 million gift from alumni Robert and Lauren Steers. The implications of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues on global businesses are topics that CEOs and boards of directors grapple with to identify the best way to incorporate them into their business model.

“Issues of ESG are vitally important today and will only gain strength overtime across the business landscape,” Robert Steers said in a news release. “We believe that the ESG Solutions Group will bring an unbiased, research-first approach to developing knowledge for the commercial real estate industry.”

The name of the Steers ESG Solutions Group was intentionally selected to suggest a private sector mindset that translates knowledge into practical solutions for the global commercial real estate industry. The group will be led by Steers Center faculty and staff with support from Steers Advisory Services, a program that involves undergraduate and MBA real estate students in real-time real estate projects and research.

‘Herd immunity’ key for workers’ return to office but won’t happen soon, says UNC analysis

Despite the current political drama playing out in Washington, hope remains for a better 2021. The approvals of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines provide a clear path for an end to the coronavirus pandemic that challenged almost every aspect of our lives in 2020. But a recent resurgence of the virus and increasing rates of infection indicate that a full return to normalcy — including when and how we go back to the office — is still months in the future, write two professors at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Clearly, workers with a choice will be reluctant to return to the office in pre-pandemic fashion until new cases fall substantially and the desired level of herd immunity is achieved. Until then, organizations will likely stagger hours, require employees to wear masks and modify workspaces to facilitate physical distancing. Companies wanting their workers back in the office sooner may have to offer incentives—for example, offering a daily stipend for onsite work.

But even a safe office or monetary gain may not be sufficient inducement for some employees, including those who rely on public transportation or have personal constraints (e.g., home schooling or childcare) that complicate a return to the office.

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