Chicago Booth Remembers Former Dean, Secretary Of State George Shultz

George Pratt Shultz, a former Chicago Booth professor and dean who led a distinguished career in government, business, and academia, died Feb. 6 at age 100.

Shultz was one of only two Americans to have held four different federal cabinet posts. He helped President Ronald Reagan resolve the Cold War as US Secretary of State — a role he filled after stints in the Nixon administration as labor secretary, treasury secretary, and director of the Office of Management and Budget. He also served as a senior staff economist on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisers.

“As dean, George left a lasting impact on Chicago Booth. As a statesman, he brought Chicago thinking and the school’s distinctive values into policy-making,” said Madhav Rajan, Booth Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting. “His illustrious career in government, academia, and business was an inspiration. We are grateful for George’s service and deeply saddened by his loss.”

Born Dec. 13, 1920, and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, Shultz joined the UChicago faculty in 1957 after beginning his career as a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Chicago Booth, he made significant contributions as a professor of industrial relations and later as dean. At UChicago, he also befriended Nobel Prize-winning economists Milton Friedman and George Stigler.

In 2018, the Polsky Center renamed its Innovation Fund after Shultz. The fund invests in promising scientific and technology startups from an ecosystem that includes the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab and the Marine Biological Laboratory.

Toronto Rotman launches Black entrepreneurship course, Black business conference

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto has launched a first-of-its-kind course on Black entrepreneurship and leadership in Canada this month for MBA students at the Rotman School. The course was developed in partnership with the BlackNorth Initiative, which was created by the Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism to combat anti-Black systemic racism in Corporate Canada.

The course is open to MBA students at the Rotman School who will be joined by emerging young Black leaders across Canada as well as members of the business community. Case studies, some developed specifically for the course, feature current and past successful entrepreneurs such as Viola Diamond, Michael Lee-Chin, and Prem Watsa. The course will provide students with a deep understanding of systemic anti-Black racism faced by Black entrepreneurs. Students will also learn skills to create real sustainable change and combat anti-Black systemic racism.

The Rotman School is also planning a conference to attract Black young professionals to management education and to promote the range of graduate programs the school has available. On February 27, Rotman’s full-time MBA recruitment and admissions team will host the Inaugural Future Black Business Leaders Conference, in partnership with the Rotman African Caribbean Business Club (RACBC), a student club. The daylong event will feature keynotes from business leaders, a sample class, a panel discussion with current students and alumni, and interactive professional development breakouts with Amazon, Bain, CIBC Wood Gundy, Deloitte, IBM, ICON Talent Partners, RBC, and Scotiabank.

Maryland Smith unveils Flex MBA for part-time students

MBA degree seeking professionals in the Greater Washington and Baltimore region have a new option. The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has designed and opened a new Flex MBA program, providing versatile — in-person and online — access to a curriculum augmented with special topic seminars and completable within 24 months through the school’s Baltimore, Rockville and Washington, D.C. locations. Online information sessions are scheduled for Feb. 9, 16, and 24.

“The program’s design answers the fast pace of change in the current business environment and is ideal for students with five to eight years of professional experience,” says Maryland Smith Dean of Master’s Programs Wendy Moe. “The Flex MBA increases flexibility in an MBA curriculum delivered by a deep bench of renowned faculty and strengthens Maryland Smith’s position to produce high-level, data-informed thinkers and leaders, who are prepared to catalyze change in their organizations.”

Versatility keys the new design. “Students can select the pace and location that best suits their career goals,” says Paulo Prochno, Maryland Smith’s assistant dean for part-time MBA and online programs. “The looming return to full, in-person classes intensifies the significance for MBA programs to accommodate, at a high level of quality, wide-ranging needs and preferences in terms of learning style and job requirements affecting availability,” he says. “Some people prefer and thrive in an online environment; some need the in-person experience to achieve their learning objectives.”

INSEAD launches virtual business certificate program 

INSEAD, recently named the top business school in the world by The Financial Times, is launching a new program, the live virtual “Business Foundations Certificate Program,” which is an applied introduction to business from INSEAD and Sorbonne University.

The program is tailored for recent master’s or Ph.D.graduates from the sciences, medicine, humanities, engineering, and law. It equips participants with a broad set of business and economics skills that optimally complement their graduate training. “It also supports participants’ transition to a business career and helps aspiring entrepreneurs to fulfill the goal of their own start-up by complementing their ideas with a solid foundation in business and leadership.”

The program will be mostly held online, increasing flexibility for participants who are wrapping up a Ph.D. or working anywhere in Europe and Africa.

Reaching Out MBA seeks new program director

Reaching Out MBA, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to increase the influence of the LGBT+ community in business by educating, inspiring, and connecting LGBT+ MBAs and alumni, is seeking a program director. Programs — like the group’s flagship event, the annual ROMBA conference — are at the core of the Reaching Out MBA mission. The director will be responsible for leading the strategic direction and guiding the day-to-day aspects of the group’s year-round programming including innovation, planning, promotion, execution, and stakeholder management.

Interested candidates should email a resume and cover letter to Executive Director Aidan Currie at acurrie@reachingoutmba.org. Learn more about Reaching Out MBA here and here.

DON’T MISS: HBS ONLINE HAS A NEW CELEBRITY ALUM: JA RULE