Charge Dropped Against Booth MBA In Notorious Central Park Racism Incident

Forbes reports that the Chicago Booth MBA who went viral last year for racist behavior in New York City’s Central Park won’t be charged over the incident after all.

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office has dropped its criminal case against Amy Cooper, the New York City woman who called the police on a Black bird watcher in Central Park last spring, falsely claiming that he had threatened her,” the magazine reports.

Cooper, a a former vice president and head of investment solutions at Franklin Templeton Investments and a 2009 Chicago Booth MBA, had faced a misdemeanor charge over the incident last May.

Her racist actions occurred Memorial Day weekend and sparked a nationwide debate about the history of white people weaponizing police against persons of color. A day later, the country watched in horror as video surfaced of a Black man in Minneapolis, George Floyd, being killed by a police officer who kneeled on his back for nearly nine minutes with such force as to stop him from breathing. Protests soon erupted across the United States and continued through the summer.

4 in 5 Euro B-schools say they have sustained or increased their impact during the pandemic

The latest EFMD report, The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Business Schools, analyzes the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on business schools’ internal and external environments. Published in collaboration with survey software Le Sphinx, the report sheds light on how business schools are responding to the crisis and how they see the future.

The report finds that pandemic has shaken the foundations of business schools’ operations and teaching, but even more importantly, that schools have re-evaluated the core of their missions, re-established relations with global and local environments, realigned their approach to key stakeholders, and redefined their business models. The survey collected responses from over 100 business schools between October-November 2020 and analysed responses according to the Business Schools Impact System model.

Four in five business schools (79%) are confident that they have managed to sustain or increase their impact during the pandemic. The only significant difference between schools is based on their location: in Europe, fewer schools believe that their impact has increased (17% instead of 30%, on average).

Northwestern Kellogg MBAi announces fall curriculum

The MBAi, a joint-degree program through which students earn an MBA conferred by both University’s Northwestern Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering, has announced its curriculum for the inaugural fall cohort.

“With the recent and rapid advancements in technology (including machine learning and artificial intelligence) businesses have struggled to transform with it. Executives I’ve spoken to from around the globe — whether they’re CEOs, CMOs, CFOs — tell me they need people who can help connect their businesses with emerging technologies,” writes Eric Anderson, faculty director for the Kellogg-McCormick MBAi program. “That’s where MBAi comes in.”

Anderson adds that the MBAi program not only builds upon Kellogg’s innovative technology portfolio “but is custom-tailored for students with a strong technology background, offering an accelerated track to deepen your understanding of how technology and leadership intersect.” Read Poets&Quants‘ coverage of the MBAi program from last summer when it was announced.

Goizueta Business School launches Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation 

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School today announced the opening of the Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The center will foster both entrepreneurship and innovation for the Goizueta community. Born of critical inquiry, the center was developed to serve fundamental societal needs, executed according to sound business principles, and conceptualized in ways that open possibilities and spark imagination.

Here’s a short video about the new Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOMfTmftR8k&feature=youtu.be.

“We are very appreciative of the generosity of the Goizueta Foundation for its investment in the expanded scope and elevated commitment to innovation as a central theme that all organizations must embrace,” shared Robert Kazanjian, Asa Griggs Candler professor and academic director for the new center.

According to the school’s announcement, the idea behind the center is to provide student entrepreneurs with a multi-disciplinary approach to cultivate their ideas. Providing support to experiment and challenge themselves, students are offered co-curricular experiences, incubation, scenario testing, funding opportunities, and connections.

DON’T MISS CHICAGO BOOTH REMEMBERS FORMER DEAN, SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE SHULTZ