Another Top-50 B-School Makes Its MBA Program STEM

The Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University has joined other top-ranked business schools in offering a STEM-designated MBA program, the school announced May 7. SMU Cox’s Full-Time and Working Professional MBA programs, including the Professional MBA (part-time), the Executive MBA, the Online MBA and MBA Direct, now have the STEM designation, after receiving approval from the SMU Board of Trustees on May 7.

SMU Cox MBAs graduating in 2021 and later will have STEM degrees. The move is not retroactive to previous classes, Poets&Quants was told.

“Data and analytics are dramatically changing our business environment,” says Matthew B. Myers, dean of the Cox School, currently ranked 38th by Poets&Quants and 44th by U.S. News. “With this designation, we’re giving our students a competitive edge and preparing them for the future. Companies now know that when they hire a Cox graduate with a STEM-designated MBA, they’ll be gaining an employee with leadership and quantitative skills that will bring value to their organizations from day one.”

An MBA with STEM designation provides students with training in areas such as data analytics, business modeling, information systems for management, and managerial economics — concepts that business schools increasingly consider paramount as today’s businesses navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Cox School began teaching a revised curriculum, the NextGen Curriculum, this academic year to align with the business community’s increased emphasis on data and analytics.

See a comprehensive list of U.S. B-schools with STEM programs here, and Poets&Quants‘ story about smaller programs embracing STEM here.

Wharton releases report on Biden plan, saying it will increase debt by 5%

The Penn Wharton Budget Model at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday (May 5) released its detailed analysis of the budgetary and economic effects of President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan. The model estimates that:

• President Biden’s AFP would spend $2.5 trillion over the 10-year budget window (2022-2031), about $700 billion more than the White House’s estimate.
• The AFP would raise $1.3 trillion in new tax revenue over the same period, including almost $480 billion in additional revenue from enhanced IRS tax collection enforcement.
• By 2050, the model estimates that the AFP would increase government debt by almost 5% and decrease GDP by 0.4%, as the effects from larger debt on the economy outweigh the productivity gains associated with the new spending programs.

For more information, read the full report: President Biden’s American Families Plan: Budgetary and Macroeconomic Effects.

Northwestern Kellogg prof: How batting climate change can help the economy

The strength of the U.S. economy points not only to recovery from the depths of the pandemic, writes Phillip Braun, clinical professor of finance at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, but also expansion above pre-pandemic levels. Forecasts are for GDP growth above 6% for this year — the growth rate in the first quarter alone was “a phenomenal 6.4%.”

“In a widely held view, JPMorgan Chase JPM +0.3% CEO Jamie Dimon stated in his recent shareholder letter that ‘the U.S. economy will likely boom,’ which could ‘easily run into 2023,'” Braun writes.

“Even as the economy gains significant momentum, there are other forces: the Biden administration’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, along with proposed corporate tax increases, from 21% to 28%, plus a minimum corporate tax. The question is how these forces will net out for the economy over the long term. Will they cause the expansion to stall? Or could these plans and initiatives result in both greater efficiencies and new economic opportunities?”

Future uncertain for NYU Stern study abroad

Robert Whitelaw, the vice dean for the undergraduate college at the Stern School of Business, discussed in a March 26 email the pandemic’s disruption of Stern’s Global Pillar study away opportunities, such as the International Business Exchange Program, the International Studies Program and short-term immersions. Although he said a review of these programs was critical and recommendations would be forthcoming in the following weeks, more than a month has passed without updates.

“A committee of Stern faculty and administrators have begun a review of our competitors and are discussing how things like the pandemic and other global crises influence global business education,” Whitelaw wrote in the email.

This is not the first time Stern has revised its academic programs. According to Whitelaw, Stern completed a review of the four-course Social Impact Core in 2017 that resulted in increased diversity and inclusion content for all required coursework.

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