Meet The First B-School Professor To Go To Space

Jim Kitchen, a professor of the practice of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler, will be one of the passengers on the next Blue Origin space flight

It will last just 13 minutes, but it’s a trip Professor Jim Kitchen has been waiting for his entire life.

Kitchen, a professor of the practice of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, has been selected to be part of the six-person crew of Blue Origin’s next flight to space. It’s the 20th in the New Shepard program’s history and just the fourth with people on board for Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

His flight takes off March 23 at 8:30 a.m. CDT in West Texas. Blue Origin’s NS-20 flight will take Kitchen 65 miles up – 10 times higher than a plane – at 2,300 miles per hour and then 2,600 miles per hour on the way back down.

It will take him to a place he has long dreamed of.

Vivek Farias

MIT Sloan School of Management has announced the launch of a new Digital Product Management Certificate program, created in response to increasing demand from both students and employers. The certificate is available to students who are enrolled in MIT Sloan graduate degree programs.

Product managers play a number of important and complex roles, overseeing the processes of how a product is designed, engineered, marketed, and launched. Research from McKinsey & Company indicates that the role of product manager is growing and changing, with an increased focus on understanding the customer and using machine-learning tools designed to augment decision making. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of global technology leaders surveyed for the IEEE’s Impact of Technology in 2022 and Beyond survey say recruiting for open tech positions—requiring skills in technology, business and leadership—will be challenging.

“The field of product management has changed dramatically, largely because of the need to deliver value in software,” says Vivek Farias, Patrick J. McGovern (1959) professor at MIT Sloan and faculty lead of the new certificate program. “This is not just an engineering task, and often the types of problems solved with software can’t be defined right away. It’s an art to be able to manage a complex, iterative process and learn from the market—while not spending too much time or money. Good product managers are experts at that art.”

GMAC launches scholarship to increase diversity in European business education

The Graduate Management Admission Council has launched a new scholarship, the GMAT Talent and Opportunity Scholarship, for 10 European business school applicants, aimed at improving inclusion in graduate management education and reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

The scholarship is open to applicants from all backgrounds, including from women, candidates with disabilities, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, LGBTQ+ and non-binary candidates and lower socio-economic backgrounds, given the under-representation of these groups in the business school community.

The award demonstrates GMAC’s commitment to improving inclusion and access to business school. Scholarship recipients will receive an award of $2,500 each, which will cover the cost of their GMAT exam, preparation material, group/private tutoring with a test prep organization, and 3 hours consultation with a professional admissions consultant.

Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business opens data analytics visualization lab

Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business has opened a new data analytics visualization lab, a classroom outfitted with technology to help students interpret, manipulate and present large amounts of data. Students from a range of academic majors, including accounting and information systems, will learn skills crucial to the future of business.

“The lab will help turn students into storytellers,” said JP Krahel, associate professor and chair of accounting. “It’s not enough anymore to compile data. You need to be able to draw meaningful conclusions and to convey that meaning to stakeholders. This investment shows that we’re serious about future-proofing our students’ careers.”

The data analytics visualization lab will offer more powerful computing, projectors with touch capability on a 12-foot smartboard, seven large display monitors for huddle areas, integrated Zoom video conferencing with a high-resolution camera that can track subjects and movable, modular classroom furniture. The technology will help students turn raw data into colorful charts, graphs, maps, dashboards and other graphics to aid in data-driven decision-making.

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