Georgetown McDonough Dean: Resolving To Make A Positive Impact In 2024

Paul Almeida: “When we embrace the world as our concern, encourage cross-border collaboration, and use innovation for social good, we can truly make an impact on global issues.”

If there’s one thing we can guarantee year over year, it’s the promise of change. This past year proved transformative in many ways for the business world as we navigated new technological innovations, economic uncertainty, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, among other factors. In a world where change is constant, I find assurance in our ability to ground ourselves in the values that give greater meaning to our lives.

Here at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, we remain firmly rooted in the Jesuit tradition with which our university was founded over 200 years ago. A lot has changed over two centuries, yet the values that guide our community still hold true: we care for one another, we promote a global perspective, we work toward a more equitable and just society, and we serve the common good.

Now more than ever, our world needs principled, compassionate leaders who can use business as a mechanism for good. In 2024, I resolve that the McDonough School of Business remains steadfast in its Jesuit mission to educate our students to be people for others and that we continue to grow and build new programs focused on service and community engagement.

We have seen tremendous impact from our service learning coursework such as the Social Impact Consulting Projects, where first-year undergraduate students work with a local nonprofit to address a real business problem and propose solutions, or the Ethics Project, a semester-long group project where students across graduate and undergraduates programs are charged with a simple prompt of doing something good that adds value to the world. Through these curricular experiences, our students learn how to be purpose-driven leaders while also making an immediate impact on their local community, and hopefully, they enter the workforce with the conviction of knowing they can truly make a difference.

As a global institution, we also understand how our values play an important role in advancing the world’s biggest challenges. When we embrace the world as our concern, encourage cross-border collaboration, and use innovation for social good, we can truly make an impact on global issues.

In our efforts to live these values, we have celebrated many high points over the past year: we launched a new Executive MBA program in Dubai to offer an in-depth look at global business in a different and dynamic part of the world; we convened hundreds of leaders and experts across fields such as sustainability, global business, finance, and policy to discuss critical issues that are impacting our world at the intersection of these disciplines; we welcomed entrepreneurs and venture capital leaders to the Hilltop for a discussion on how to use innovation and entrepreneurship to serve the common good; and we fostered community through events that care for the whole person and focus on service learning.

Our Jesuit values are our greatest strength as we lead through uncertainty, and this is what I’m most proud of over the past year. It’s a journey, but we will continue to challenge our community to live up to these values, be people for others, and make a positive impact on society in any way they can.

Paul Almeida is dean and William R. Berkley Chair of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.