School News

Second Year students celebrated their last day of class in May as they prepared to step forward into their post-MBA careers.

Rankings Reveal Top Career Results for Darden Class of 2020

Rankings season returned this year, but like so many things during the pandemic, it was not like any other. Many top MBA programs chose not to participate in the rankings, and Darden declined to participate in fall rankings from The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek and The Princeton Review (though they still ranked the School).

The School did, however, participate in rankings released this spring from Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.

In the Financial Times’ annual global MBA ranking, Darden was ranked the No. 11 MBA program in the world and No. 6 in the United States. Both figures represent new highs in the ranking for the School’s MBA program. The publication noted that some schools opted to suspend participation in the rankings due to ongoing complications related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 ranking of the best graduate business programs in the United States, Darden was ranked No. 13 overall and No. 2 among public schools. Darden received a pair of Top 10 program rankings this spring.

2020–21 RANKINGS UPDATE

No.2 (U.S. News & World Report) MBA PROGRAM AMONG PUBLIC SCHOOLS No.5 PERCENTAGE EMPLOYED AT GRADUATION

No.6 MBA PROGRAM IN THE UNITED STATES (Financial Times)

Career outcomes once again drove Darden's rankings success.

No.4 ALUMNI AIMS (Financial Times) ACHIEVED No.5 HIGHEST AVERAGE STARTING SALARY AND BONUS (Class of 2020)

(U.S. News & World Report) (U.S. News & World Report) No.7 HIGHEST SALARY (ALUMNI) (Financial Times) No.9 PERCENTAGE SALARY INCREASE (ALUMNI) (Financial Times)

State of the School: Record Apps, Rankings and Alumni Reach Prove ‘Future Is Bright’

“The COVID crisis reminds us that the need for Darden is greater than ever. If anything, coming out of the pandemic, we see the urgent need for responsible leadership and the hunger that people have to seek education and ways to pursue their dreams.” — Dean Scott Beardsley

At his State of the School address during Darden Reunion Week, Dean

Scott Beardsley said the “future is bright” for the Darden School thanks to the momentum it has built through alumni support and success navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The COVID crisis reminds us that the need for Darden is greater than ever,”

Beardsley said. “If anything, coming out of the pandemic, we see the urgent need for responsible leadership and the hunger that people have to seek education and ways to pursue their dreams.”

As evidence of Darden’s current strength, Beardsley said that applications to join the Darden Full-Time MBA and

Executive MBA Class of 2023 set a new record, surpassing the previous record set the prior year to join the Class of 2022.

Darden has met the challenges of the current moment in many ways, Beardsley said. The School is recognized as a leader for its online and hybrid in-person and virtual delivery, has grown its overall scholarship program and launched the AccessDarden need-based scholarship program, and helped the Class of 2020 earn record average starting salaries, with a record number of graduates accepting jobs in the booming tech industry.

Beardsley also cited further tangible measures of strength, including Darden’s ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek as the No. 1 public MBA program — and No. 5 overall — in the United States, its No. 1 ranking by The Princeton Review for Best Professors and the School’s 17,000-plus alumni spread across 90 countries.

Incredible support for the School’s Powered by Purpose capital campaign undergirds much of the current momentum. The campaign launched publicly in October 2019, and the School had already raised $324.9 million toward the $400 million campaign goal as of 30 April 2021. Counting matching funds from UVA and gifts made to other foundations on behalf of Darden, the total impact of the campaign stood at more than $410 million.

Beardsley noted donors have helped fund the creation of 28 new endowed faculty chairs and 89 new student scholarships.

“We have incredible momentum, and I am so grateful to all of our donors,” Beardsley said. “To reach our goals, we’ll need to maintain it and secure transformational gifts. Excellence requires resources, and Darden aspires to be one of the preeminent business schools in the world.”

SCHOOL NEWS Remembering Frank M. Sands Sr., Whose Philanthropy Transformed Darden

Frank M. Sands Sr. (MBA ’63), the founder of Sands Capital who left an indelible mark on Darden, passed away at his home in March.

Sands and his family have helped transform the Darden School on a variety of fronts, including enabling the School’s expansion into the Washington, D.C., area and fortifying key areas of strength.

He gave selflessly of his time and served on the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees since 2011. Sands received the Charles C. Abbott Award — the highest honor the School bestows on alumni — in 2017.

In 2019, Sands made the largest gift in school history, $68 million, to benefit Darden’s professors, its students and lifelong learners, and facilities.

“I am a big believer in lifelong learning, and that learning is enabled by great faculty,” Sands said in 2019 at an event recognizing his philanthropy. “I hope this gift will inspire others to give and hope that the School will continue to be a true force for good in the free markets and broader world.” His giving has enabled:

• The Marjorie R. and Frank M.

Sands Sr. Institute for Lifelong

Learning, which will grow Darden’s innovation in pedagogy and delivery of transformational lifelong learning experiences. • 12 new faculty chairs, including four distinguished professorship chairs named in honor of Darden professors with a legacy of exceptional teaching and commitment to the School — John

Forbes, Bob Landel, Yiorgos Allayannis and Bob Bruner — and an additional eight term chairs, called the Sands

Professorships. • Grounds Master Plan support in

Charlottesville and in the Washington,

D.C., area, including support to jumpstart construction of the new UVA Inn at

Darden and Conference Center for

Lifelong Learning (See update on Page 8). He also established a gift-matching

Frank M. Sands Sr. (MBA ’63) fund to renovate C. Ray Smith Alumni

Hall, named in honor of Dean Emeritus

C. Ray Smith (MBA ’58), who mentored

Sands. Thanks to the fund, any gift to the project is matched 1:1 up to $7.2 million, and about $3 million in new gifts is needed to complete the renovation.

Sands’ record-setting gift built on the joint donation that he and his son Frank Sands (MBA ’94) made to build Darden’s new campus in the Rosslyn district of Arlington, Virginia — UVA Darden DC Metro at the Sands Family Grounds — which opened in March 2018.

Darden Executive Education Partners With 2 UVA Schools to Offer New Data Science for Business Strategy Certificate

Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning, the University of Virginia School of Data Science and the UVA McIntire School of Commerce have partnered to launch the noncredit Certificate in Data Science for Business Strategy, a new program series that explores ways to capitalize on the explosion of data, analytics and technology to define and execute better strategies, transform businesses and develop datasavvy future leaders. The programs required to complete the certificate are:

• Strategic Use of Data • Data Science Methods and Applications • Managing Information for Analytics Learners who complete the certificate will be equipped to drive organizational strategy through a data-first approach, gaining valuable expertise to accelerate their career. “The proliferation of data and analytics has created unprecedented opportunities and unimaginable risks for many industries and companies,” said Professor Yael GrushkaCockayne, who teaches multiple sessions in the program series. “These classes, which bring together top faculty from across UVA, will allow leaders with a variety of backgrounds to capitalize on the rapidly changing technical landscape and execute superior business strategies across teams and organizations.” “The intersection of data science and business practice offers many opportunities for the innovative application of analytic methods and tools to real-world business challenges,” said Phil Bourne, dean of the UVA School of Data Science. “Our partnership with Darden and McIntire offers a powerful platform of unique expertise and resources to benefit leaders in business and society.” The noncredit Certificate in Data Science for Business Strategy program series is offered online this summer and in-person at the Darden Grounds in Charlottesville in the fall.

Darden alumni receive a 30 percent discount. Learn more at: DARDEN.EDU/DATA-SCIENCE.