GIES IN ACTION I 2020-21 ANNUAL REPORT
Leading with intention
When you lead with intention, you’re always ready to take action. And even in a year filled with extraordinary challenges, the Gies community never hit pause. So while the Business Instructional Facility was quiet during the pandemic, Gies was not. With precautions and Zooming, we kept Gies Business booming. Because we had intentionally built quality online offerings years earlier, we seamlessly moved our residential programs online. Our students didn’t miss a beat. Neither did our faculty and staff. They saw the challenge as an opportunity to lead— as a way to further advance our mission, serve our students, grow our programs, and position the College for what comes next. We established new degree and certificate programs. We launched our Disruption Lab. We expanded our experiential learning initiatives. We committed to building a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Gies and invested in the resources to make that a reality. We did it all with a clear focus on our strategic priorities and with purposeful action to meet our goal of being the most innovative business school in the world. Each step, each new initiative was intentional. That’s how you ensure progress. That’s how we lead at Gies.
Jeffrey R. Brown, Dean
20:20 / 20:21
About the Cover: By leading with intention, Gies provides expansive opportunities for students, including senior marketing major Christine Millins, who served as a Business 101 section leader, studied abroad in Belgium, and is proud to have recently accepted a job at Nielsen. Christine was filmed in BIF this spring for “The College Tour” on Amazon Prime, sharing how she has benefited from the Gies experience.
3x
Inspiring. Gies faculty and staff always set a strong pace. This year they accelerated it, raising the bar and redoubling their commitment to scholarship, teaching, and public service, earning accolades for their work and vision. When COVID hit in March 2020, they worked seamlessly to ensure a strong finish to the spring semester. They moved quickly from responding to the sudden crisis to providing leadership to thrive within a changing educational climate. Gies faculty were intentional—delivering their material online while also bringing their personal style of teaching and mentorship beyond the screen. They created teaching spaces at home. They worked diligently with our online learning team to expand their technical expertise. They revamped content. They found new ways to engage with students and create experiential learning opportunities. They shared best practices. Together, Gies faculty and staff continue to prove that a high-touch, high-quality education can happen on screen. Their dedication wasn’t lost on our students, who in a recent survey indicated that the faculty’s responsiveness, support, and flexibility was inspiring and positively influenced their experience during this unusual year. It’s that kind of commitment that continues our faculty’s long record of award-winning teaching and that earned eight of them campus and national recognition for teaching excellence this year.
“Our approach to online learning creates strong team bonds in an amazingly short time.”
Fataneh Taghaboni-Dutta, Clinical Professor of Business Administration
Impactful. important is “What’s making sure you find the people who believe in you. We have those people at Gies.
David Alston, BA ’21
”
Taking action to impact the future In 2019, when Nicco Adams announced he’d be studying finance and David Alston declared his major in information systems, they didn’t know there would be an entrepreneurial partnership in their future—and a successful one. This year, their app, Kickstroid, a virtual community for “sneakerheads,” earned them a spot in Apple’s first-ever Entrepreneur Camp for Black Founders and Developers. It’s an opportunity for promising developers to take their products to the next level through one-on-one guidance from Apple experts, engineers, and other top leaders. Alston and Adams were the only two college students invited to participate. Such mentorship opportunities are something the two entrepreneurs have benefited from at Gies, too, because they’ve taken action and built relationships. “When you come to Gies, you have people from so many disciplines who are willing to share their expertise,” said Adams. At Gies, it’s how we support our students’ ideas and build their intellectual curiosity as they take action to impact the future.
Gies students David Alston (left) and Nicco Adams (right and below) brought their passion for technology and entrepreneurship together to launch Kickstroid, a social app for sneaker lovers. The two say the support of the Gies community in “kicking” around ideas and of our faculty in developing a business plan helped them take purposeful steps to grow their startup.
ay g D in n Sig
20 1 9
Action starts with commitment There are days that create a big impact. For Nicco Adams, Gies Signing Day was one of them. “It was a symbol of progress and the first real step in kicking off my career,” he said. For six years, that’s been the goal of Signing Day, a tradition that is uniquely Gies. By providing a public opportunity for students to declare their major, we celebrate as a community and show our support as they pursue a specific business path. So this year, when students couldn’t come to BIF, we brought Signing Day to them. Students announced their majors at our livestreamed event, where they talked with Larry Gies about their plans for the future.
Insightful.
Gies faculty have built an international reputation for research excellence across all disciplines. Their work focuses on realworld issues and provides insights that guide business decisions today and help leaders prepare for tomorrow. These thought leaders conduct research that is purposedriven, academically grounded, and professionally relevant. This year their leadership was more important as ever, as organizations looked to meet the unique challenges of a global shutdown and prepare for business beyond COVID.
Nearly
Gies faculty published more than
35,000
100
learners registered for 17 free webinars presented by Gies faculty
papers in top journals this year
Thought leaders thrive here Professor Don
While many
Professor Mark
Fullerton is a
were predicting
Peecher’s
renowned expert
a tidal wave of
recent research
in environmental
bankruptcies
introduces a
economics.
as a result of
new concept—
His research
COVID, Assistant
wise-thinking
has focused on
Professor Jialan
dispositions—
topics ranging from climate change
Wang was researching the facts. Her
as a way to identify auditors who are
to carbon tax to global waste
work, published by the National
better at evaluating and responding
reduction. In April, he was a featured
Bureau of Economic Research, proved
to evidence that increases the risk
speaker at a virtual roundtable
just the opposite—and the national
of fraud. Such cutting-edge research
discussion—Climate Change Effects
press was calling with questions.
provides insights for organizations as
on Innovation, Economy and
Wang shared that while experts
they make hiring decisions and engage
Diplomacy—hosted in celebration
were expecting an increase, total
business schools in helping to teach
of Earth Day by the Consulate
bankruptcy filings dropped 31% year
students ways to gain a wise-thinking
General of Israel to the Midwest.
over year from 2019 to 2020.
disposition.
This spring, a CNBC production crew visited the College to get insights from Associate Professor Nerissa Brown (above, right) on the addictive nature of online investing for a documentary that will air this fall. Business journalist Melissa Lee (above, left) sought out Brown’s expertise in investor behavior and herd mentality in light of controversies surrounding the online investing app Robinhood and GameStop. Students in our Ethical Dilemmas of Business class were also interviewed for the documentary.
Associate
Collaboration is a key to
Professor Tiffany
successful research, and this
White was a co-
year Gies faculty launched
author of a piece
two collaborative research
that appeared
efforts: the Illinois Strategic
in the Harvard
Organizations Initiative
Business Review
(ISOI) and the Initiative
focusing on how business schools can
for Qualitative Research in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
help corporate America fight racism. The
(INQUIRE). ISOI’s mission is to promote research at the intersection
piece identifies areas where academia
of organizations and strategy, which its director, Professor William
falls short in addressing issues of
Ocasio, says no business school has done before. Qualitative research
diversity, equity, and inclusion and
in business schools is also rare, says Professor Melissa Graebner, who
strategies for how corporations and
established INQUIRE to create a way for scholars to collaborate and the
business schools can work together to
Gies community to learn more about the insights qualitative research
prepare the next generation of leaders to
provides for business.
meet these challenges.
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iMBA ranked top B-school innovation of the decade POETS&QUANTS
Innovative. Gies is ahead of the curve. That’s because we’ve built a culture of innovation, where students and faculty are encouraged to take a risk, try something new, be disruptive. It’s an atmosphere that encourages creativity and initiative and
disrupted the MBA “We space by creating an online program that offers life-changing access and delivers exceptional quality at an extremely affordable price.
an approach that is rewarded. Take our iMBA. Poets&Quants calls it “disruption epitomized.” That’s because we’ve set the standard for delivering an affordable, high-quality, online MBA that improves access for learners around the world. Senior faculty teach highly engaging interactive live sessions combined with high-quality video content to make for a unique and powerful student experience. Our focus on data analytics is ahead of the curve, too. We’ve woven it through our curriculum and have a faculty filled with analytics experts to prepare all our students for the future of business. And this year, we launched a ninemonth residential Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program, where students choose one of three analytics pathways (accounting, business, or financial) as they prepare to be data-driven decision makers.
Dean Jeffrey Brown
”
today’s world, “Inyou’re either part of
the disruption or you risk being disrupted.
”
Robert Brunner, Associate Dean for Innovation, Chief Disruption Officer, and Director of the Disruption Lab
Disruption Lab drives innovation The most successful innovations are purposeful and collaborative, and Gies faculty are committed to both. Their efforts have created new initiatives, like the Disruption Lab, that benefit the wider community, from students to entrepreneurs to global businesses to society. Launched this year in partnership with EY, the Disruption Lab is a collaborative, cross-campus project where teams of students explore emerging technologies, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, or blockchain, to deliver a viable product or solution that can help businesses successfully navigate disruption. The Disruption Lab is an innovation driver that gives students hands-on experience with the technology of tomorrow. By modeling a “what’s-next” mindset, we celebrate curiosity and empower creativity.
And it drives success, too Kelly Gao is one of those students. She learned about the Disruption Lab while pursuing her Master of Science in
“What my graduate
studies, IBC, and the Disruption Lab all have in common are a high level of academic and technical preparation and a real commitment to practical application for the business world.
Technology Management (MSTM) at Gies. That led her to join Illinois Business Consulting (IBC), another Gies innovation and the largest professionally managed, student-run consulting organization in the country. Her IBC team’s task was to assist Panasonic in a predictive automation project. It was a perfect fit for Gao, who was immersed in the MSTM’s data analytics curriculum. As part of the team, she analyzed large data sets to determine which components of a machine would fail over time, and when. It was work that would allow Panasonic to improve productivity by reducing downtime and lowering costs. After completing her degree, the company hired Gao as an associate software engineer. The Disruption Lab drives innovation—and success.
Kelly Gao, MSTM ’20
”
Inclusive. Creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) community where everyone is seen, heard, and valued is
“We all have much to gain by increasing representation
a priority at Gies. This year, the College took significant
and valuing the different
steps to establish a structure that makes that priority a reality. Denise Lewin Loyd, a Gies associate professor and
perspectives and contributions
expert in diversity and teams, was appointed associate
each of us brings to the table.
dean for equity. LaTonya Wilkins, who has extensive
Our DEI team is committed
experience in talent management and creating cultures of
to making Gies a model for
belonging, was named director of leadership and culture.
creating a diverse, equitable, Faculty and staff from across Gies joined the leadership team to meet in working groups and hold listening sessions to engage in open, honest, and respectful conversations and establish DEI initiatives that will guide Gies in building a culture of inclusion. This important work continues as Gies builds the DEI team and launches three affinity groups—Women at Gies, Gies Black Faculty and Staff, and Gies LGBTQ+ and Allies. The goal is to engage in DEI work that will build fluency and knowledge, enhance recruiting and retention efforts, and create a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone in the Gies community.
”
and inclusive community.
Denise Lewin Loyd, Associate Dean for Equity
During Black History Month, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Access and Multicultural Engagement Program in the Office of Undergraduate Affairs hosted a presentation by Dr. Andre Perry, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institute’s Metropolitan Policy Program. Perry, who studies the racial wealth gap, shared with the Gies audience how important business education is in teaching students about inequities and how societal leaders can make a difference by intentionally investing in Black businesses.
SEEN HEARD VALUED Committed to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community
Immersive.
2,000+
Students participate in experiential learning projects each year
Experiential learning is immersive, and at Gies we are intentional about ensuring a range of experiences for our students. Since Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) was established 25 years ago, we’ve been a leader in building an innovative curriculum that focuses on putting concepts learned in the classroom into action for real clients. We’re taking another step in that commitment this fall as we launch Business 301: Business in Action, a required course for juniors and one of the largest experiential learning courses in the country. The result is a continuum of learning that blends the theoretical and the practical— that not only builds discipline-specific technical skills but also teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills.
95%
200+
Of students report having a strong story to tell recruiters
Consulting-based client projects for students each year
100%
Of clients would recommend a student team to others
“ Experiential learning allows students to put theory into action. It creates real-world experiences that prepare students to become better team players, stronger problem solvers, and more effective leaders. No business school does experiential learning like Gies.
”
Michael Bednar, Associate Professor of Business Administration and Academic Director of the Magelli Office of Experiential Learning
At Gies, experiential learning is broad and deep, with opportunities woven throughout the curriculum. Students gain hands-on skills through consulting projects, action learning labs, and capstone courses. And a new initiative, which imaginative faculty and staff conceived of this year and will pilot next year, is a differentiator. The Sophomore Year of Purpose goes beyond the traditional on-campus model, creating Gies Global Hubs across the country and throughout the world where students explore meaningful work through experiential learning opportunities in that Hub while completing their sophomore year coursework away from campus. Students choose from a list of purpose-driven themes, such as sustainability, education, health and wellness, and socio-economic disparity and social justice, and engage with local businesses and organizations to gain high-impact, handson experience. The U.S. State Department recently recognized this immersive and innovative initiative with an IDEAS grant to help the College find and secure ideal international locations.
Intentional. Online by design
Real-world application
Gies is a leader in instructional design. And nowhere
The convenience and quality of our online programs
has that leadership been more evident than in the
has created transformational opportunities for
establishment and growth of our iMBA. In 2021, the iMBA
talented professionals like Jody Hrazanek, an iMSA
celebrated its fifth anniversary as an undisputed leader
student and a former managing director at Nuveen
in high-quality online graduate business education at
Asset Management in New York. She was recently
an affordable price. Our faculty—together with a team
accepted into the Security and Exchange Commission’s
of eLearning experts that includes learning assessment
Student Honors internship program. Hrazanek credits
specialists, instructional designers, videographers,
iMSA faculty with encouraging her to pursue this new
and studio personnel—designed courses, experiences,
pathway, and the flexibility and convenience of the
and video content that formed the foundation of high-
program with allowing her to take advantage of the
engagement delivery for the online learner. Our model has
opportunity while still
led to unprecedented growth and become the standard
completing her MSA.
for our growing portfolio of online programs, including the iMSA launched in 2017, and the iMSM launched in 2020, during the pandemic.
Adjunct Teaching Professor of Business Administration Patricia Werhane, who teaches business ethics in our iMBA program, says the online-bydesign focus at Gies intentionally creates a dynamic, interactive, global classroom that delivers a myriad of benefits to students. At Gies, we are also intentional about ensuring our students have access to top faculty experts like Werhane, founder of the Society for Business Ethics and an Emmy Award-winning producer of Big Questions, a public television series.
Enrollment in our iMBA program has grown from 263 to
3,839 in five years
Global reach
Advancing skills
With cohort members across the world, iMBA students
Gies has also built a portfolio of online graduate
gain a global perspective. That certainly was true for
certificates to create a new path to career success.
two iMBA teams in the 18th Annual Kellogg Biotech and
The eight certificates conveniently and quickly
Healthcare Case Competition this year, tackling the
build in-demand, practical business skills that
topic of building trust for the COVID-19 vaccine. They
today’s professionals need to add value to their
credit their success as semifinalists to their academic
organizations—skills in areas like data analytics,
preparation as well as their diverse professional and
financial management, digital marketing, and
geographic backgrounds (team members hailed from
entrepreneurship. And while the certificates are
Oman, Jakarta, the U.S., and Pakistan), which “allowed
credit-bearing, students do not have to be in a degree
us to address problems more creatively and propose
program to pursue the certificates or benefit from
innovative solutions,” said iMBA student Jyoti Pugalia.
them.
Invested.
24,477 Total gifts
219
Major gift donors
6,551
Donors to date
canʼt tell you how grateful I am for this scholarship. “IThe Gies community has helped relieve a financial burden from my family, and that support has helped me complete my senior year on schedule.
”
Markos Christoforou, BA ʼ21
Believing in Gies and investing in it While the pandemic created immediate financial challenges for students, the Gies community stepped up to ensure that these students’ educations would not be interrupted. Generous faculty, staff, and alumni contributed more than $300,000 to the Emergency Scholarship Fund. In addition, one anonymous donor provided a $2.5 million gift, a portion of which was used to immediately award 125 student scholarships for the spring semester and to fund the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program, which helps in times of crisis or unexpected financial need. Another portion of the gift will support 22 research projects conducted by 48 Gies faculty members. Gies alumni and friends, like this anonymous donor, believe in the College’s mission and vision, and they invest in it. Five years ago, we launched a $300 million campaign with a $150 million gift from Larry and Beth Gies. Today, as we near the finish line, we ask you to join us in continuing to create the world’s most innovative business school.
94.7%
of campaign goal achieved
$284.2 Million
of $300 million goal raised to date* *Through 5/31/21
1206 S. Sixth Street Champaign, IL 61820 217.333.2747 GiesBusiness.illinois.edu