Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics Strategic Plan 2023
– 2028
Lang Acknowledgement
We offer our gratitude to the lands on which the University of Guelph campuses are situated and the Indigenous ancestors who have inhabited these lands for centuries. We recognize that our campuses are located on the lands of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and we offer our respect to the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, Six Nations of the Grand River and the diverse communities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples who now reside on these lands. We also recognize that our educational and research enterprises occur on Indigenous lands and we endeavour to ensure that our activities honour and respect Indigenous peoples.
We recognize that acknowledging the land we are on and Indigenous peoples’ relationship with the land is a starting point. As a school of business and economics, we recognize the role business, research, and education have had, and continue to have in the systemic mistreatment and harm of Indigenous peoples, communities, cultures, and lands. It is our responsibility and understanding that Lang needs to play a meaningful role in addressing the ongoing damage of colonization and developing a better future for all peoples. The 94 Calls to Action for Truth and Reconciliation and Bi-Naagwad | It Comes Into View, U of G’s Indigenous Initiatives Strategy provide us with opportunities to further reflect on the role we as educators and researchers can and should have towards collective action. We recognize there is significant work to be done to learn and unlearn in order to build trust, community, and partnership. Our strategic plan aims to demonstrate our commitment, as well as the need for action and provide an opportunity for the Lang community to engage in their own personal journey of reflection, reconciliation, and action.
Message from the Dean
It is my privilege to present the first five-year Strategic Plan of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph. While this plan will guide our resourcing and efforts for the next five years, it’s important to recognize that it will come to life by our passionate faculty and staff through their impactful research and student-focused teaching and supports.
Throughout the planning process, the Lang community showed tremendous dedication and engagement, allowing us to confidently move forward as a School. At town halls, through focus groups and surveys, we engaged with faculty, staff, and students on their beliefs about what is important for the future of Lang. This new plan is the result of a steady process of discussion and consultation and would not have been possible without such tremendous engagement.
Lang’s leadership in sustainability and responsible business remains a core component of our mission and values. This Strategic Plan illustrates our steadfast commitment to inspiring future leaders to use business as a force for good. As business schools around the world consistently recognize the importance of ethical and responsible business, and look to Lang for leadership in this area, we must move forward and evolve to further champion this important topic.
At the core of our Strategic Plan are priorities we commit to focusing on throughout the next five years. These priorities include enhancing our reputation of excellence in sustainability and prioritizing our commitment to global experiences, indigenization, and equity, diversity, and inclusion. An essential priority is to enhance our excellence in research by embedding it in all of our activities while ensuring it has a positive impact. We will also prioritize our innovation in teaching and learning and focus on providing exceptional experiences that are learner-centred at both the undergraduate and graduate level. A core part of our strategy also reflects the value of engaging in meaningful ways with external partners, and helping students establish a successful transition into, or back into, the workplace.
Central to the success of this plan are the people at Lang who make it such a special place to teach, study, work and discover. We are committed to achieving our strategic priorities and the necessary resources, spaces, and supports to empower our community over the next five years and beyond. We will invest purposefully in support of this plan, and in alignment with our core values.
I invite you to engage with us on this journey and contribute towards our collective success.
Dr. Sara Mann, Dean, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics
Lang’s Vision
The vision of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics is to be recognized locally and globally for our commitment to developing future leaders for a sustainable and equitable world.
Lang’s Mission
Reflecting the University of Guelph’s commitment to ‘Improve Life’, Lang’s mission is built upon the belief that ‘business as a force for good’® is important in the world. It is our mission to inspire purpose by promoting responsible and sustainable businesses and communities through interdisciplinary learning, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Our ability to inspire purpose and cultivate business as a force for good® in society is guided by, and established within, three foundational pillars:
Developing Sustainable Prosperity
Creating high quality and innovative research and partnerships that enhance local and global communities through economic, human, and societal impact and entrepreneurship.
Empowering People
Commitment to the development of leadership for a sustainable future through our teaching, research, and community engagement, with a strong emphasis on indigenization, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Caring for the Planet
Advocating for responsible, ethical, and sustainable business and organizational practices through dynamic and impactful research, pedagogical innovation, and intellectual curiosity.
Lang’s Values
Lang’s core values help us achieve and uphold our mission, and include:
Research with Impact
Diverse scholarly pursuits, with a focus on advancement of discipline-based theory, management practice, and public policy.
Community Impact
Creating authentic and meaningful partnerships through community outreach.
Educational Innovation
Providing a supportive and challenging learning environment, in which students apply theory to real-world problems, and supporting instructors to be innovative and experimental in their teaching practices.
Personal Integrity
Developing strong morals and ethics and following through on them in your actions.
Lang’s Strategic Priorities
• Priority #1: Enhancing Lang’s Reputation for Excellence and Leadership in Sustainability
• Priority #2: Creating Leaders for an Inclusive Future
• Priority #3: Research Excellence
• Priority #4: Educational Innovation and Exceptional Student Experiences
• Priority #5: Fostering Strong External Partnerships and Meaningful Career Development
Strategic Priority #1
Enhancing Lang’s Reputation for Excellence and Leadership in Sustainability
Lang has a bold mission that strives to inspire purpose towards business as a force for good®. A key element of supporting this mission is ensuring our reputation for excellence in research, teaching, and service, and leadership in sustainability is clearly communicated. Reputation and resourcing will drive this priority forward and continue to help Lang excel in this area. By intentionally and strategically communicating our foundational pillars through the lens of business as a force for good®, we will be able to better inspire all Lang stakeholders and partner with our community.
Goal: Enhance Lang’s domestic and international reputation for business as force for good®.
• Increase Lang’s standing on external rankings by promoting the School’s visibility with recruiters, potential students, and the academy.
• Promote Lang’s mission (Business as a Force for Good®) in alignment with key UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Elevate the student experience by developing a unifying theme, the “Lang Future You Advantage.”
Goal: Develop innovative physical spaces that reflect Lang’s reputation for sustainability and collaboration.
• Design and begin construction on a new building/physical space to meet the innovative and evolving needs of Lang’s students, faculty, and staff.
• Create collaborative learner-centred spaces to support curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular student initiatives.
Strategic Priority #2
Creating Leaders for an Inclusive Future
Lang’s mission, that sees business as a force for good® in the world, aligns with our deep commitment to reconciliation and indigenization, as well as equity, diversity, and inclusion. Through this commitment, we will ensure that we foster a thriving community of scholars, researchers, and leaders where each person is valued and supported.
Goal: Support and Advance Reconciliation and Indigenous Initiatives
• Deepen Lang’s internal and external involvement and collaborations with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and global Indigenous communities.
• Provide educational experiences and training opportunities for Lang staff, students, and faculty to develop knowledge and skills related to reconciliation, decolonization, and indigenization.
Goal: Advance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at Lang.
• Provide opportunities for Lang faculty, staff, and students to increase their knowledge and skills in EDI.
• Develop a Lang EDI Action Plan.
Goal: Foster intercultural and global perspectives and experiences among Lang students, staff, and faculty.
• Increase the amount of content and types of opportunities in the undergraduate and graduate curricula and student experiences related to global perspectives. (See also Priority #4).
• Create a strategic internationalization plan to enhance global engagement and community at Lang.
Strategic Priority #3
Research Excellence
Our scholarship and research aim to have impact on the world around us by leveraging our unique disciplinary and interdisciplinary strengths. Our scholars and researchers contribute to the development of business as a force for good® through our partnerships, knowledge mobilization/translation, and our student-centred research training. Our research mission is to generate and mobilize excellent research that has a positive impact on business as a force for good.
Goal: Elevate excellence
Rank among the top 15 Canadian research-intensive business schools.
Goal: Amplify the Posi�ve Impact of our Research
Be a Canadian business school leader in the mobilization of knowledge by increasing engagement with industry, communities, not-for-profit partners and policymakers throughout the research process and pursue inclusive and open scholarship that creates a positive impact on society.
Goal: Promote partnership and collaboration
• Be recognized globally as a Canadian business school research partner of choice for industry, government, and not-for-profit organizations and to leverage strong internal and external academic collaborations to enhance our creation and mobilization of academic research knowledge.
Goal: Embed research in all we do
• Keep research at the forefront in Lang by ensuring that it is embedded in all activities, including teaching, research support, administration, governance, and community engagement.
Goal: Develop the research leaders of tomorrow
• Increase our capacity to support the success of the next generation of research leaders by providing high-quality and meaningful training opportunities to a diverse and inclusive population of researchers across a variety of disciplines and approaches to research.
Strategic Priority #4
Educational Innovation and Exceptional Student Experiences
Providing innovative and exceptional training and educational opportunities to our communities of current and future leaders is central to inspire purpose in our students, faculty, staff, and community partners. Through collaborative and experiential learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels we will help develop leaders that use business as a force for good®.
Goal: Develop innovative curricula and academic programs
• Examine existing content and explore the best approach to enhancing IEDI, analytics, digital transformation and technology, sustainability and internationalism/global mindset in the core Bachelor of Commerce curriculum.
• Facilitate and encourage ongoing continuous improvement of all academic programs.
• Develop one-year professional programs that meet the needs of the professional and executive education market.
Goal: Foster a culture of educational experimentation, innovation, and excellence
• Enhance innovation in online teaching and learning.
• Further strengthen culture of pedagogical excellence.
Goal: Strengthen experiential learning opportunities
• Improve awareness, recognition, and number of opportunities related to experiential learning for Lang students locally and globally.
Goal: Enhance the graduate student learning environment
• Enhance the graduate student culture by encouraging connections among students, faculty and staff across the Lang community and externally.
• Enhance graduate professional skill development opportunities through a variety of ongoing activities, including workshops, seminars, and skill development programs that are tailored to students’ needs.
• Enhance opportunities for student travel and exchanges to increase global mindset.
• Provide high-quality learning experiences for professional and executive graduate students through the development of market-focused, revenue-generating programs.
Strategic Priority #5
Fostering Strong External Partnerships and Meaningful Career Development
Lang alumni, corporate and community partners are the ambassadors of our institutional mission, and it is our responsibility to foster and strengthen these relationships to build meaningful connections. We have the privilege to inspire, train, and support the business leaders of today and tomorrow. Through our dedicated co and extra - curricular services, we can foster opportunities to inspire these leaders and entrepreneurs to use business as a force for good®.
Goal: Build a strong entrepreneurial culture through training, education, and community partnerships.
• Develop an innovative space for programming and expand offerings through the John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise.
• Develop new programs, events, and community collaborations in support of business as a force for good®.
Goal: Develop a strong alumni relations engagement culture.
• Develop a coordinated approach for engagement with all Lang alumni.
• Design new opportunities for mentorship and networking throughout the Lang student experience.
Goal: Provide a competitive advantage to Lang students by building strong partnerships with external stakeholders.
• Develop a bold fundraising plan in support of Lang’s mission.
• Improve employment outcome data collection for graduating students.
• Provide a comprehensive professional development experience that is responsive to ongoing labour market needs and trends.
• Create dedicated career and business development support for graduate students.
Thank you for your contribution
We would like to acknowledge and thank all the members of our community who spent time and effort contributing to the planning process. A special thank you to those with a formal role throughout this process.
Strategic Planning Committee:
• Sara Mann, Dean & Chair of Committee, Chair of Sub-Committee - Undergraduate student experience
• Gregory Bauer, Associate Dean (Strategic Partnerships)
• Sean Lyons, Associate Dean (Research & Graduate Studies) & Chair of Sub-CommitteeGraduate and professional student experience
• Lysa Porth, Professor & Former Chair of Committee
• Paul Anglin, Professor, Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies
• Felix Arndt, Associate Professor, Department of Management
• Rumina Dhalla, Associate Professor, Department of Management
• Erin Doherty, John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise
• Jackie Hamilton, Director, Accreditation, Curriculum Development, and Learning Innovation
• Louise Hayes, Assistant Professor, Department of Management
• Heidi Huisman, Associate Director, Finance and Operations
• Stephen Kosempel, Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance
• Kelly Mac Donald, Ph.D. Student
• Tanya Mark, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies
• Louise McIntyre, Administrative Officer (support to committee)
• Sandeep Mishra, Associate Professor, Department of Management
• Jonathan Parkes, BComm Student
• Ann Pegoraro, Professor, School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management
• Thomas Sasso, Assistant Professor, Department of Management
• Simon Somogyi, Professor, School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management
• Ilias Tsiakas, Professor, Department of Economics and Finance
Undergraduate student experience working group
• Sara Mann
• Jackie Hamilton
• Spencer Henson (OAC)
• Alison Crerar
• Eveline Adomait
• Connie Zavitz
• Rob McLean
• Hugh Clark
• Mary-Anne Moroz
Graduate and professional student experience working group
• Sean Lyons
• Catherine Statton
• Heather Bateman
• Rene Kirkegaard
• Michele Bowring
• Rumina Dhalla
• WooMi Jo
• Vinay Kanetkar
• Mark Holmes
• Gizem Senkal (Ph.D. student)
Additional thanks to:
• Lang Dean’s Council
• Lang Advisory Board
• Student Focus Group Participants