2016-2017
DEAN’S REPORT DEVELOPING BUSINESS LEADERS FOR A BETTER WORLD®
FROM
DEAN RUSSELL My first year at the University and VSB has been an exciting one, and I am in awe of our extraordinary students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends. This is a special community of scholars, learners and professionals and I look forward to serving all of you. I invite you to read about our successes and new initiatives, as well as our excellent students, in this annual report. It is my honor to serve the Villanova School of Business as the Helen and William O’Toole Dean. Thank you for all you do to support and invest in us. Best,
Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD
The Helen and William O’Toole Dean Professor of Management Villanova School of Business Follow us on Social Media: @VU_Business @VSB_Dean @VillanovaBusiness Villanova School of Business Villanova School of Business
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS VSB Maintains Prestigious Accreditation The Villanova School of Business has maintained its accreditation in its Business and Accounting programs by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. VSB is one of only 185 business schools (out of more than 2,000) to receive this specialized accreditation, and one of fewer than one percent to receive it in both business and accounting. In order to meet AACSB standards, collegiate business schools must demonstrate excellence in areas relating to strategic management and innovation; demonstrate student, faculty and staff as active participants; and emphasize learning, teaching, academic and professional engagement. This extension of accreditation is a true marker for the high quality education VSB provides, and of the ongoing hard work of our entire community of faculty, staff, students and alumni.
TOP OF THE CLASS!
This past year, VSB was once again recognized for excellence through external ranking bodies. Below is a list of recent business school rankings: U.S. News & World Report
#
4
BEST ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS: GRADUATE BUSINESS IN THE NATION
3 #4 #
STUDENT SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT CEO Magazine
#
28
“TOP TIER” EMBA PROGRAM
MATCHING WORLD-CLASS FACULTY WITH We take great pride in our excellent faculty. We have prolific researchers who are also gifted in teaching our students and preparing them for the future. In the 2016-2017 academic year, we recruited and hired three new faculty members: Kathleen M. Iacocca, PhD: Dr. Iacocca joined the Management & Operations department as an assistant professor after serving as an assistant professor at her alma mater, the University of Scranton, for the past five years. After graduating with a BS in Finance and an MBA from the University of Scranton, she received her PhD in Supply Chain Marketing and Marketing Science from Rutgers University’s School of Business. Manuela Priesemuth, PhD: After serving as an assistant professor at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, Dr. Priesemuth joined VSB’s community as an assistant professor in the Management & Operations department. She graduated with a BS in Business Administrations from the College of St. Mary, an MBA in International Business from Creighton University, and a PhD in Management from the University of Central Florida. Her areas of research interest include workplace deviance, leadership, behavioral ethics/prosocial behavior, and organizational justice.
Raisa T. Velthuis, PhD: A native of the Netherlands, Dr. Velthuis received her BS and MS in Econometrics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. She earned her MBA in Finance from the University of Rochester and her PhD in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University. Her areas of research interest include empirical asset pricing, hedge funds, mutual funds, investments and financial institutions. She joined VSB’s Finance department as an assistant professor. This year, VSB created the new role of associate chair for each academic department. These positions will work closely with the department chairs to tackle new initiatives and strategies, and were voted on by their departmental members. The new associate chairs by department are: Accounting: Jim Emig, PhD Information Systems: Bill Wagner, PhD Economics: Mary Kelly, PhD Finance: Shelly Howton, PhD Management & Operations: Ward Utter Marketing & Business Law: Aronté Bennett, PhD Read more about the associate chairs in the next issue of Villanova Business magazine.
OUTSTANDING STUDENTS Undergraduate Admissions
VSB experienced a stellar recruiting year.
37.5% 1440-1540 75%
increase in undergraduate application rate
increase in Early Action applications
mid-range SAT scores
Undergraduate Outcomes
Our 2016 undergraduate graduating class
97
95
%
placement rate within 6 months
%
of students participated in at least one internship or CoOp
61,000
$
mean salary
of students participated in more than one internship or CoOp
7,000
$
mean signing bonus
Graduate Enrollment
27
71
%
%
increase in enrollment since introducing the Online MBA
OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
Inspiring Minds
This year, we launched Inspiring Minds, a VSB faculty research podcast series in which exceptional students are paired with our world-class faculty to discuss their recent research, thus making it more accessible to the marketplace. We’ve launched 13 podcasts, and have over 1,200 listens and 113,000 impressions. Some topics include: “Electioneering through Foreign Aid,” “Minimum Wage and the Job Market,” “Shopping While Non-White,” “Real Estate Education,” “The State of the Catholic Church” and more. Visit business.villanova.edu to listen to Inspiring Minds, or find them on iTunes or SoundCloud.
VSB in the Media
Professional Outreach
The VSB Communication and Marketing Office promotes the scholarship and expertise of our faculty and staff, as well as the many success stories of our students and alumni. During the past 12 months, VSB has achieved more than 3,170 media hits generating over 3 billion media impressions. This has included prestigious outlets like Forbes, Associated Press, CNN, NPR, Reuters, Bloomberg Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal.
VSB featured several signature events throughout the past academic year to continue to build the reputation of VSB and Villanova. A sampling of our events include:
Dean Russell and her family participate in the St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service.
•T he Business Leaders Forum to learn about cybersecurity and hear keynote speaker General Michael Hayden
•A fireside chat with Dean Russell and Cathy Engelbert, Deloitte CEO (see photo on next page)
•A panel discussion led by Dean Russell with Coach Jay Wright and members of the championship basketball team to discuss Wright’s new book, Attitude
•A panel of experts to discuss “Latin America’s Role in 2017 and Beyond” featuring keynote speaker Vicente Fox, the former President of Mexico
OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
Leadership
Dean Russell is a leader in her field and a highly sought-after speaker, and had 15 speaking engagements this past year. She also met with reporters throughout the year, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, BBC and Poets & Quants. In order to promote VSB’s programs, Dean Russell presented keynote addresses at numerous conferences to expand the visibility of VSB and Villanova University, including: • The AACSB Deans Conference
• The AACSB Redesigning the Undergraduate Curriculum Conference
• The Graduate Management Admissions Council Leadership Conference
Meet Our Students
We produced new videos in our #beingVSB series, which highlights VSB students sharing what “being VSB” means to them and why the VSB experience is so unique. This series is promoted on social media as a recruiting tool and to connect with our current students by highlighting their classmates. The four newest videos have more than 2,000 YouTube and social media views. Visit VSB’s YouTube channel to view the videos.
Internship/CoOp Participation
PROGRAM EXCELLENCE
239
students participated in an internship or CoOp
Academic Advising
VSB transitioned from a faculty advisor model to a faculty mentor model. Each student has a peer advisor, a professional advisor in the Clay Center and a faculty mentor. The faculty mentors will offer guidance regarding opportunities and career paths, and suggest elective courses as well as complementary majors and minors, where appropriate, to further support students’ interests and deepen their knowledge.
72
were international internships
VSB Mentor Program
The program has expanded to include business minors, SBI students and graduate students.
60
%
>
participation rate
Dean’s Undergraduate Student Advisory Council
Associate Dean Melinda German established the Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Council (DUSAC). DUSAC will: •W ork with VSB administration and faculty to enhance our academic programs and student services •S erve as a sounding board and voice of the VSB student body •R epresent the VSB student body in VSB Dean’s Advisory Council, alumni events, etc.
Study Abroad
55
%
of the class of 2017 participated in study abroad
PROGRAM EXCELLENCE
Enhanced EMBA
The Villanova EMBA will now be offered in just 19 months with classes meeting every three weeks in a new state-of-the-art facility, The Inn at Villanova University. As a continuation of VSB’s commitment to working professionals, these changes have reduced the overall completion schedule by two months—meeting every three weeks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for a total of 22 weekends.
Church Management
The Center for Church Management received a $750,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment for a new program on clergy financial literacy, and forged a new partnership with Catholic Relief Services to offer church management education to their program leaders throughout the world. The Center also entered into new partnerships with the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Diocese of Trenton, the Hellenistic Seminary of the Holy Cross (Greek Orthodox) and the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference to offer church management education to their clergy and leaders.
KPMG Partnership MBA Flexibility
The MBA program is now offering the core Flex Track courses in our Center City location. Our full offering of MBA courses is available in Bartley and Center City.
VSB and KPMG have created a new learning approach for graduate business students by launching a master’s program that emphasizes analytics in accounting. Created to develop auditors suited for the big-data age, the program drives students to think critically and develop problem-solving and analytical skills. The program combines practical uses of modern analytics technology and data sets with real-world experiences on KPMG teams, auditing some of the world’s largest companies.
Nova Next Council
The Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate created an operating advisory board comprised of professionals with five to 20 years of industry experience. The council serves as a conduit between students and professionals by shaping the content and delivery of programming, philanthropic efforts and networking opportunities offered by the DiLella Center. Nova Next Council members are rising leaders within their organization and industry.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT VSB began the year with the completion of the renovation of the Bartley Exchange. A transformative space made possible by the generosity of Kevin Curley ’80 VSB, the new Kevin M. Curley Family Exchange has provided the entire Villanova University community with a dynamic environment to learn, work and socialize. Additionally, Michael Scully ’70 VSB made a gift to create the Scully Terrace outside of the Curley Exchange as an additional meeting place for the VSB and Villanova community.
LOOKING AHEAD VSB has created 23 committees on which faculty and staff work together to keep VSB at the forefront of business education. Our committees also focus on VSB’s dedication to service and mission, diversity and inclusion, and our Women’s Professional Network. Read more about the new committees in the next issue of Villanova Business magazine.
Non-ProďŹ t Organization
US POSTAGE PAID 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085-1678
Villanova University