DU’s Daniels College of Business recently launched its “Daniels Tomorrow” strategic plan, which will guide the college through 2014.
“All top corporations today have detailed strategic and operational long-term business plans to ensure future success and make certain that they are working toward it,” says Daniels Dean Christine Riordan. “It is natural that the Daniels College of Business would do the same. Taking a longer-term perspective will help us determine how to focus our activities and resources to become an even better business school.”
Riordan began the process in summer 2008. It included numerous meetings with more than 350 faculty, staff, alumni, current students and local business leaders.
The team developed seven strategic goals that include: delivering exemplary market-relevant programs; engaging in research-driven knowledge creation; strengthening college-wide areas of interdisciplinary collaboration; developing as a community of choice; building financial and resource strength; creating a leading-edge organizational infrastructure and advancing the school’s reputational capital.
The plan also calls for some key actions to be taken:
- Developing a full complement of MBA programs including a new one-year program, as well as full-time, professional, international and executive MBA options.
- Redesigning undergraduate business curriculum to include two new “gateway-to-business” courses and a new undergraduate business minor for nonbusiness students.
- Forming a secondary admissions process for undergraduate students and a reducing undergraduate class sizes. Students will enter Daniels as pre-business students, then apply for formal admission their sophomore year.
- Launching the Carl M. Williams Business Ethics partnership and the Institute for Enterprise Ethics to advance the college’s focus on ethics, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
- Hiring a new director of globalization to coordinate the college’s global research, outreach, travel opportunities and recruitment efforts.
- Hiring a new director of alumni relations and forming a new alumni advisory board to strengthen connections with the school’s 30,000 alumni.
- Hiring 12 new faculty members.
- Establishing a corporate partners program, which would place students in companies for class projects and facilitate recruitment.
- Revamping communications efforts, including the launch of the new Daniels Web site at www.daniels.du.edu.
“Ultimately, the plan will help us achieve our vision of a world-class business college that transforms lives, organizations and communities, while being strategic and responsible stewards of our resources,” Riordan says.
The complete Daniels Tomorrow plan can be read at http://www.daniels.du.edu/aboutus/strategicplan.html.