It is my pleasure to provide you with this brief update on what's new and exciting at the Whittemore School. As you may know, we adopted, some time ago, a guiding strategy of complete integration between the School and the business community, and all of our programs and new initiatives are measured against this strategy. We believe this principle serves all of the School's constituencies in many practical ways, and provides a clear road map for the School's continued development as a 21st-century leader among its peers.
I am particularly pleased, then, to note that
AACSB - International recently ratified this strategy by continuing the School's accreditation and lauding several of our practices, specifically:
- Successful and intensive use of experiential learning;
- Responsive strategic planning and curriculum revision process;
- Transformation of the school from a general business model of education to one that provides areas of specialization that directly support the economy of New Hampshire and northern New England;
- Achievement of an exceptional level of interaction with the business community. Among the examples cited by the AACSB Peer Review Team was our Corporate Roundtable program;
- Effective use of noncredit executive education programs to offset declining state funding.
As further evidence of our commitment to integration between academia and the "real world" of business, we recently completed a comprehensive curriculum redesign, heavily influenced by input gathered from leaders in the business community. As it is implemented, this new curriculum will lead us to yet higher degrees of corporate-academic synergy. Our motto for this new curriculum could well be, "Complete immersion in the corporate world from Day One". The new curriculum incorporates class projects, internships, and frequent access to regional business leaders to fulfill our vision.
Finally, I can't end this update without citing the role and influence of our award-winning faculty. We are fortunate to have educators with the depth and breadth of industry experience that makes them capable of recognizing, adopting, and contributing to our vision. Without their acceptance and involvement, our strategy of integration would be an empty one; with their support, it is turning into a model of business education for the challenges of the 21st century.
