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'20-21 Vision' at SOM:

Good news about school's 'upward trajectory' will greet graduates at anniversary celebration

The alumni of the School of Management SOM will have a lot of good news to celebrate when they gather for the school's anniversary celebration, "20-21 Vision: 20 years of SOM at the dawn of the 21st Century," which will be held Friday-Saturday, Sept. 27- 28.

SOM Dean Jeffrey E. Garten recently released some "hard numbers" to illustrate what he describes as "a dramatic upward trajectory" in the graduate school's popularity. These include the following:

• There has been a 59 percent increase in applications to the school since 1993. In addition, while 21 percent of those admitted to SOM in 1993 had undergraduate backgrounds in science ofrengineering; this year, that number has reached 34 percent.
• The number of organizations interviewing or recruiting second-year students increased 78 percent from 1994 to 1996.
• The median starting salary for new SOM graduates was $55,000 in 1993; this year it is $65,000, up 18 percent.
• In 1993, SOM students' GMAT scores were ranked eighth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report; by 1995, their test scores had climbed to second place.

Dean Garten, who describes SOM's fundamental mission as "preparing leaders for business and society," attributes these gains to the school's focus on helping its students develop "hard-edged business skills" that can be applied to all sectors of the economy.

"SOM alumni excel in institutions ranging from Goldman Sachs to the Guggenheim Museum, and from Federal Express to the Federal Communications Commission," says Dean Garten.

Currently 85 percent of all SOM graduates enter the private sector; 15 percent accept positions in the public and nonprofit sectors. Sixty-six percent of the graduates who receive the school's two-year Master's in Public and Private Management pursue positions in finance or consulting.

"20-21 Vision"

"Hindsight," "Insight" and "Foresight" are the three themes that will mark the celebration of SOM's 20th anniversary.

While returning alumni will have the chance to look back and reminisce with their classmates during the reunion, they will also have the opportunity to discover how SOM has changed since their graduation and how it will continue to evolve in the future.

SOM faculty will lead workshops and panels describing their current research interests. These will include talks on "The Chase- Chemical Bank Merger: A Case Study in Competitive Strategy" by Professor Paul W. MacAvoy; "The Globalization of Health Care" by Professor Theodore R. Marmor; "Co-opetition: Redefining Competition and Cooperation in the Marketplace" by Professor Barry Nalebuff; "Leadership, Teams, and Empowerment: Where Do We Stand?" by Professor Victor H. Vroom; "Multinationals: The New Politics of Globalization" by Professor Paul Bracken; "The Risky Business of Risk Management" by Professor Kenneth R. French; "Financing Low- income Housing: A Case Study in Nonprofit Strategy" by Professor Sharon M. Oster; and "Myths and Realities of Quality Management: Lessons from Japan" by Professor Arthur J. Swersey. There will also be a panel discussion on "Community Connections: SOM at Work," moderated by Professor Swersey, and another on "Marketing on the Internet," moderated by Professor Subrata K. Sen.

Dean Garten will speak and lead an open forum on the theme "20-21 Vision: Preparing SOM for the Next Century" at an anniversary dinner to be held on Saturday night in University Commons. Also highlight the dinner will be remarks by William H. Donaldson, the founding dean of SOM.