Office of the Dean: An Agenda for Action

A Commitment to Excellence in Business Education

Priorities for the Next Five Years | 2008 through 2012

Our strategic emphasis is on the continued development of our academic programs, fully utilizing technology-enhanced learning while also focusing on face-to-face, interactive learning; with the goal of designing differentiated and effective learning environments for all program participants.

We focus on generating high impact research of value to the academy and to practice for such scholarship is the foundation for all programs and activities of the college. We strive for all academic programs of the college to be consistently evaluated among the top five of those located at major public research universities and among the top 15 of those found at all universities worldwide, with recognized measures of research reputation also consistently achieving top 15 ranking.

We view these as complementary, companion goals. In pursuit of these goals 4 focus areas have been identified and within these 12 priority actions for the immediate term. In deriving these, the college carefully considered the context of the university’s Academic Plan and the Leadership Agenda.

Four themes emerged as having particularly strong relevance for the college:

• Putting student learning first;
• Attracting, retaining and supporting individuals of high capability;
• Increasing collaborative, interdisciplinary initiatives; and
• Expanding international engagement.

The ordering of priority items (below) does not imply relative importance.

1) Enhance Research Excellence and the Student Educational Experience by Building Faculty Capability

Fisher College takes pride in the quality of its educational experience. Relative to our aspirant peers and many of our benchmark schools we are undersized in our faculty ranks. The student educational experience is significantly improved by expanding our faculty size toward these benchmarks and by continued efforts to attract, retain and support intellectually and culturally diverse world-class faculty.

Priority Action #1: In each of the next five years we will grow the size of the faculty by at least one net new tenure-track faculty member and one net new full-time non-tenure-track faculty member.

Measurement Metric: The number of tenure-track and full-time non-tenure-track faculty will increase by at least one person in each category (net retirements and turnover) each academic year 2008-09 to 2013-14.

Priority Action #2: Over the next five years we will increase the diversity of our faculty.

Measurement Metrics: We will increase the proportion of diverse faculty to match or exceed Carnegie Pool proportions for the college and each academic department.

Priority Action #3: We will increase junior faculty summer funding to levels competitive with our aspirational peer institutions and continually track our competitive status in this area.

Action Taken: Effective January 2008, junior faculty summer funding increased for all junior tenure-track faculty.

Priority Action #4: We will improve the effectiveness of the allocation of summer research funding for tenured faculty.

Action Taken: Changes in policies regarding summer funding for tenured faculty were instituted effective February 2008, emphasizing productivity measured by publications in recognized top journals.

Priority Action #5: We will increase faculty individualized spending accounts (ISAs) to levels competitive with norms in our AACSB affinity group and continually track our competitive status in this area.

Measurement Metric: The base ISA allocation per tenure-track faculty FTE will be increased to the identified AACSB norm by July 1, 2009.

Priority Action #6: Focusing first on our MBA program, we will continue efforts to increase the diversity of our student body through aggressive recruitment of qualified domestic minority candidates, female candidates, and international candidates from regions that are currently not strongly represented in our student body.

Measurement Metrics: We will improve our recruitment strategies to increase the number of qualified diverse applications and the yield on accepted diverse applicants. Success will be measured in terms of increases in scholarship dollars targeted to attract diverse candidates.

2) Enhance Research Excellence and the Student Educational Experience by Extending International Opportunities and the Global Reach of Fisher Research and Educational Programming.

The locus of relative economic power in the world is moving to the east and to the south. While this is not to suggest that the United States will lose its status as the largest economy, it does mean that the entire world, including the United States, must pay increasing attention to international matters as the degree of interconnectedness among the world’s economies grows.

As a college and university we need to be a more integral force within this interconnected world. Our international priorities are focused on expanding internationally-oriented course offerings and experiences, increasing the percentage of Fisher students who participate in international experiences, expanding faculty opportunities for collaborative research, and expanding the geographical reach of Fisher programming by offering Fisher degree programs internationally through joint efforts with other institutions or on our own.

Priority Action #7: We will expand internationally focused elective course offerings, enabling more Fisher students to gain an internationally focused educational experience.

Measurement Metric: Student credit hours generated in internationally focused courses will increase by 50% over the next five years. The number of sections of internationally-focused courses will be increased relative to current offerings.

Priority Action #8: We will expand the number of students participating in study abroad programs.

Measurement Metric: Participation in student study abroad programs will increase by 50% over the next five years.

Priority Action #9: We will expand the geographical reach of Fisher international programming by establishing at least two degree or certificate programs with non-U.S. universities within the next three years.

Measurement Metric: At least two degree or certificate programs with international partner institutions will be implemented and functioning by 2011.

3) Enhance Research Excellence and the Student Educational Experience by Expanding Executive Education Activities.

Expansion of our executive education footprint will increase our visibility with the business community and expand resources available to acquire and support additional faculty. Increased connection with and impact on the business community expands research opportunities and faculty access to research sites and data. Increased interaction with business leaders reinforces our efforts to enhance the relevance of the Fisher educational experience.

Priority Action #10: We will double Executive Education’s annual contribution to general college operations within five years.

Measurement Metric: Executive Education’s annual contribution to general college operations will double within five years, increasing by a target amount per year beginning in FY10.

4) Enhance Research Excellence and the Student Educational Experience by Increasing Cross-College Collaboration where Financially Reasonable and Reputation Enhancing

We share President Gee’s vision of “one Ohio State University” characterized by greater collaboration and dual programming across colleges. Dual programming increases the educational options available to students, allowing for knowledge from different disciplines to be combined in innovative ways.

Increased faculty interaction across areas creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas and high impact interdisciplinary research. One example is our recent establishment of the Nationwide Center for Advanced Customer Insights, bringing together faculty capabilities in disciplines such as marketing, economics, psychology, and statistics. We actively seek to create additional opportunities for cross-college collaboration and for outreach and engagement.

Priority Action #11: We will support the College of Engineering (COE) in the successful launch of the Master of Engineering Leadership (MEL) program.

Measurement Metric: Program launch is currently anticipated by COE for fall 2009.

Priority Action #12: We will develop a framework for assessing possible new MBA tracks, new professional masters programs, dual degree opportunities and other potential initiatives targeted at integrating us more fully with the university.

Measurement Metric: A task force to be formed by January 2009 and report out by July 2009.