Risky Business

Eight deans and professors tell their personal stories of achieving success in the disproportionately male world of management education.

A business school’s best friends often are its top alumni, who are committed to its success and deeply involved in its special projects. Identifying them and keeping them interested are two of the keys to successful fundraising.

Women’s enrollment at many business schools still hovers around 30 percent, even while law and medical schools have long enjoyed gender parity.Now, prominent advocates for women in business are focusing their efforts on this issue, intent on breaking the 30-percent barrier.

Donna Shalala is one of the few women to excel in the two very different arenas of academia and government. She has relied on humor, flexibility, and a sense of teamwork to manage complex organizations rich with their own cultures.

Contrary to pundit predictions, the steady growth of online learning has not augured the extinction of brick-and-mortar educational institutions. In fact, e-learning may serve as a catalyst, not for the extinction of the traditional classroom, but for its evolution.

The tempest of controversy surrounding Enron’s collapse has had at least one positive outcome: It’s put the spotlight on accounting, a profession students often overlook in favor of other careers. Now that accounting has caught the public interest, the AICPA believes it’s the perfect time to show everyone just what the field has to offer.