A Message From the Dean

Dear friends,

We’re on our way to becoming the model school of business for tomorrow’s land-grant university — a destination we call our “winning aspiration.” We want the great state universities that WSU is seeking to join on the Drive to 25 to look to us as the exemplar for a mission-driven college of business. This past year, we’ve charted our path forward by examining what we’ve done well in the past, the effectiveness of what we do now, and what we should strive for in delivering future business education.

To capture our college’s history, we created a new exhibit in Todd Hall’s plaza that showcases our significant milestones over the years. You’ll learn about this and much more from the features and timeline throughout this issue. While it’s great to acknowledge our historic successes, it is even more important to identify the gaps between what we’d like to achieve and where we are today. Working with powerful advice from our alumni and employers, we’ve launched a remarkable set of new experiences, classroom approaches, and learning goals in our undergraduate program. These innovations will ensure the next Carson Cougs graduate ready for career success. Associate Dean Tom Tripp’s article will inform you on our progress and goals.

Our MBA degree has an outstanding legacy, and strategically building its online delivery ensures the quality and impact of this program. This year we are celebrating 60 years of providing graduate business education, and at the 2018 December Commencement, we will graduate our one thousandth online MBA student. The future of business education is meeting students where they are. The story on our MBA, as well as features on recent international entrepreneurial mentoring, new certificate offerings, and the new Institute for Senior Living illustrate additional ways in which we are adapting to serve students and employers.

The success of a model public business school will be measured in large part by its graduates’ influence. We are aiming for the programs we offer to be first choice for students seeking a business education in the Pacific Northwest. By listening to the insights of students, alumni, industry, faculty, and WSU leadership, some of which are shared in this issue, we will continue to advance toward this goal and produce the leaders the region needs.

We won’t become a model without your help. We must work in close partnership with our alumni and business communities to recruit, prepare, and launch students who will make a difference. We face a challenging environment for funding: student tuition pays some of the bills, but students have limited capacity to handle increases, and the share of our funding that comes from state government is less than half what it once was. Philanthropic investment will be key to our long-term success; together we can keep a WSU Carson College education excellent and affordable. If you find something in this issue that speaks to you, and you want to help us reach our goals, please let us know.

Go Cougs!

Chip Hunter
@ChipHunterWSU