The new dean of the University of Connecticut School of Business is hard at work cementing new partnerships with the business community and university cross-discipline projects to give students more exposure.
“Education isn”™t really as much about teaching as it is about learning,” said John Elliott, who assumed the position in August. “Experiential learning (methods) are remarkably strong ways for students to learn.”
Before coming to UConn, Elliott was at Cornell University”™s Johnson School of Business for nearly 25 years as an accounting professor and later, associate dean. Most recently he was vice president and dean of the City University of New York”™s Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.
At UConn, Elliott is currently overseeing a number of major initiatives related to the business school, all aimed at getting students jobs after graduation.
“There”™s a mismatch between (students”™) knowledge and what corporations need,” Elliott said. “We want to make sure that we”™re giving people what they need to develop a portfolio of skills that will be needed in the workplace.”
Through a partnership with UConn”™s arts, science, humanities and business programs, a new department of digital media and design was approved in August. The curriculum will teach students how to use digital media as a tool for analysis and communication. With it, engineers can create 3-D models, historians can make educational games for children and advertisers can use it to create a strong brand identity.
“The need for trained people in this area is growing by leaps and bounds,” Elliott said. “It”™s something so central to corporations in Fairfield County or coming that way.”
About 135 students are enrolled in the department”™s first elective courses and soon a major in the department will be offered.
The business school has also recently expanded its Master of Science in financial risk management. The program started on the Stamford campus two years ago and following its success and growing demand, UConn is now offering the program in Hartford. The 15-month program teaches students how to address risk management problems related to finance such as credit, interest rate, currency and wealth management.
The original program in Stamford was designed with the needs of Fairfield County”™s hedge funds and other financial institutions in mind. But the new Hartford program will be modified for a more general interest with a special focus on Hartford”™s insurance and manufacturing firms”™ needs.
With recent regulation and increased awareness about the importance of risk management, Elliott said he believes the program will produce valuable employees. The school is developing an online certificate within the program and next year it will be offering a bachelor”™s degree as well. The relatively new program has been attracting a lot of international students.
The Stamford campus is hosting a financial risk management conference Nov. 9 to discuss new tools and case studies with local practitioners. James B. Comey Jr., general counsel for Bridgewater Associates L.P. and former U.S. deputy attorney general, will be the keynote speaker in addition to panel discussions and remarks from several other business leaders.
Elliott said he has been reaching out to the business community and has seen a welcomed response. More conferences are likely to occur in the future, he said, showing a symptom of a closer relationship between the school, the business community and the state. Currently the school has plans to make the risk conference an annual event.
In general, Elliott said he plans to focus more on the Stamford campus than his predecessor. He said he”™d like to continue to offer more degree programs at the campus and give continued support to the Stamford Learning Accelerator, which partners with regional businesses to give students messy real-world business problems to solve.
“When they”™ve been through the program they”™ve had a chance to apply what they”™ve read, written and thought about,” he said. “Talking in an interview, they are better able to really communicate what they can do to earn that job.”
Elliott said he”™d also like to see the school collaborate more on university projects, such as the Bioscience Connecticut initiative with the state government, which is designed to position Connecticut as a national leader in the bioscience industry.
The state has named UConn as an engine of economic growth in hopes of spurring innovation and job creation. Elliott said the school of business should be a key player in the initiatives UConn puts forward.
“I”™m entering my third month and it”™s all very new,” Elliott said. “The good news is there”™s a number of exciting things going on.”
