Interview with a Dean - Robert S. Sullivan from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego is in its eighth year and in spite of skepticism from the business education media and a bad economy, Rady is in fact thriving. Its niche is training people with scientific and technical backgrounds on how to become business leaders. Over 50% of the entering students have advanced degrees, typically in science and engineering. When the school opened, skeptics questioned the need for more business schools and wondered whether scientific or technical types could also be leaders. But Dean Robert S. Sullivan has proven them wrong. In an interview with VisionPoint Marketing, Dean Sullivan explains how the school has done so well.
How have budget cuts affected your program?
We certainly do not have an easy turnaround for the California economy ahead but, actually, our business program is doing just fine. Enrollments are up for our Full-Time and Evening MBA programs, and stable for our FlexMBA students. We have a financially, self-sufficient model. This means we are growing even though UC San Diego is not. The programs we offer allow us to reinvest back into the school. Our buildings are privately funded. All of this makes us nearly 100% self sufficient from public money.
Why else do you think you're doing so well?
Our alumni are getting great positions after graduating and these great poster children from our program show prospective students and employers that Rady graduates can do great things. Of our first class of 2006, two graduates are CEOs — one for an alternative energy company in Hawaii, the other for a skin cell cancer therapeutics company in the Bay Area. Another graduate from our FlexMBA program, is a scientist and used her MBA to launch a non-profit research center for children's cancer. Also, we received AACSB international accreditation this year — we were one of the quickest universities to do so. This has become very validating.
Do you think having a strong niche, particularly teaching scientific types how to thrive in business, has also helped?
Having a strong technical background can only help your ability to be a good leader, especially for the new industries of the 21st century. Without a technical background you can't understand what you are leading, and you may lack credibility with employees.
How is your program using social media?
Social media helps us advertise and market our programs. Our alumni network, though it is small — (only 650 alums), uses social media constantly to connect alums with one another and their successes. We teach our students how to use social media to launch and market new businesses. Currently, one professor has recruited Rady students to help launch a marketing campaign through social media for an alumnus’s new company. There is a new generation engaged with social media, and we must capitalize on this.
What is coming up this fall semester?
Rady is launching an executive program with the UC San Diego Health Science division. We are training health sciences faculty how to transform the delivery of healthcare. We are also part of a campus-wide Initiative to rearticulate “design.” For business schools, design and “design thinking” will drive everything from new product design, consumer behavior and organizational design. It is a necessary creative driver for successful innovation.