Robert T. Sumichrast
Dean and Simon S. Selig, Jr. Chair for Economic Growth

Published: January 08, 2010 | Vol. 2, Issue 6

The mission of the Terry College of Business, in part, is to "prepare, challenge and inspire students, alumni, and business practitioners." This mission means we must do more than offer high-quality degree programs in Athens. We must also provide lifelong learning and networking opportunities for alumni and executive education for the business community, and we do this primarily at the Terry Executive Education Center in Atlanta.

On Jan. 28, we will kick off the Atlanta Leadership Symposium, a six-part executive program developed and delivered in partnership with the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. This collaboration allows us to use the faculty and expertise from Terry and Ross to provide the best possible leadership development program. The Atlanta business community has responded favorably with a large initial enrollment (though there is still space available) and several corporations stepping up to support the series.

Our partnership with the University of Michigan is just one example of how we are expanding and improving our executive education programs to ensure that we are ready to grow as the economy picks up speed. In the past year, we have created dozens of new programs. Many of the new offerings are relatively short to make them cost effective for companies who cannot afford to operate without key personnel for long periods of time. For example, the Leadership Symposium meets one day a month from early morning to early afternoon starting in January and ending in June.

To accommodate the growing demand for these short courses — as well as our certificate programs, Executive MBA, and alumni outreach programs in Atlanta — we are adding another classroom to our Executive Education Center. We're also adding more faculty and staff offices and expanding the areas dedicated to student learning at our Buckhead facility. We anticipate the new space will come on line late in the spring.

Another executive program I want to mention is the CFO Roundtable. It was created by Cushman & Wakefield professionals John O'Neill and Chris White, both of whom are alumni of the Terry Executive MBA program. The roundtable was developed in partnership with our Executive Programs staff and meets quarterly at the Executive Education Center. Accounting professor Denny Beresford chairs the group's advisory board in Atlanta. The idea has been so successful that Cushman & Wakefield has since expanded the CFO Roundtable concept to 14 cities so far and partnered with other top business schools, including UCLA, Cal-Berkeley and Illinois. You can read more about the roundtable's most recent event in this newsletter.

We will continue to cultivate strong partners to help us fulfill our mission, as these types of collaborative efforts will help us reach our vision of national prominence.

Robert T. Sumichrast, Dean
Terry College of Business

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