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

Published: September 3, 2009 | Vol. 2, Issue 4

A few days ago I had the opportunity to welcome a group of new students to the Terry College and answer some of their questions. One student asked me how students can help the college achieve its vision of national prominence. That question is indicative of the attitude that I see in so many of our faculty, staff, alumni and friends and, now, in our students. Everyone knows we have set our sights high at a time when the resources to carry out our plans are scarce. I am grateful that so many people among all of our constituencies want to help.

Alumni and the business community must support us if we are to continue our progress, and they are stepping up to the plate, despite the financial pinch that nearly everyone is feeling. The number of alumni and friends donating to the Terry Annual Fund increased by more than 20 percent this past year. Annual fund gifts have an immediate impact on our students and programs. The fact that we increased the number of donors while feeling the full force of an economic downturn bodes well for our future.

Our alumni and supporters in the business community are helping us in other ways too. As I wrote to you back in March, we have many successful people who speak to students in classes or as part of special lecture series. A select few are invited by the college to take more active roles as Terry Executives. That includes Mark "Dill" Driscoll, who joined us last month as our first Entrepreneur-in-Residence. This month, I'm pleased to tell you that we have another business leader joining our ranks. M. Douglas Ivester (BBA 1969), who presides over Deer Run Investments LLC and is the former chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Co., will work with the college directing the new Deer Run Fellows Programs and will be our first Executive-at-Large. We will tell you a great deal more about the idea behind the fellows program and its impact on students as the program gets under way.

On another positive note, I wanted to share some more good news from a few of the most prominent college guides. They consistently rank our programs among the best in the country — public or private. In August, U.S. News and World Report ranked our undergraduate program 25th in the country — up from 30th last year. U.S. News continues to rank our Risk Management program second in the country (with only Wharton ahead of us) and our Real Estate program is again ranked third. Management Information Systems and Accounting were also ranked among the top programs in the country. Our MBA is also making progress in rankings that consider the success our graduates have in their careers. As I reported earlier, the Financial Times gave our Executive MBA its highest rank ever, third in the country for "career progress" and 22nd overall. In addition, Terry is back on Forbes' list of the best MBA programs. Forbes ranks full-time programs based upon their "return on investment."

It all goes to show that we are a much better business school because of the range of contributions from alumni and other supporters — whom I like to call "alumni by choice."

Robert T. Sumichrast, Dean
Terry College of Business

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