Terry College of Business Strategic Plan The mission of the University of Georgia s Terry College of Business is the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge for the effective and ethical practice of business. Within this mission, the highest priority of the Terry College of Business is advancing economic development. Specifically, as the business school at the nation s first state-chartered university, the Terry College of Business is committed to advancing economic development through its three central missions: teaching, research, and service. In teaching, our goal is to provide students an education that exceeds that provided by other top business schools. To that end, we aim to engage students in challenging coursework and internships that lead to outstanding placement upon graduation and prepares our alumni to become leaders in their organizations. In research, our goals are to generate creative insights into the nature of business and to develop innovative solutions for spurring economic growth and increasing firms efficiency and profitability. To that end, we aim to provide faculty with a supportive research environment that allows them to engage in high impact, interdisciplinary work. In service, our goal is to advance the economic vibrancy of communities around the state and beyond. To that end, we aim to engage our students in service learning, where they can practice their skills in real-world settings and give back to their communities, and to expand our presence in online and executive education. In all these efforts, the Terry College of Business will strive to demonstrate consistently high standards of excellence, be a conscientious steward of resources, and provide an environment for our students, faculty, and staff that enables them to reach their highest potential. We are fortunate that Terry already has a record of achievement in its teaching, research, and service activities. With this strategic plan, we hope to raise our standards even higher. Every student and every program deserves our best effort, and every student and program should reflect positively on Terry, the university as a whole, and the State of Georgia. Thus, the strategic goals listed below are not presented in order of importance; all are critical to Terry s success. Building on Excellence in Undergraduate Education Increase the quality, coherence, and labor market relevance of the undergraduate majors in Terry to better prepare students for successful careers Update labor market relevance through feedback from alumni and key recruiters Process: Benchmark curricula of peer and aspirant schools; conduct surveys of graduating seniors and young alumni (five years out). Align curriculum more closely to labor market demands and needs
Process: Solicit feedback from employers of recent graduates; form departmental advisory boards with alumni and executives (where appropriate); develop structured Terry Talks programs that supplement curricula and integrate curricula with real-world issues. Identify and implement areas of concentration as appropriate Process: Consider areas of concentration (i.e., series of courses) within a major to add focus to students courses of study and brand identity for employers. Identify and correct overlaps or gaps in sequences of courses in majors Process: Gather faculty input to identify gaps and/or overlaps in the curricula; assess the current status of ethics coverage and make changes as appropriate; contact other department heads to discuss their perceptions of gaps and/or overlaps in the curricula; collect data from graduating seniors about gaps and/or overlaps in curriculum; identify and implement opportunities to expand the Workforce Diversity Certificate. Identify recommended non-major courses Process: Solicit feedback from departmental faculty and from faculty in departments in allied disciplines; where possible, develop non-major courses which might appeal to students in multiple majors. Effectively communicate program expectations and job opportunities Process: Develop and implement orientation programs for new majors each semester; have members of the university Career Services Center come talk to groups of majors to educate them about university resources for help writing resumes and preparing for interviews; work with Terry s Corporate Relations group to increase students networking and placement opportunities. Strengthen students communication skills Process: Evaluate whether current courses whose goal is to strengthen communication skills are fulfilling that mission and, if not, devise alternative courses of action; as appropriate, discuss with other departmental faculty ways of introducing writing assignments and oral presentations into course activities and evaluation procedures; use student club activities to strengthen students oral presentation skills. Increase opportunities for students to engage in experiential learning and global study Process: Integrate the introduction to study abroad, exchange programs, and internships into orientation programs for new majors; minimize departmental barriers to study abroad; collect detailed information on students participation in internship programs (both for credit and not for credit); work with Terry s Corporate Relations to develop and cultivate a list of target internship companies;
consider one-credit spring break study abroad programs and ways of advertising study abroad opportunities more widely. Key outcome measures: undergraduate placement rate; placement quality (e.g., quality of company, relevance of job to student s career goals); quality and diversity of students; starting salary; percentage of students with internships and study abroad experiences; number of hours worked (in coursework) per major; feedback from students on annual exit surveys; feedback from alumni and employers; course evaluations of faculty on quality and rigor of instruction; comparisons with data collected from AACSB-Q; implementation of recommended changes in the curriculum. Enhancing the Quality of Terry Graduate, Executive, and Online Programs Increase the quality, effectiveness, and success of the full-time day MBA program, Professional MBA programs at Buckhead and Gwinnett campuses, and the Executive MBA Program Leverage Terry strengths to differentiate programs relative to competitors Process: Based on review of peer/aspirant schools, identify areas where Terry could have competitive advantages in terms of program recognition, faculty expertise, alumni and employer connections, and prior placement success. Update labor market relevance through feedback from alumni and key recruiters Process: Benchmark curricula of peer and aspirant schools; conduct surveys of graduating seniors and young alumni (five years out); solicit feedback from employers of recent graduates. Utilize alumni and existing Terry corporate relationships to enhance placement success Process: Enhance coordination among programs in terms of job search preparation, networking opportunities, and placement contacts; increase the role of Development in providing good placement and networking contacts. Increase enrollment in each program and decrease the number of undersized classes Process: Develop new marketing plans for each program that highlights faculty, deliverables, and employment successes; have program directors contact department heads early in the preceding semester so that course conflicts can be eliminated; implement pre-registration processes early in the preceding semester to identify low enrollment courses that could be eliminated and replaced with higher-enrollment courses. Increase amount of substantive learning and analytic thinking in coursework and set higher standards of excellence Process: Provide course-level GPA for each course in each MBA program; benchmark those GPAs against both our undergraduate classes and peer and aspirant
MBA programs; consider whether extensive use of independent studies adds sufficient value to students; collect detailed feedback from graduating students and recent graduates on the rigor and utility of the curricula. Improve the quantity and quality of incoming students to the full-time MBA Program and align admissions processes with placement opportunities in that program Process: Use five years previous placement data to identify the characteristics of incoming students which contributed positively to placement success; use five years previous placement data to identify the characteristics of incoming students who had difficulty or who failed in finding satisfactory employment upon graduation; use that information in setting admissions criteria. Track average GPA and GMAT of all applicants as well as those of entering students; track percentages of qualified and unqualified applicants; track yield rate of qualified applicants. Key outcome measures: In each MBA program: GPA and GMAT of all applicants and of the entering class; diversity of the class; the number of students in progress through the degree program; percentages of qualified and unqualified applications; yield rate of candidates offered admission; percentages of students not taking a standardized entrance exam; placement rate among students looking for employment three months after graduation; placement quality (quality of company and relevance of job to the student s career goals; starting salary) percentage of students with paid internships; feedback from students on annual exit surveys; feedback from alumni and employers; course evaluations of faculty on quality and rigor of instruction; comparisons with data collected from AACSB-Q. Increase Terry s Presence in Specialized Masters, Executive, and Online Undergraduate Education Increase size, efficiency, and success of the online BBA program Process: Director of Undergraduate Programs and Program Coordinator for Online BBA Program to create marketing plan which includes corporate, feeder schools, and other sources of applicants; consider dropping constraints on participation (e.g., years of work experience requirement); identify areas of cooperation with UGA s Admissions, Registrar, and Curriculum System Offices. Identify market trends in masters education and opportunities to expand Terry s specialized masters programs Process: Evaluate opportunities to create and expand online coursework in Terry s specialized masters programs; benchmark specialized masters programs with peer and aspirant schools of business; have each program director develop or improve enrollment strategies; evaluate opportunities to expand Terry s collection of specialized masters programs. Identify and pursue unfilled niches in open-enrollment and contract executive education programs (e.g., entrepreneurship) and pursue opportunities to provide more executive education online
Process: Evaluate opportunities to create and expand coursework in Terry s Executive Education programs; where possible, benchmark with peer and aspirant schools of business; Engage alumni, faculty, and other business connections to better identify market opportunities and to attract more students for executive education programs Process: Collect both quantitative and qualitative data from current participants (individual and corporate) on perceived strengths and weakness of programs, opportunities for new programs, and ways of attracting more students for executive education programs; work collaboratively with Offices of Development and Corporate Relations to develop leads for custom programs and participants for open enrollment programs. Key outcome measures: Enrollment and profitability of online BBA; number of participants in online programs; student evaluations of online BBA program; retention/graduation rate for online BBA; enrollment numbers in specialized masters programs and quality and diversity of students in programs; placement rate for specialized masters programs; annual survey feedback from graduating students/alumni/employers; student evaluations for faculty on quality and rigor of courses; number of open-enrollment courses and custom programs successfully delivered (and/or closed due to lack of participants); participant evaluations of Executive Education Courses; profitability of Executive Education programs; if possible, develop peer/aspirant comparison data based on AACSB for Executive Education. Supporting a Culture of Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching Enhance the research environment for faculty and Ph.D. students so that Terry can continue to attract and retain outstanding faculty Enhance opportunities for senior faculty to mentor junior faculty and Ph.D. students in research Process: During annual review process, convey expectations that research-active senior faculty are expected to mentor and provide constructive input to junior faculty s research and teaching activities; set up processes within departments to make sure that Ph.D. students are paired up with constructive and supportive mentors; periodically assess whether Graduate Coordinators are meeting the needs of Ph.D. students. Increase summer support for research-productive faculty and scholarship funds for high-potential Ph.D. students and ensure competitive teaching loads for highly productive faculty Process: Working with Development, find additional sources of revenue to support research-productive faculty currently publishing in major journals, regardless of rank, with 2/9 th summer support; identify opportunities to make multi-year commitments of
summer funding to research-productive faculty currently publishing in major journals; create term fellow positions to aid in recruiting and retaining outstanding researchers; during annual review process, review teaching loads for tenure-track faculty to ensure competitive teaching loads for highly productive faculty while maintaining revenue neutrality. Increase support for research activities of faculty Process: Inventory number and cost of currently-supported Terry databases and Terry s contributions to university-purchased databases and licenses; identify needs in database acquisition; identify priorities for new purchases; formalize College matching programs with departments and centers; utilize Computer Users and Library Committee to provide feedback. Identify current departmental spending (including RATS accounts) on faculty travel to academic conferences, to professional development workshops, and for purposes of data collection. Inventory current departmental needs for updated computing equipment. Have departments identify gaps in resources needed, the estimated costs of closing those gaps, and provide multi-year plans for closing those gaps. Increase research grant proposals and awards in those areas with high grant potential Process: Develop goals for departments with grant potential; revisit revenue-sharing for grants received, depending upon the amount of overhead the college receives and whether the faculty member is the PI, a co-pi, or a for-fee contractor. Increase research productivity relative to peer and aspirant institutions Process: Have departments develop metrics for comparing their faculty s research productivity to the productivity of faculty at peer and aspirant institutions with appropriate justification for the set of journals utilized and how the number of faculty co-authors is taken into consideration. Create term fellow positions to aid in recruiting and retaining outstanding researchers Process: Working with Development, find additional sources of revenue to support research-productive faculty currently publishing in major journals; identify opportunities to make multi-year commitments of summer funding to researchproductive faculty currently publishing in major journals. Increase hiring success from peer and aspirant PhD programs and schools of business Process: Where possible, benchmark with peer and aspirant schools of business regarding best practices; at departmental level, evaluate the effectiveness of convention recruiting and incorporate best practices to ensure the interview process increases recruits interest in Terry; Enhance opportunities for peer mentoring and mentoring Ph.D. students in teaching activities
Process: Identify and implement best practices for setting expectations in the classroom and efforts to assist new faculty; have department heads encourage faculty to take advantage of the Center for Teaching and Learning, especially new faculty without much prior teaching experience and veteran faculty who are struggling with teaching; have graduate coordinators encourage doctoral students to take advantage of additional programs offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning beyond GRSC 7770; encourage high-potential teachers to participate in the Lilly Teaching Fellows Program. Key outcome measures: Number of co-authored articles and working papers of junior faculty with senior faculty; number of co-authored articles and working papers of current PhD students (or graduating in last 5 years) with Terry faculty; percentage of research-productive faculty publishing in premier journals at 2/9 th summer support; research funding for databases; percentage of requests for research funding for databases supported by the department that are co-funded by Terry; number of research grant proposals; number of funded research grants; research productivity of departments relative to peer and aspirant institutions; percentage of tenure-track hires from peer/aspirant schools; teaching evaluations of faculty and PhD students on quality and rigor of courses; PhD placement success at major public and private research universities. Building a Strong Financial Foundation for Terry Be a responsible steward of resources and continue to build a stronger financial foundation for the Terry College of Business Process: Conclude Building Terry campaign by obtaining private component for the Business Learning Community and secure state support for the project; increase annual revenues from revenue-generating programs to support core Terry operations; focus fundraising efforts on generating much-needed annual support and endowment gifts to support faculty and students; develop a comprehensive and unified approach for corporate sponsorship; increase the number of graduating class gift campaigns and student participation rates in those gift campaigns; increase participation and engagement of alumni and advisory boards in gift campaigns (with expectation of 100% participation) and subsequent fundraising efforts; create strategies to increase donor retention rates. Key outcome measures: completion of $70M private funding for BLC; secure state funding for Phase II; secure state funding for Phase III; net profits from EMBA, PMBA, and Executive Education Programs; increases in Terry Excellence Fund donations; increases in Terry Unrestricted Endowed Fund donations; increases in endowed gifts to support faculty and students; number of class gift campaigns; student participation rates in class gift campaigns; money raised in class gift campaigns; board member participation in development efforts (annual gift and campaign gift); alumni participation and donor retention rates.