Looking Back at a Momentous Year

The Wisconsin Naming Gift and completion of the $40.5 million addition to Grainger Hall were a stunning combination of events to occur in a single year, but many other important steps forward also were taken.

A quick look at other accomplishments of the Wisconsin School of Business in 2007-2008:

Wisconsin MBA

• The program saw a 14 percent increase in applications, which translated into a fall 2008 entering class of 125 students, compared to 106 students the prior year, and it’s our strongest class ever.
• U.S. News & World Report ranked the Wisconsin MBA 29th in the nation for the second year in a row.
• May 2008 graduates had 94 percent placement within three months of graduation, with an average base starting salary of $88,626, up from $82,000 the prior year.
• The Wisconsin School of Business was ranked among the world’s top schools for leadership in integrating social and environmental issues into its MBA offerings, in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey.
  

Enterprise MBA Programs

• A third program was added to the Enterprise MBA platform in 2008. The Executive MBA — The Manager’s Program is designed to be offered onsite in conjunction with a corporate partner. It launched in February 2008 with Kohl’s, Inc. as the initial partner company.
• Enterprise MBA programs experienced significant growth during the year. Since 2006, total enrollment across the three programs is up more than 40 percent.

Undergraduate Program

• The latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of undergraduate business programs placed the Wisconsin School of Business 13th among all business schools in the United States, down one spot from the prior year. Two programs within the school again made the magazine’s top five list — Real Estate and Insurance.
• Major strides were made in preparing for the transition to sophomore admissions in fall 2009, including developing admission criteria.
• An undergraduate at the Wisconsin School of Business, Ashutosh Gupta, was named among the 25 “most promising young entrepreneurs in the U.S.” by BusinessWeek.

Executive Education

• New public programs were offered in human resource management, strategy, and information technology.
• Custom programs were ranked 2nd in the world for “value for money” in the May 2008 edition of the Financial Times of London.

Faculty and Research

• Eight new tenure-track faculty members were hired by the business school for fall 2008, the highest number in more than a decade.
• In summer 2008, a new faculty research seminar, “Rays of Research,” was launched. The goal of the weekly series: to provide a forum for intellectual exchange and interaction among faculty and Ph.D. students across the school’s seven departments.

Other Accomplishments of Note

• Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, an intensive, hands-on week of learning for graduate students in chemistry, biology, law, engineering provided insights on launching business startups for the second year. John Morgridge, chair emeritus of Cisco Systems, and G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill and Co., were among industry leaders who participated.
• Research by accounting faculty members was ranked number one in the nation in a “Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index” published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
• The Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking was selected as the inaugural Certified Turnaround Professional Partner School by the Turnaround Management Association.
• Minority students from Milwaukee, Waukesha and Madison-area high schools participated in a special six-week summer program giving a broad overview of business and classes to enhance their skills as part of the UW-Madison PEOPLE program.
• An innovative business plan developed for Sky Vegetables, a rooftop produce farming business, won the $10,000 first prize in the business school’s G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition and earned second place in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.