Did the world really need another business school?
Johns Hopkins answered, "Yes, absolutely," when it
established the Carey
Business School last
year. This week, the school's first dean, Yash Gupta, will
flesh out that answer.
In an interview as he prepared for Friday's dedication
of the Carey School and his official
installation as dean, Gupta pointed out that growth in
today's economy is driven by knowledge and
technology — personal computing, the Internet,
genomics, biotechnology — that didn't exist just
decades
ago.
The need, he said, is for business leaders who
specialize in the innovation that will fuel
continued growth. Where better, he asks, to educate them
than at Johns Hopkins, a world center for
discovery and creativity.
Innovation, Gupta said, is "inherent in what we do.
It's who we are."
Gupta said he will lay out in his address at Friday's
ceremony in Homewood's Shriver Hall a vision
for a research-oriented school that focuses relentlessly on
innovation in the new economy.
The dedication — with remarks by university
President William R. Brody and Provost Kristina M.
Johnson — will also pay tribute to the philanthropist
who made possible the establishment of the new
school. Baltimore native and trustee emeritus William Polk
Carey, through his W.P. Carey Foundation,
made a $50 million commitment, the largest ever to Johns
Hopkins in support of business education.
The school is named for his great-great-great-grandfather
James Carey of Loudon.
Gupta said his vision for the Carey School is to
educate broadly prepared students ready for
the challenges of the innovation economy but also
interested in more than money.
"I believe that future leaders in business are not
called upon just to balance the balance sheet,"
Gupta said.
"Future leaders are called upon to be role models in
ethical behavior," he said. "They'll be called
upon to be part of thinking about what society we build.
They'll be called upon to become statesmen.
They'll be called upon to help build policies on a national
stage."
The aim, he said, is to produce MBAs and other
graduates armed not only with technical
knowledge and analytical skills but also with the critical
thinking and flexibility that are the hallmark
of a humanities education.
"We're going to educate people who are not simply good
at the particular disciplines of
business," Gupta said. "It's a new kind of education where
students are truly going to make a
difference in the world."
Gupta expects to build on the quality programs for
part-time students that have existed at
Johns Hopkins for decades. He will add a core of
research-oriented full-time faculty and programs for
full-time students. Students in all the school's degree
programs — full-time and part-time — will
benefit
from the singular focus on innovation, he said.
"How do you fuel innovation through HR, for instance?"
he said. "How do you fuel innovation
through investments? How do you fuel innovation through an
understanding of technology? How do you
fuel innovation by leadership?"
While specifics of the school's curriculum will be
determined by the faculty, Gupta imagines
courses in which teams of students are paired with
scientists, university technology transfer staff
and business professors to learn about the process of
innovation. Other students, he said, might
partner with Johns Hopkins nursing and public health
students to work on building social and economic
capacity in developing nations.
"Until now, a CEO's mind goes: How do I maximize
shareholder value?" Gupta said, of the value
of such community-building programs for business students.
"Now they call it the triple bottom line:
People. Planet. Profit."