Category Archives: Notes from the Dean

Next month I will have the honor of presenting diplomas to our Class of 2023 business graduates, the culmination of a whirlwind academic year in which our college community made great progress in addressing what must be done to advance the DePaul mission.

We started the year by setting three primary college objectives: strengthen our alumni and business community connections; cultivate faculty, staff and student engagement; and review our academic program portfolio to identify opportunities for growth and innovation.

Here are a few highlights of our work to address these priorities:

• Students have enthusiastically embraced our updated Bachelor of Science in Business program and the opportunity to compete in a quarterly “Shark Tank”-like business pitch competition called the Driehaus Cup, which debuted last fall. This issue’s feature story tells how the revised curriculum and our renewed focus on campus engagement is supporting the success of DePaul undergraduate business students.
• We’ve deepened our relationships with alumni and business organizations by collaborating on mutually beneficial programs and partnerships. DePaul alumnus and Morningstar Global CIO Laura Kohl (MBA ’94) and the late finance executive and DePaul Trustee Lori Holland (BUS ’84) are among the alumni benefactors of new programs we’ve launched this year. In this issue, read more about Kohl and Morningstar’s co-sponsorship of the Driehaus Cup, and the Holland Initiative for Women in finance.
• We’re developing new programs that offer highly marketable skills to students at all levels. This fall, our college will offer a new business analytics undergraduate major and a multidisciplinary computer science + economics degree program that will help prepare students for the future of business. Our Hay Center for Leadership Development, which opened in September, also continues to expand its certificate and customized corporate leadership education programs that empower professionals and organizations to reach their full potential.
• We’re cultivating innovation, which is essential for differentiating and growing our programs. In January our college opened BETA Hub, a new resource center where business students and faculty can apply emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to teaching, learning and research. This spring the DePaul Academic Growth and Innovation Fund awarded a $100,000 grant to BETA Hub so that it can expand its programming. We also recently made the first investment of DePaul’s new Halperin Emerging Company Fund into a venture co-founded by a business alumna. Read more about BETA Hub and the Halperin fund in this issue.

Our faculty are the foundation for all of these positive changes, and in this issue you’ll learn more about two who are expanding the boundaries of student outreach and research: Hui Lin, our accountancy school director and newly named Deloitte Foundation Endowed Professor, and author Kelly Richmond Pope, our Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting.

Our efforts to innovate and expand programs, reach new student populations and strengthen our bond with the business community depend on your generous support for — and engagement with — DePaul.

Behind the success of every graduate who crosses the stage this spring is a vast community of alumni and business allies who give to DePaul, guest-speak in our classrooms, advise and recruit our students, and share their expert advice on how we can best prepare the business leaders of tomorrow.

Thank you for being true blue supporters of the Driehaus College of Business.

Sulin Ba
Dean
Driehaus College of Business

Dean Sulin Ba

I arrived in Chicago in late June after a 15-hour drive from the East Coast with one of my sons.  As we approached the city on I-90, the Chicago skyline came into view, and I became quite emotional. I had been anticipating this moment since my appointment as dean was announced in January, and now I was finally at DePaul!  

Chicago is full of energy and opportunity, and my optimism for the future has grown even stronger after finishing my first fall quarter at DePaul. I am excited to be among a group of new university leaders—including DePaul President Rob L. Manuel—who are eager to work with Chicago’s business, civic and nonprofit organizations to advance the success of our students and the community around us.   

At the Driehaus College of Business, four new directors and chairs have joined our college leadership team this academic year, bringing fresh perspectives to our strategic planning. Our team has three top priorities:  

• Strengthen our relationships with alumni and the business and nonprofit communities, with the goals of building visibility and mutually beneficial partnerships. This issue’s feature story tells how our collaborations with these communities are empowering career success for DePaul students from underrepresented communities, while expanding the pipeline of diverse talent heading into the business community. 

• Cultivate faculty, staff and student engagement. This fall, our college emphasized greater in-person learning and activities, including more career networking and recruiting events on campus. Our community has responded enthusiastically to these opportunities to reengage. 

• Comprehensively reviewing of our program portfolio. Our focus is on creating new, innovative programs and providing students with sought-after business skills. Our refreshed bachelor’s in business program curriculum and Driehaus Cup competition, which debuted this fall, and the college’s newly launched DePaul Executive Education programs, are examples of how we are addressing this priority. 

Support from our alumni, business and nonprofit allies is essential for our college to address all three of these priorities. That’s why I have been working with our Driehaus College of Business Advisory Council of alumni and business leaders to expand our college’s networks and partnerships, including several that are highlighted in this issue. I also welcome your suggestions for connections and collaborations that support our goals. Together, we can ensure that the DePaul mission continues to prosper for many years to come, benefiting both the future business leaders we educate and the business community that relies on DePaul talent. 

Sulin Ba
Dean
Driehaus College of Business
business.dean@depaul.edu  

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

This July the Driehaus College of Business will welcome Sulin Ba, the Treibick Family Endowed Chair in information technology at the University of Connecticut, as our new dean. Professor Ba and I are working closely on a leadership transition that supports the continuing success of our college, and she looks forward to joining DePaul, connecting with our alumni and getting to know the Chicago business community. I invite you to read more about our incoming dean.

Reflecting on my tenure as interim dean, I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to lead a college community that cares so deeply about our students and the DePaul mission. With support from our alumni and the business community, we have overcome many challenges caused by the pandemic and advanced student success in a number of ways:

Reimagining our curriculum. Our faculty will launch a revised bachelor’s in business program this fall with guidance from alumni and business leaders on the skills that make graduates successful. The updated program emphasizes analytical skills for data-based decision-making, entrepreneurial thinking that drives innovation, and socially responsible leadership. Experiential learning opportunities—such as the real-world student consulting projects highlighted in this issue’s feature story—continue to be an important part of all of our programs, giving students a chance to apply the skills they’ve learned. In the coming year we also plan to expand opportunities for alumni and others to refresh their professional skills through new certificate programs offered by our Hay Center for Leadership Development.

Leveraging technology to enhance learning. DePaul has invested significantly in new classroom technologies, and our faculty members have embraced training that empowers them to teach engagingly in person, online and in hybrid modes. We are offering courses in a wider range of modalities that provide students-especially graduate students-the flexibility they need to complete their business education while fulfilling work and family responsibilities. This spring our college launched a Business Education in Technology and Analytics (BETA) Lab to accelerate the infusion of technology into our courses, research and community collaborations.

Elevating student and faculty engagement. We are focusing more resources on delivering a personalized, engaging and compassionate educational experience to our students through a new role at our college, associate dean for student success; fresh collaborations with DePaul’s admission and student affairs offices; and faculty mentoring programs.

Strengthening business and alumni connections. This academic year I’ve worked with our Business Advisory Council to re-envision the role of this group of prominent alumni and business leaders in supporting our college and its students. Their recommendations provide new ideas for engaging council members in the life of our college and leveraging their insight and connections to benefit our students. We’re proud to profile alumnus Brian Ruben, one of the council members who helped lead this initiative, in this issue.

I leave the leadership of the Driehaus College of Business in good hands and with confidence about the future.

Thomas Donley
Interim Dean
Driehaus College of Business

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

This fall, we welcomed our business students back to DePaul with a course schedule that offered a range of in-person, remote and hybrid classes. Flexibility has become the new norm for how we deliver business education, shaped by the diverse needs of our students and the novel ways we have learned to teach and support them during the pandemic.

We educate undergraduates seeking the traditional campus experience, nontraditional students juggling part-time jobs and/or family care with school, professionals pursuing graduate degrees while working full time, and far-flung doctoral students who travel to Chicago once a month for residencies. To meet their varying expectations while continuing to address the uncertainties of the pandemic, we are expanding online degree programs, upgrading classroom technology, embracing new teaching techniques and offering personalized advising services in multiple modalities.

In September, we launched three new online degrees—master’s degrees in entrepreneurship and finance and a bachelor’s degree in accountancy. These programs provide a flexible option for local professionals who continue to work partially or entirely from home while enabling us to offer a DePaul business education to more students located outside of Chicago. Across the curricula we are offering courses in five modalities, including Flex, which allows students to choose whether to attend class in person or virtually each week.

To support these new instruction modes, DePaul is investing in high-tech classrooms that feature motion-following cameras, upgraded audio and the latest digital presentation tools. Many of our faculty members have completed DePaul’s award-winning online teaching workshops, and our college hosts regular tutorials on how to teach engagingly whether in person or remotely. Our faculty members are emphasizing interactive learning, such as real-world team projects working with Chicago businesses, during shared in-person and synchronous, online class time, with lectures often delivered via videos that students view before class.

We also have learned a lot about the power of connection and delivering a high-touch, personalized experience to students. Zoom advising sessions give international, out-of-state and busy transfer students more flexibility to meet with an advisor for one-on-one conversations and collaborative registration walk-throughs via screen share. We have found that smaller virtual events encourage inclusion and build community by providing more opportunities for personal interaction among students and industry speakers. We will continue offering online advising and events while resuming on-campus guidance and gatherings this fall, serving students flexibly where they are.

Many of you are likewise seeking new ways to collaborate, communicate and connect in workplaces that combine in office, remote and hybrid work. In this issue’s feature story, alumni and faculty at the forefront of understanding these issues offer their insight and advice for navigating new workplace norms.

As you find your way in an evolving workplace, we hope you’ll help us support the next generation of DePaul graduates who will soon join your ranks. DePaul has launched The Finish Line Fund to benefit students who are facing financial hardship on the brink of earning their degrees. Please help these students cross the finish line to become DePaul alumni through your contributions to this scholarship fund.

Thomas Donley
Interim Dean, Driehaus College of Business

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

As more people receive COVID-19 vaccines and optimism grows this spring, we are making plans for the post-pandemic future at the Driehaus College of Business. It will not be a return to business as usual. Student expectations and our assumptions about how to learn, teach and work have changed in the 14 months since DePaul moved nearly all classes and services online to protect the health of our community. Navigating this unprecedented crisis has reshaped our opportunities and challenges, and our plans for the future must address this new reality.

Over the past year, our faculty members have strengthened their training and experience in online teaching, and we have accelerated technology upgrades to support both virtual and in-person learning. While born of necessity, these actions have empowered us to offer students more options for accessing a DePaul business education. We anticipate a return to face-to-face classes this fall, in accordance with government and public health safety guidelines, but also plan to offer a robust schedule of online classes that blend virtual real-time and asynchronous learning experiences. Recent surveys of our students indicate they value flexible learning formats that allow them to balance school, work and family responsibilities.

We also are developing more degree programs with classes entirely online to serve students who would not otherwise be able to pursue a business degree at DePaul. These programs include our Master of Science in Entrepreneurship degree, which will debut online this fall.

No matter how we deliver a DePaul business education, we remain committed to high-quality, creative and engaging teaching that connects business theory and practice for our students. This issue’s feature story profiles three faculty members who are at the forefront of our efforts to innovate in the classroom.

This fall we look forward to returning in person to the Driehaus College of Business, but when we do, it will be with sadness in our hearts because of the loss of our great friend and benefactor, Richard H. Driehaus, who died this spring.

A Triple Demon, Richard lived the quintessential DePaul story. He rose from modest means to great success as a finance pioneer in Chicago, transformed by DePaul and the Catholic, urban and Vincentian values we hold dear. Richard’s generosity to our college, DePaul and many worthy causes across our city has bettered the lives of countless people. Our college is proud to bear his name and continue his legacy through our mission to educate and serve our community.

Thomas Donley
Interim Dean
Driehaus College of Business

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

This academic year has begun unlike any we have experienced before at DePaul. Keeping our community safe—our first priority—compelled the university to substantially limit face-to-face classes, on-campus activities and residence hall living for students this fall and winter. All of our business courses are online, delivered in modalities that blend synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Our faculty have stepped up to embrace online teaching, and we are investing even more into faculty training and new classroom technologies to support the success of our students. These efforts build on DePaul’s decade of experience in online teaching and learning. Over the summer, 50 more of our business faculty members completed the DePaul Online Teaching Series, an award-winning program that teaches faculty best practices for engaging students in online classes. The college also has partnered with the university to upgrade our Loop Campus classrooms with teleconferencing and recording technologies that not only fulfill our immediate need to deliver courses safely and effectively online, but also better position us for the future by offering students more flexibility in how they learn.

Outside of the classroom, the university and our college have expanded remotely delivered career services and engagement activities for both students and alumni. Remote career coaching, webinars, networking events and a wealth of online resources are helping Blue Demons launch and advance their careers in a tough economy. This issue’s main feature focuses on how new graduates and seasoned alumni are building career resilience with this support.

For many of our students, this is an extraordinarily difficult time. The pandemic-driven recession has affected their ability to afford a DePaul education as well as their future job prospects. DePaul did not increase tuition this academic year, waived many fees, and increased financial aid, but there is still great need.

That’s why, as the college’s new interim dean, I am making fundraising for scholarships and strengthening student career mentoring top priorities this year. We’ve made a good start with several recent generous gifts from alumni and foundations. You can join in supporting students by giving to the recently launched Now We Must: The Campaign for DePaul’s Students. I also encourage you to give back by mentoring our students and connecting them to internships and careers.

Another important issue we are addressing involves DePaul’s long-standing commitment to foster diversity, inclusion and equity. To support this commitment, I am working with faculty and staff on our college’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee to expand the presence of underrepresented groups at all levels, from students to faculty, staff and administration.

We face many challenges this year, but our commitment to the DePaul mission remains strong. With your support, we can make this academic year one we will all can be proud of.

Be well.

Dean Misty Johanson | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

This spring brings change to our business college, both unexpected and planned.

As we were finishing this issue of Business Exchange, COVID-19 became a pandemic that compelled DePaul to move all spring quarter courses online and all student services to remote delivery for everyone’s safety. I am proud of how quickly our teleworking business faculty and staff united to make this happen, ensuring that our students could continue their education and receive much-needed support during uncertain times.

Our college is also undergoing a change in leadership. After much thought, I decided in January to pursue a new direction in my professional life and step down as dean at the end of my term on June 30. I have served for nine years as associate dean and dean of the Driehaus College of Business and now plan to return as a senior faculty member at the School of Hospitality Leadership in July 2021 after a one-year leave. I am confident our college will be in good hands under the leadership of Interim Dean Thomas Donley. Tom has distinguished himself in a series of college and university leadership roles during his 30-year DePaul career. I invite you to read more about Tom in College News.

I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this great college and proud of all we have accomplished. During my three years as dean, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with our faculty, staff, students, alumni, advisory council members and benefactors to better position our college to withstand the challenges we face in the current higher education environment. Together we developed an ambitious, five-year strategic plan that sets our college’s direction through 2024.

One of the plan’s priorities is to expand our distinctive student career development and mentoring programs that produce graduates who are sought after in the job market. The strategy centers on mobilizing our college’s strong business community relationships and large alumni network to connect students to internships that lead to careers after graduation. Our feature story introduces you to alumni who have found their career paths
through these initiatives. These efforts are more important than ever as the Class of 2020 enters a job market and economy altered by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.

I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this great college and proud of all we have accomplished.

Our strategic plan also emphasizes the creation of new market-driven degree programs that meet the changing needs of working professionals and the organizations that hire and promote them. In College News, we share more about our new graduate business degrees scheduled to debut this fall.

As we pursue our strategic plan goals, we remain committed to providing students with a high-quality business education that connects theory to practice. The most recent Princeton Review college rankings highlight the results of this commitment. Once again both our undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs placed in the nation’s top 25. Our reputation is also bolstered by faculty members who are producing notable scholarship that addresses real-world issues. Two of them, Nezih Altay and Alyssa Westring, are featured in this issue.

I am grateful for your contributions that helped our college exceed its fundraising goals during my tenure. I thank you for supporting the Blue Demon Challenge on Jan. 23, which allowed our college to surpass its one-day fundraising challenges and DePaul to raise more than $2 million—twice the university’s goal—during this day of giving. I also thank our generous alumni donors and families who have contributed significant gifts to support centers and student success programs at our college. This support is essential for our mission to continue.

I am so thankful to have had a chance to work with you to make our college and the DePaul mission stronger, and I will continue to support our future success in my new role.

Misty Johanson
Dean
Driehaus College of Business

Dean Misty Johanson | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

The Driehaus College of Business has always been entrepreneurial, in both what it teaches and how it approaches business education. Our college is recognized among the nation’s best for entrepreneurship study by the Princeton Review, which ranks both our undergraduate and graduate programs in the top 25. We earn these rankings because our faculty teaches students to apply theory to practice, providing practical tools and connections for students to turn classroom lessons into real- world business opportunities.

This fall our entrepreneurship faculty became even stronger with the appointment of Maija Renko as Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship. Maija—who is profiled by Business Exchange—is an award-winning teacher and researcher who specializes in social entrepreneurship, an area of growing interest among our students.

I also have named Professor Lisa Gundry interim chair of the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, which oversees our entrepreneur curriculum. A member of our faculty for 30 years, Lisa is an expert in business innovation, and she most recently served as faculty director of our Master of Science in Entrepreneurship program. Our programs also are expanding—DePaul will soon offer a new minor in entrepreneurship for non-business majors.

Our academic programs in entrepreneurship are supported by the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which recently launched an innovative “start-up” of its own—the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI). Supported by an impressive committee of Chicago women business owners, WEI is developing the most comprehensive array of academic, research, incubation and public policy programs in the country to support women entrepreneurs. In this issue’s cover story, you’ll learn how WEI’s new accelerator program is helping women business founders, including our students and alumni, overcome barriers to develop new ventures.

Our college is doing more than teaching the entrepreneurial mindset—we also are applying it to our planning for the future. Innovating our academic programs and centers is at the heart of our college’s new 2024 Strategic Plan: Connection, Culture and Commitment. Innovation is necessary for us to create value for students and alumni and to sustain DePaul’s mission in a challenging higher education landscape.

Our strategic plan calls for us to review and redesign our MBA program, expand our career management services, and develop online programs in select areas to ensure our graduate programs are relevant and competitive. We also plan to revise our under- graduate business degree and enhance career preparedness services and experiential learning opportunities for students. Our goal is to empower students with the analytical skills and career savvy they need to succeed in today’s increasingly complex marketplace.

Strengthening the college’s connections to our alumni network and the Chicago business community is imperative for reaching these goals. We want to engage more alumni as guest lecturers and mentors for our students. We also want to expand alumni and business community support for our centers and institutes, which create value for both our students and the business community through programs that produce career-ready graduates, industry- relevant research and business networking opportunities. I encourage you to review our full strategic plan at go.depaul.edu/Driehaus2024Plan.

I look forward to working together with you to begin reaching our plan’s goals. With your support, we can elevate our college’s profile as a top business school of choice for people living and working in the Chicago area.

Misty Johanson
Dean
Driehaus College of Business