Centers and Institutes
1. Equity-Fluent Leadership
Educating “equity fluent” leaders–those who are able to engage in difficult and uncomfortable conversations and who are empowered to design creative solutions–is a goal of Haas’ Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL), which launched last year thanks to donor support, including a founding gift from the Gap Foundation. In August, EGAL received a four-year, $1 million gift from customer service software maker Zendesk, bringing total funding to about $3 million.Recently, French gaming company Ubisoft announced a partnership with EGAL to support MBA students researching gender equality and diversity in the video game industry. EGAL supports faculty research and student fellowships and hosts pitch and case competitions, panels, and the AmpEquity Speaker Series, which recently featured famed women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred. View the video: haas.org/allred.
Green Initiatives
2. Zeroing In
After conducting a zero-waste audit of Chou Hall this fall–which involved sorting through compostable and recyclable bins to determine whether trash is being disposed of correctly–the Chou Hall Zero Waste Initiative determined that Haas’ new building is on track to become the first TRUE Zero-Waste-certified academic building in the U.S. and the first certified UC building by year’s end. Some education is still needed before the U.S. Green Building Council conducts its own audit. Energy-bar wrappers and boba tea cups, which often aren’t recyclable or compostable, appear a lot in the bins.
Lifelong Learning
3. Tiffany Talks Economy
Hundreds of alumni tuned in to Facebook Live to watch Haas Senior Lecturer Paul Tiffany, PhD 83, present his talk, “The Global Economy in the Era of Trump”. The session explored recent upheavals in the world economy that have led to current challenges and considered potential outcomes for the years ahead, including the implications for both U.S. firms and citizens. Watch for yourself: haas.org/tiffany-lecture.
Rankings
4. Hub for Blockchain
Coindesk, a news site specializing in bitcoin and digital currencies, ranked UC Berkeley No. 2 in its list of Top 10 Blockchain Universities, behind Stanford. The university was noted for its interdisciplinary approach to staying at the forefront of emerging technologies as well as for having one of the nation’s most vibrant on-campus communities, with the student-led Blockchain at Berkeley group and blockchain clubs at Haas and Berkeley Law.
Publications
5. News Flashes
Subscribe to our weekly Haas in the Headlines email to learn where our faculty, students, and alumni are making news:haas.org/headlines.
Rankings
6. Moving Up
U.S. News& World Report boosted the Haas UndergraduateProgram to No. 2 in this year’s college ranking, tied with MIT Sloan. Haas was No. 3 last year.
Students
7. Walk of Life
That Haas junior Robert Paylor is even alive after a paralyzing rugby accident 16 months ago is amazing. That he’s starting to walk again? Miraculous. In spring 2017, Paylor suffered a spinal cord injury at the Varsity Cup championship match between Cal and ArkansasState. Doctors said he’d likely never walk again. But Paylor disagrees. He works out twice daily between classes and meets regularly with Assoc. Head Coach of Cal Rugby Tom Billups, who helps Paylor power through 50-yard laps using braces and a walker. Every step requires his full focus. Paylor’s current personal record is 600 yards, and he showed off his progress this fall at the Cal-Oregon football game. Paylor walked across the field while fans for both teams stood and cheered.
Gender Balance
8. Leading Ladies
Haas Leaders. Top: Dean-designate Ann Harrison; Chief Strategy and Operating Officer Courtney Chandler, MBA 96; CFO Delphine Sherman, MBA 06. Bottom: Co-Chairs of the Faculty Catherine Wolfram and Candace Yano; Haas Interim Dean Laura Tyson
CNN Business reported earlier this year about GeneralMotors joining an “exclusive club” of Fortune 500 companies with females in both the CEO (Mary Barra) and CFO (Dhivya Suryadevara) roles. Only Hershey can also make this claim. The trend is not so rare at Haas and Berkeley, however. Haas’ Interim Dean, Laura Tyson; Dean-designate, Ann Harrison; CFO, Delphine Sherman, MBA 06; Chief Strategy and Operating Officer, Courtney Chandler, MBA 96; and Co-Chairs of the Faculty, CandaceYano and Catherine Wolfram, are all female, as are UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, Carol Christ, and CFO, RosemarieRae. Not to mention UC President Janet Napolitano.Among the top 15 business schools nationwide, none have women in both roles. One, Kellogg, has a female interim dean (Haas alum Kathleen Hagerty, MBA 80), and a handful have women in a CFO or similar role.
Faculty
9. One to Watch
New Asst. Prof. Anastassia Fedyk, a rising star in finance and behavioral economics, was named to a list of 2018 “MBA Professors to Look Out For,” published by BusinessBecause.com. Fedyk is currently researching the influence of financial news on markets, bias and procrastination, and how employees’ skills relate to companies’ performance.She studied math at Princeton and spent two years doing research at Goldman Sachs before earning her PhD in business economics at Harvard. Coming to Haas is a homecoming of sorts for Fedyk. She spent her high school years in Berkeley while her mother, Tatiana Fedyk, earned her PhD in accounting at Haas in 2007.