Dean Rich Lyons unveiled the Haas School’s new strategic plan today. The plan centers around the school’s mission of developing leaders who redefine how we do business and the distinctive Haas culture that supports this.
The Haas Strategic Plan was voted into effect by the Haas faculty. The plan, including a downloadable PDF, is now available online at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/strategicplan, where it will be updated as the school introduces new initiatives and narratives that illustrate the strategy.
“We live in a world where value in the marketplace is increasingly driven by ideas that are not yet widely known nor fully proven. This is true whether you're producing cars or producing what are clearly products of the mind,” says Dean Lyons. “We wanted to be out in front of this shift and produce the kind of leaders who can deliver into these future needs.”
Essential parts of the strategy include the Haas School’s distinctive culture and a student experience that will develop the skill set required of this new kind of leader.
The school has long been known for having a distinctive culture and principles that define it. These include excellence and inclusion, centerpieces for all of UC Berkeley. Following discussions with Haas faculty, students, staff, alumni, and business leaders over the past year, the plan sets forth Four Defining Principles that reflect the strengths of Haas culture in ways that also differentiate the school. They are:
- Question the status quo
- Confidence without attitude
- Students always
- Beyond yourself
“These principles have always been important elements of Haas culture, but they have not been articulated until now,” says Lyons. “Having awareness and consensus around who we are will help us work toward a shared goal and attract the strongest talent for faculty and students.”
The Haas School will implement its plan along three areas of Strategic Focus. These areas will be funded by the school’s ongoing $300 million capital campaign, The Campaign for Haas. The three areas are:
Redefine the business graduate
The school aims to fulfill its mission by producing innovative leaders – men and women who drive growth by putting new ideas to work and who do so responsibly. This will be accomplished through key changes in the core curriculum and new extracurricular programs starting this fall.
Realize our intellectual future
The school’s intellectual future is driven by its world renowned faculty, which directs its scholarship toward the big challenges and opportunities of our time. Key goals of the strategic plan include expansion of tenure-track faculty and more strategic use of the excellent professional faculty who teach at Haas. The plan will also focus on parts of Haas that drive the school’s intellectual agenda, including the new Institute of Business Innovation (IBI), viewed as a central hub or one-stop shop that connects faculty, students, and outside companies interested in innovation, and the new Center for Teaching Excellence.
Transform the Haas campus
The celebration of the Koret Interdisciplinary Learning Center last month was an early milestone in a series of efforts to transform the Haas campus. These efforts reflect a general shift in how people engage in learning throughout their careers and their increased focus on teamwork, innovation, and global interaction. The facilities Master Plan includes an active Haas courtyard with a new café/work space where people from Haas and elsewhere on campus can connect, a building addition to house more classrooms, and new executive education facilities.
More discussion on the implementation of the plan will follow soon via email, in Haas NewsWire, and online at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/strategicplan.