I walked into the University of Maryland’s business school on September 15, 1997—my first day as dean—ready to
resolve the weaknesses of a business school at a public university. I quickly learned that academics don’t know the
word weakness; instead, they know negative opportunities. I saw such an opportunity with our small faculty, at that time
only 70 full-time members, and I spent the next decade expanding.
As I step down from my post at the Smith School, I count my investment in our faculty as one of my greatest accomplishments.
We now have 132 full-time, top cutting-edge researchers and outstanding teachers. The foundation of every strong business school
is its faculty and I worked hard to build Smith’s. But I realize the difficulty my successor is up against. The challenge of
recruiting and retaining the best business management faculty is constant and one that we all face.
While it may be impossible for most business schools to compete with Harvard Business School and the university’s mountainous
$34.9 billion endowment, it has become increasing difficult for the rest of us to compete with each other. At the same time, we
grapple with a general shortfall in the number of students pursing a PhD and going into business management education. This is
driving salaries of current faculty up to the point where some schools could be facing a ruinous financial situation.
This cutthroat competition began about five or six years ago, but the past few years have been particularly intense. When
I entered the game, it was like a poker tournament where the table stakes were a $100 buy-in, but have since skyrocketed. Even
though I’m stepping back from the table, the Smith School remains all in. But for us and every other player, the stakes have to
change.
Our challenge is multifold: Maintain aggressive recruiting of top faculty and manage current faculty expectations for salary
increases, all while balancing a tight budget.
At times, it’s been tempting to think we could all just learn to say “no” to a faculty member who uses a higher offer
from another institution as a bargaining chip. But I know if I had said “no,” one of you would have snapped up that brilliant
person. So we have to come up with other ways to make things work.
First, we have to generate money so that we have more to work with. For a lot of schools—the Smith School included—this means
taking the entrepreneurial approach to creating new revenue streams. Start new programs, offer joint degrees, customize education
for organizations. We’ve been aggressive on this front—we’ve had to create our own revenues to keep up with a budget that could
never be met with state funding alone. (Our state subsidy is now less than 10% of our total budget.) Business schools also need to
make a good case for why an investment in their faculty is so crucial and make that pitch to alumni and corporate partners to
establish and increase endowments for professors.
We also have to maximize the return on investment in our faculty. Hold faculty to the highest teaching caliber and not
reduce course loads. Continue to demand high-quality research productivity. Ask for faculty participation in your school’s
community. It’s important that faculty be engaged in school committees and events, and interested in helping further the
reputation and branding of your school through marketing and public relations initiatives. They should be encouraged to share
both their thought leadership and their time.
Finally, we have to find ways other than salary to reward and retain our best faculty. This includes encouraging them to
explore research and take advantage of university policies such as sabbatical opportunities. This could also mean hosting more
conferences and events at your school that interest your faculty. And work to create a stronger sense of community and pride at
your business school. The environment should be a place where your faculty are excited to spend the majority of their day. Create
opportunities for them to engage more with their colleagues and with students. A few years ago, we created a Research Fellows
program that gives faculty access to the best undergraduate students who are paid to work with them on research projects, a win
for all involved. That program has been a resounding success—it has energized and engaged our faculty.
So take this opportunity to remind your faculty of those reasons why they got into higher education in the first place—chances
are, probably not for the money.
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