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Business Dean Talks About College’s Future |
| By
Kimyette Finley |
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Nov 14, 2003 |
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| Dr. Thomas Gutteridge |
Dr. Thomas Gutteridge became dean of UT’s College of Business Administration in July.
Before moving to Toledo, Gutteridge was dean and distinguished professor of management in the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. A winner of the Walter F. Storey Award for Leadership and Professional Contribution in the Career Development field, Gutteridge is credited with helping to raise the University of Connecticut’s School of Business endowment from $1 million to $23 million and gaining funding from the U.S. Department of Education for the Center for International Business Education and Research, one of only 30 such centers nationwide.
UT News recently talked with Gutteridge about his goals and vision for UT’s College of Business Administration.
How’s the transition been to Toledo?
It’s been wonderful. We really like being here. Like my wife says, ‘we’ve come home,’ having grown up in the Flint [Michigan] area and having our siblings in the Flint and Detroit area. We have three daughters and six grandchildren within a four-hour driving distance. Professionally, I’m getting out and meeting the faculty and staff and the business community. It’s been exciting, and it’s reinforced what a good decision this was.
There was a perception of instability in the College of Business Administration. What’s it been like dealing with that situation?
I think people are ready for stability and are anxious for someone to come in and spend some time here, and put in place changes. In one sense when you haven’t had stability, there are norms and themes you have to build. We are working on those. Overall, there’s been a willingness on the part of the faculty and staff to work with me to help us develop for the future.
What’s the response from the business community?
It’s been fantastic. There’s probably nothing more difficult than being an interim dean. It’s a tough challenge. I’m sensing from the business community excitement about a permanent dean being in place and the possibility of increasing interaction with the business community.
Can you give us some insight about new initiatives?
I’ve inherited a good business school that has solid academic programs, caring faculty and good students. I’d like to take the existing areas we have and see them develop to the next level of excellence. We need to identify where those areas are, the same way you identify areas of weakness. You identify your strengths and you build on them. The people involved in the family business program are doing strategic planning and are looking at what can be done to take a very good program to its next level of excellence. The other part is identifying some underserved areas. Health care fits into that category. I’ve already had meetings with the Medical College of Ohio and ProMedica. Technological entrepreneurship is another area. We need to partner with the business community in the area of entrepreneurship. And also by partnering with engineering, we can look at how we take good ideas and work with the individuals to make them commercially viable.
Have you had the chance to meet with students to hear their thoughts about the college?
I’ve already talked with some of the student organizations at the undergraduate level. There’s an advisory board for the Executive MBA, and I’ve had a chance to interact with them and the new EMBA class. I’m beginning to get some understanding of what the students want. In part, what they want is what students at similar institutions want: quality, caring faculty, a relevant curriculum, engagement with the business community, and for those who are not already employed, good access to knowledge about career and placement opportunities.
The manufacturing sector is changing and decreasing nationwide. How can the College of Business assist Toledo and northwest Ohio in transitioning into new areas?
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that although it’s wearing away, manufacturing is still fairly strong. We don’t want to ignore that, and we’re going to have to work with the manufacturing businesses that are here. We can work with them from a business point of view in terms of the different type of capabilities we have. Part of what we need to do as an academic unit is to develop a vision of what we’re going to be and how we’re going to get there. One of the draft components of our vision is a stronger interface between business and technology. How do you prepare your students to be more effective in a high-tech world? We have to make sure they have the skills and understanding so we can translate that into technological competitiveness. I think the future is going to be much more technology-based.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students not only in the business school, but students in other majors who are interested in business as a minor or select courses, working with all of them to build a true business learning community that will be involved with the business community.
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