School Notes: School of Management
September/October 2009

Pre-MBA program offers taste of MBA student experience

For two weeks in June, 41 college students experienced life as an MBA student, taking part in some of the same courses and activities that greet first-years at the Yale School of Management. The group, all members of minorities underrepresented in the top ranks of business leadership, participated in the inaugural Pre-MBA Leadership Program, an initiative aimed at developing their leadership potential and helping them gain a better understanding of the benefits of a management education. Students participated in leadership development exercises, learned how to better market themselves to prospective employers, met with SOM alumni, and drafted business plans for an enterprise to fill an empty storefront on New Haven's Audubon Street. Program participants were recruited from a variety of colleges and universities around the country, with particular emphasis on historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges.

Behavioral finance summer school attracts business PhD students

With Yale SOM boasting one of the top collections of behavioral researchers in the country, it was fitting that the department would invite PhD students in the field to campus for a week of lectures. Forty doctoral candidates from institutions such as Harvard, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, MIT, and the London School of Economics came to New Haven in June to learn about the latest research.

The program was directed by Nicholas Barberis, the Stephen and Camille Schramm Professor of Finance. The faculty for the program included two founders of behavioral finance: Robert Shiller, the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics; and Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago. Guest lecturers from other institutions included Malcolm Baker of Harvard, who spoke on behavioral corporate finance; Paul Tetlock of Columbia University, who spoke about media influences on the stock market; and Camelia Kuhnen, from Northwestern, who discussed neuroscience-based research.

A step forward for new SOM campus

In June, the Yale Corporation approved design modifications to the proposed new SOM campus and gave the project's architect, Foster + Partners, approval to move forward on final construction plans and drawings, a process expected to take about a year.

With the conceptual design for the campus now all but finalized, officials and faculty at SOM have begun determining exactly how the roughly 230,000 square feet will be used. Current plans include a sophisticated media center, a 350-seat auditorium, a library, and the William and Elizabeth Beinecke Terrace Room -- a large space for lectures, dinners, and formal events. Over the next year, Foster + Partners will work with engineers to take the design and turn it into fully realized plans for building the campus. The construction phase is expected to take about three years, but the start date will largely be determined by fund-raising, as the project won't begin until funding is secured. To learn more and view visualizations of the designs, visit mba.yale.edu/newcampus.