Message From the Dean

Greetings from the Jindal School of Management. As I compose this letter, we are into the third week of the fall semester, and what a semester it is shaping up to be. This fall, we have over 11,000 students attending classes in our school; a record enrollment. We have also brought in a class of 24 new faculty members and numerous additional staff members to support the ever-growing student body. With all this growth we also started the planning for our third building, which will be adjacent to the existing complex. Below I will briefly share with you some of the accomplishments of our faculty and students.

Our students continue to make us proud in student competitions. JSOM’s student chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) was one of six university chapters to earn this year’s Student Chapter Annual Award, Summa Cum Laude. The award our students earned is the highest level offered by an organization that is the leading international association for professionals in operations research, management science and analytics. Since many of our faculty members are members of this organization and several journals published by INFORMS are tracked on our UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™, it is gratifying that our students also participate and excel within an ecosystem that values and recognizes academic excellence.

Jindal School students placed in eight events at the Future Business Leaders of America National Leadership Conference this summer. JSOM’s Chi Psi Chapter of the coed professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi received two awards during the organization’s 2023 Grand Chapter Congress — the Chapter of Excellence Award and the Outstanding Alumni Relations Award for a College Chapter. Dr. Sarah Moore, an associate professor of instruction in the Business Communication Program at the Jindal School, received the regional Chapter Advisor of the Year Award. Recognition like this helps spread awareness of the rich talent that can be found in our school.

Justin Briggs, BS’21, MS’22, earned the prestigious 2022 Elijah Watt Sells Award, an honor bestowed annually by the American Institute of CPAs on individuals who are exceptional performers on the Uniform CPA Examination®. Of the approximately 67,000 individuals who sat for the CPA exam in 2022, just 50 individuals, including Briggs, met the criteria. That remarkable achievement speaks volumes about the Jindal School’s Professional Program in Accounting, which is designed to help prepare students to sit for the exam and, apparently, perform exceptionally in it.

I would be remiss if I did not point out several recent accomplishments by Jindal School faculty members. Dr. Hyesook Chung, an assistant professor in the Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area, has received the Ralph Alexander Best Dissertation Award from the Academy of Management’s Human Resources (HR) Division. The award is presented to the top doctoral dissertation completed in Human Resource Management (HRM) in the last two years.

Two researchers from the Jindal School recently won the Best Paper in Corporate Finance Award from the Society for Financial Studies at its SFS Cavalcade North America 2023 conference. Dr. Jean-Marie Meier, an assistant professor in the Finance and Managerial Economics Area, and Dr. Jake Smith, PhD’23 (Finance), won the award for their paper, “Improving the Measurement of Tax Residence: Implications for Research on Corporate Taxation.”

The visibility of our school continues to improve as well. Most recent US News rankings place our full-time MBA program at No. 27 and our part-time MBA program at No. 11; in both cases, the highest rankings we have achieved so far. Perhaps more importantly, the programs are ranked No. 10 and No. 5 among public universities. Furthermore, the school is well positioned to repeat the No. 2 research ranking it achieved for the first time last year.

Our school continues to provide national leadership in the form of conferences and events. The Jindal School and UT Dallas hosted several conferences, including the 2023 Fall Finance Conference, the 21st Annual Corporate Governance Conference, the Texas University Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (TUNIE) Conference, and the 2023 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference. JSOM also hosted an event by the Center for Global Business that focused on the benefits and importance of international economic development in North Texas.

In program news, our Master’s in Healthcare Leadership and Management program earned a highly respected accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). The competency-based assessment that leads to accreditation by CAHME recognizes programs that have met the highest quality standards for providing their students with the knowledge and skills needed to excel and make an immediate impact in the healthcare industry upon graduation.

I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to our students, faculty, and staff for their unwavering commitment to the Jindal School, UT Dallas and the advancement of higher education. The achievements within the Jindal School community exemplify the spirit of this issue’s theme, which is, appropriately enough, “Leading Boldly.” To our alumni, corporate partners, donors, and every member of our extended community, your consistent encouragement and support have been the bedrock of our progress. It is both an honor and a privilege to be the dean of this special school. I am eternally grateful for this incredible community. Your faith in our mission propels us to greater heights, and I remain forever indebted to you all.

With best regards,

Hasan Pirkul
Dean and Caruth Chair