Message From the Dean

As I write this, I am looking forward to spring graduation and soon returning to campus. The coronavirus is at last abating, and the Jindal School has much to celebrate beyond that.

I am disappointed to report that spring graduation ceremonies will again be virtual, but all the new graduates, plus spring, summer and fall 2020 graduates will have the opportunity to attend in-person commencement ceremonies the week of Aug. 9. Meanwhile, JSOM faculty and staff are currently back to campus at 50% strength and will be at 100% effective June 1.

I am happy to report that even in these difficult times we have continued to make progress. Among our accomplishments are new rankings in which we can all take pride. U.S. News & World Report ranked the Full-Time MBA at No. 13 among public university programs included in the 2022 Best Graduate Business Schools. The Jindal School tied at No. 11 among public university part-time MBA programs in those same rankings.

In Financial Times rankings of the Top 100 Global MBA Programs, the Jindal School placed at No. 17 among U.S. public university programs. A bonus of the Financial Times rankings was a research ranking component that placed our faculty at No. 5 in the world for scholarly contributions published in 50 top academic and practitioner journals. That No. 5 standing validates the findings of our own UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™, in which our school placed third in both the Worldwide and North American standings.

Our online programs are also highly ranked. U.S. News ranked our online MS programs at No. 6 and our online MBA programs at No. 7. The MS in Innovation and Entrepreneurship program moved up five places to No. 10 in graduate program rankings from The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

A strong faculty committed to teaching and research excellence contributes to our rankings successes. Among those due recognition here are Dr. Mike Peng, O.P. Jindal Distinguished Chair, who once again was named to the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science 2020 list of Highly Cited Researchers. Peng has been on this list every year since its inception in 2014. Congratulations, too, to Dr. Dawn Owens, director of the undergraduate Information Technology and Systems program, who was honored with a Sandra Slaughter Service Award from the Association for Information Systems. And Dr. Umit Gurun, Ashbel Smith Professor of Accounting and of Finance and Managerial Economics, and his research colleagues have won a best-paper award from the University of Delaware Weinberg Center/ECGI Corporate Governance Symposium for their work on green patenting and the energy industry in “The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting.”

Jindal School leadership also has been on display in several events, including two inaugural conferences. In March, participants from nearly 85 universities attended our first annual Undergraduate Deans Conference. Conferees collaborated virtually on new and better ways to build and manage undergraduate business programs to benefit students. In April, I was pleased to welcome scholars, students and practitioners to the virtual Ann and Jack Graves Foundation Conference on Sustainability as a Solution to Global Business Challenges. The conference looked at sustainability and business challenges from a host of vantage points — including agriculture, corporate social responsibility, economic development, management issues, technology, and more. The 15th Annual Frank M. Bass – UT Dallas Frontiers of Research in Marketing Science Conference was held in late February. It brought together 125 faculty members and 70 PhD students to study emerging marketing trends. Another important gathering was the 16th Annual Fraud Summit put on by the Center for Internal Auditing Excellence in conjunction with the Dallas Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors. Over a thousand attendees listened to Elin Kunz, who shared her fascinating experience as a whistleblower who uncovered a major medical fraud in a Florida-based healthcare company.

Our alumni and friends continue to inspire us. I am grateful for the involvement of alumnus Mike Redeker, MBA’97, MS’01, a trustee of the Ann and Jack Graves Foundation, in the sustainability conference. I am delighted and appreciative that Herb Weitzman, namesake and benefactor of the Herbert D. Weitzman Institute for Real Estate, took a hands-on role in the Born to Build Leadership Roundtable for about 20 real estate students this spring. Their excitement about his participation is palpable in the roundtable story presented in this issue. I also want to thank alums and longtime benefactors Nancy Gundy Davidson, BS’80, and Charles (Chuck) Davidson, MS’80, for endowing a scholarship fund for the Jindal Young Scholars Program. This is a leadership program that provides mentoring to high school students from the Dallas Independent School District and assures them full scholarships if they gain admission to UT Dallas.

All of us in the school are immensely proud of the determination and resiliency Jindal School students have demonstrated throughout the past difficult year. And I, for one, miss them and can’t wait to get them back to the campus in person.

Thank you for your continued support as we ready for our return to campus. The Jindal School’s reputation and strength are tributes to you.

Best Wishes,

Hasan Pirkul
Dean and Caruth Chair