Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business has a new Dean. She is Amy Hillman, the first female dean of the school. Previously, she was Executive Dean of W.P. Carey, a world-renowned management expert, popular teacher and noted researcher. Hillman will talk about her new role and her goals for the school.
Ted Simons: ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business has a new Dean. She is Amy Hillman, and she is the first woman to serve as Dean of the school. Amy Hillman joins us now to talk about her new role. Good to have here and thank you very much for joining us.
Amy Hillman: Thank you.
Ted Simons: Is it important to you that you are the first woman to be the Dean of the school?
Amy Hillman: Well, I wouldn't say it's important to me. But, I think it's important to a lot of people in the business world that gender stereotypes fall, whether it be in corporate America or academia, so, I think that it's, it really says something about kind of the direction that business, and business schools are going into.
Ted Simons: And we should mention for four years you were the executive Dean at the school, so, you were there, and you were in a tool position. What did learn?
Amy Hillman: Oh, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about how to, to really try to interact with our corporate partners, and our alumni to make sure that we're offering a world class curriculum, try to work with faculty and students to make sure that, that they are really -- the students are the center of all of our attention, and we're making sure that they are graduating with what we hope that they do.
Ted Simons: How do you do the balance between research, business partnerships, and just plain teaching, how do you balance that?
Amy Hillman: I think for some of us, if you level those things, the problem is, how do you squeeze any life in, and because balancing all of those important dimensions of the career the fun that we have.
Ted Simons: But how do you do that? How do make sure that the teaching responsibilities done when there is emphasis on research and there is an emphasis on business partnerships?
Amy Hillman: Sure, there is, the research and the business partnerships, basically, what informs our teaching. And if you are not making the time to do your research, then, you are not able to go back into the classroom and say, this is what we're learning by study this same thing in a different industry. Or, if you are not keeping a pulse on things that companies find important, you are not able to go in and say, this is exactly how you are going to use these skills, when you are out in the workforce.
Ted Simons: In other schools, are you familiar with other schools in the sense of how they, they approach change? It seems like in a lot of universities, ASU is a very different kind of a University, not a lot of standing still going on, on any of the campuses, and yet, on other universities, they are living off reputation, and they are not maybe moving but they are emphasizing what they have got, and lots folks are attracted to that, how do you work that whole thing?
Amy Hillman: You know, I think that we find that the pace of ASU is real attraction. And for, for our faculty and our staff, and our students. Our students know that if they come up with great ideas, we'll follow them, so, we've been hearing that that, students want more sales and marketing. And, and they needed some more help in getting jobs in those areas, and so we, we created a new certificate in it last year. So, ASU is not like the rest of the universities, but I think that it is the one thing that really sets us apart, and for the right student staff and faculty, it could not be any better.
Ted Simons: So what's your vision for the school?
Amy Hillman: You know, we're going to keep on doing things that we do well. I think we're already very good at, at student eccentric focus, I would say, but, we're really going to try to do better at, at push harder and deeper into the corporate partnerships, and make sure that, that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that our employees, the future employees are as successful as they can be in businesses and in their careers. So, we'll be focus on that and focused a lot more on, on the alumni engagement.
Ted Simons: And that's very important. I think that ranked top 3 in undergrad and NBA program, correct?
Amy Hillman: Yes.
Ted Simons: How do you improve on that?
Amy Hillman: We can always get to the top and after that, but, we always just would like to see ourselves in the top of the business schools, and so we think that there is always a way to improve.
Ted Simons: And last question, this may sound like an odd question because I've been in academia for so long, but, I am always interested when business, professors and leaders in schools, are not in business themselves. How come?
Amy Hillman: Mostly it's because the job demands being an academic. It's so difficult to then also be a practicing business manager. So, I had a career before I went back to get my Ph.D. And I was getting my mba at nights and on weekends to be a better manager. And then I kind of got hooked. I had faculty who made huge difference in my life. And I thought, if I could do that for one student, I would be a lot more fulfilled than in the corporate environment.
Ted Simons: Congratulations on the position, and good luck there at W.P. Carey School of Business.
Amy Hillman: Thank you very much.
Amy Hillman:Dean, ASU W.P. Carey School of Business;