Welcome from Dean Glenn Hubbard
The strength of any great business school lies not only in its ability to teach students the fundamentals of management, finance and other traditional disciplines, but also in the School’s ability to increase student understanding of the conflicts and tradeoffs that arise in balancing business conduct with the concerns of individuals and society.
Columbia Business School has committed itself to raising these issues with our students. Overseeing that effort is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics, which recently instituted a series of sessions entitled The Individual, Business and Society: Tradeoffs, Choices and Accountability.
I personally opened this series during our Fall 2004 Orientation by leading a panel evaluating the costs and benefits of the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Two thought leaders in this arena, Commissioners Paul Atkins and Harvey Goldschmid of the Securities and Exchange Commission, joined me in the debate over how best to balance the need for greater corporate accountability against the potential inefficiencies of regulation.
Entering students find an MBA curriculum designed to help them develop frameworks and tools to think critically about conflicts and tradeoffs. Faculty members in each of the MBA core courses include cases and discussions of these issues. Complementing the classroom experience are guest speakers and panel debates featuring faculty members, alumni and prominent business leaders.
I believe that Columbia Business School can and should educate our students to recognize and better evaluate the difficult tradeoffs and choices that they will encounter during their careers. I welcome and encourage you — our faculty, students, alumni and recruiters — to join us in this dialogue.
Sincerely,
Dean Glenn Hubbard
Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics
