Bullish on the bruins: Judy Olian is leading UCLA's Anderson School of Business in a push for more international initiatives.JUDY Olian has been at the helm of UCLA's Anderson School Anderson School may refer to:
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX after five years as dean and professor of management at Pennsylvania State University's Smeal College of Business The Smeal College of Business is the business school of Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1953, and is named after Mary Jean and Frank Smeal. Administration, During her tenure, the college raised more than $55 million in private contributions and oversaw o·ver·saw v. Past tense of oversee. the launch of several innovative professional training programs. She considers UCLA, with its Pacific Rim Pacific Rim, term used to describe the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean and the island countries situated in it. In the post–World War II era, the Pacific Rim has become an increasingly important and interconnected economic region. location at the gateway to Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , ideally placed to train the next generation of globally conscious business leaders. Question: What attracted you to the deanship at Anderson? Answer: The opportunity kind of landed in my lap--I was recruited. I had not been looking and in fact was happy where I was. I had always admired Anderson, and so it was really a privilege to be asked to come here. Being in a large urban environment that represents exactly where the economy of the 21st century is going is a great opportunity for a business dean in terms of business management thought. Q: How much did your international background play into your selection as the school's eighth dean? A: Well I can't jump into someone else's judgment process. But I think if you look at where our school wants to go and what the person's track record is, and you see if it's a good fit. We're all a product of our upbringing up·bring·ing n. The rearing and training received during childhood. upbringing Noun the education of a person during his or her formative years Noun 1. and career path. And of course the world has become a very global platform. Q: Talking about global platforms, you plan to make three trips to Asia by the end of the year. How did your trip go in October? A: We worked with one of our corporate clients in Australia, the Westfield Group The Westfield Group is a multinational company that owns shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Westfield shopping centres are typically branded with the name Westfield or Westfield Shoppingtown in their name. , the largest retail mall operator in the world (with several Los Angeles-area facilities), helping them with top leadership development and engaging in some scenario development around their future. I like going to Australia whenever I can, because that is where I came from. On the way home, I stopped in Taipei to meet with several very prominent alumni and make contacts with firms that could be potential clients for the kind of corporate executive program we did with Westfield. Q: That's a lot of traveling in one year. Do you like it? A: I'm a globetrotter. After growing up in Australia I went to Israel for my undergraduate degree “First degree” redirects here. For the BBC television series, see First Degree. An undergraduate degree (sometimes called a first degree or simply a degree in psychology, worked there for a while and after that spent a couple of years in Europe before coming to the United States. I always kid people that half of Australia is abroad at any one time because we're so far away from anyone on the underside of the world, and we have to check in with the rest of planet Earth. Q: For that matter, you've moved around the country quite a bit as an academic and an administrator. What impact has that had on your husband, Peter Liberti? A: My husband has been very flexible. He's had to reinvent re·in·vent tr.v. re·in·vent·ed, re·in·vent·ing, re·in·vents 1. To make over completely: "She reinvented Indian cooking to fit a Western kitchen and a Western larder" himself a number of times around my career. He's been a corporate executive and an entrepreneur. Now he's in real estate. Q: Does he ever ask you for business tips? A: We always talk shop. Like any other couple we exchange advice and I'm sure I draw upon my management expertise when I do that. Q: Tell us why you pursued a career in academia, as opposed to the business world? A: Well, a lot of it was unplanned, as l think many people's careers are to a degree. I didn't expect to be an academic. After earning my master's, I didn't know quite what to do next, and my professor really encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. I also was working as a management consultant at that time. Q: So what was your academic focus as a professor? A: Human resource systems development in conjunction with business strategies. I also taught research methods, how you do research in organizations. Q: What happened with management consulting Noun 1. management consulting - a service industry that provides advice to those in charge of running a business service industry - an industry that provides services rather than tangible objects ? A: When I became dean at Penn State I really had to cut back, and that continued when I came to Anderson. Being dean of a major business school is really more than a full-time job. But I feel that with my interfacing with the business community I still keep my foot on the ground in that area. And I advocate (consulting) for my faculty because it keeps them current, in touch and asking the right kind of research questions. Q: What led you to become an administrator? A: There was a pivotal point in the early 1990s when I became an American Council American Council may refer to: In linguistics:
Q: Why do you say that? A: Here in our back yard are all the ingredients of where the business world is headed. Whether it's biosciences, or media convergence Media convergence is a theory in communications where mass mediums merges together to create a new product offering a variety of the properties of each. Such an example is that of the internet. or real estate as an asset class or entrepreneurship and small business growth--those are the ingredients of the economy of the 21st Century. Plus we're sitting on these two rims, of Asia and Latin America. They're going to be the growth economies of the coming decades. So I couldn't think of a more ideal location for a business school. Q: Could you give more details on the Australian program you mentioned before? A: This is part of our executive training program. We've done them in China, and in Europe too. We run many, many programs, some of them customized to a particular company, like this one is, and others that are open (enrollment). We also do leadership courses on financial or non-financial issues. We also run a whole leadership suite of courses for women, for African-Americans, for Hispanics, for gay, bisexual bisexual /bi·sex·u·al/ (-sek´shoo-al) 1. pertaining to or characterized by bisexuality. 2. an individual exhibiting bisexuality. 3. pertaining to or characterized by hermaphroditism. 4. and lesbian leaders. We also work in the non-profit sector The nonprofit sector, also called the third sector, civic sector or voluntary sector, is a third area of an economy, distinct from the public sector and the private sector. It is made up of all of the non-profit organizations in the economy. . We're working with Johnson & Johnson in Africa. training heads of AIDS care distribution programs and faculty from African universities in management techniques. We had one there just the other week. Q: How important is it for Anderson to offer such programs outside the traditional classroom? A: We view our role as among the leading providers of management thought leadership, not only in our training but in the research we produce. In addition to our executive education programs, we have a variety of centers that are in partnership with the business community, whether it's the Anderson UCLA Forecast, the Ziman Center for Real Estate, the Price Center for Entrepreneurship, or our Entertainment and Media Management Institute. The centers sit at the intersection of what the business school does with the business community. Q: How do these programs, especially the international ones, create opportunities in the classroom? A: It's a very important priority of mine to expand the global footprint of this school. Getting global brains and thinking with global brains is as integral to a business education as would be marketing or accounting or finance or management. Not doing so would be like getting a master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in English, but never studying Shakespeare. Our students in the classroom are the future leaders Future Leaders is a UK schools-led charitable organisation that aims to widen the pool of talented leaders especially for urban challenging secondary schools. It was founded in March 2006 by Nat Wei, a former founder of Teach First. of business across the world, and they should have the most advanced opportunities to develop their thinking. They do a whole slew of stuff, whether it's micro-financing projects in Asia or Africa to working with companies that want to enter the U.S. market. Q: You've mentioned several initiatives in Asia. What about your Latin America programs? A: We have to sequence our activities because we are resource constrained con·strain tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains 1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. 2. . We've focused on the Asian markets first, getting those programs strongly running. As for Latin America we already have some world-renowned academics here, such as Sebastian Edwards and Eduardo Schwartz, and we'll be turning our attention there. Q: Anderson this year move up on the BusinessWeek and U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report Weekly newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. U.S. News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence (1888–1973) to cover important domestic events; he founded World Report in 1945 to treat world news. The two magazines were merged in 1948. surveys of best business schools. How much pressure do you feel to keep those rankings up? A: You clearly compete with the schools in your peer set, and aside from Berkeley, most of the schools at the top in these rankings are well-funded private schools. So we should be really proud of what we have accomplished. At the same time, I take rankings with a grain of salt, although there's no question that they have an impact in the marketplace. Q: You're one of a handful of female business school deans in this country, including Linda Livingston at Pepperdine University Pepperdine University is a private institution of higher learning affiliated with the Church of Christ in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. The university's location overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is adjacent to the city limits of Malibu. . Any theories as to why there are not more? A: Like anything else in academia or in business, it's a matter of the pipeline. There aren't enough women faculty, there aren't enough women students in business schools, and therefore there aren't enough female business deans. We don't see enough diversity of all kinds in leadership roles. Q: How good of job does Anderson do in recruiting women students? A: We do about as well as other business schools. It's usually around 30 percent of our student body, between 28 to 32 percent. We try to have our successful women graduates recruit other women into the program. Q: Do you think there's a perception that a glass ceiling still, exists? A: There are surveys, in which they speak to young women, that show there is still a perception that the business world is less welcoming and friendly to women in what they want to accomplish, than say in a medical or law career, where you can do things more or less on your own terms. The business world is still seen as one where you conform. It's more hierarchical and less flexible. Q: What have you done since your arrival to encourage diversity? A: We try to make sure that we have women CEOs and women leaders coming to our university who can serve as role models. A great example is Jamie McCourt (vice chairman and president) of the L.A. Dodgers. They can see that there are different models available to women executives and entrepreneurs. One thing the course really emphasizes how important it is to negotiate with your partner early in your career what career track you want before you get locked in. We've even had some men take that course. Judy Olian Position: Dean Organization: UCLA Anderson School of Business Born: Melbourne, Australia Education: B.S., psychology, Hebrew University Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at Mt. Scopus, Givat Ram, Ein Karem, and Rehovot, Israel; coeducational. First proposed in 1882, formally opened 1925. It is the world's largest Jewish university and is noted for its work on the Dead Sea Scrolls. in Jerusalem, 1974; M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial relations industrial relations pl.n. Relations between the management of an industrial enterprise and its employees. industrial relations Noun, pl the relations between management and workers from the University of Wisconsin, 1980 Career Turning Point: Being selected as an American Council of Education fellow, which gave her a chance to experience a variety of administrative roles Most Admired People: Low-profile people who have left cushy cush·y adj. cush·i·er, cush·i·est Informal Making few demands; comfortable: a cushy job. [Origin unknown. lives to do meaningful work, such as open medical clinics in Africa; and her husband for being flexible and crafting a new career each time they've moved for her job Hobbies: Travel, cycling, theater, cooking Personal: Lives in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. with husband, Peter Liberti, a real estate agent |
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