UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA News

Harvard Business School (HBS) appeared at the top of the Financial Times Global MBA annual ranking, released yesterday. It was HBS’ second consecutive claim to the number-one spot and its fifth time topping the rankings since they debuted in 1999. Stanford Graduate School of Business also remained steady this year, reclaiming the number-two spot it held last year. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania slipped to fourth as London Business School stepped into the number-three spot. Columbia Business School and INSEAD tied for fifth. The FT compiles its annual global MBA rankings based on two surveys of the business schools and their alumni. (For this year rankings, alumni who graduated in 2010 were surveyed.) Based on the responses to these surveys, the MBA programs are measured according to the career progression of their alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty. Read more

The Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill yesterday announced that Professor Douglas A. Shackelford has been appointed to serve as the school’s next dean. Shackelford, a professor of taxation and associate dean of the MBA@UNC Program, will assume this new role beginning February 1, 2014, pending approval by the UNC Board of Trustees. UNC Chancellor Carol Folt and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost James W. Dean Jr. picked Shackelford for the dean’s position after an international search led by Susan King, dean of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Read more

The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, together with business school accreditation organization the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB), will take the lead in helping business schools think about how best to develop a leadership curriculum as part of a seminar in late January. The Curriculum Development for Leadership seminar, which will take place January 23rd and 24th in Chapel Hill, will prepare participants from a range of business schools to tailor leadership development experiences according to their schools’ specific capabilities and resources. Read more

The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School will offer two new online courses for business professionals and MBA students, on in Portuguese and another in Mandarin, the school announced last month. “Working Portuguese” and “Working Mandarin,” each taught at the beginner level, will be offered Jan. 27-April 7, 2014. The fee for MBA students will be $575; working professionals will pay $775. The cost will cover 10 weekly online sessions with the professor and a weekly online conversation hour with native speakers of the languages being studied. For prospective applicants with an interest in languages who are Read more

Our Career Services Director Q&A Series this week takes us to the southern United States, where we connected with Amy Wittmayer, director of the MBA Career Management Center (CMC) at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Wittmayer joined UNC Kenan-Flagler in 2010. Before that, she had her own career coaching firm, worked at the University of Texas MBA Career Services office and worked for eight years in corporate finance and strategy. Read on to learn more about how Wittmayer and her team at the Career Management Center start their work with Kenan-Flagler students even before the arrive on campus. Prospective applicants – you won’t want to miss her advice for how you can hit the ground running when you arrive. Read more

Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina this week released a new app for iPad and iPhone designed to help prospective applicants to business school evaluate whether, when and where to pursue an MBA degree. The MBA App, available for free download in the Apple App Store, was designed to help prospective applicants navigate key “pain points” surrounding the decision to pursue an MBA, Kenan-Flagler Admissions Director Sherry Wallace said in a statement. “Our admissions team listened to the issues that prospective students pondered, and then developed useful information that helps them address those questions and provides valuable information about the process,” she continued. Read more

Jim Dean, former dean of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, was appointed in May to become UNC executive vice chancellor and provost, leaving the business school in need of a leader. Dean turned to Jack Evans (pictured), asking if he would serve as interim dean. With more than 40 years of experience at Kenan-Flagler, Evans came out of retirement to answer Dean’s call. In addition to holding the Kenan-Flagler deanship from 1979 to 1987, he served two subsequent terms as interim dean. He first came to Kenan-Flagler in 1970, as a professor of operations. Read more

The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School will soon need to begin a search for a new dean. That's because its current dean, Jim Dean, has been appointed executive vice chancellor and provost for the university, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported last week. Dean, who has served as dean at Kenan-Flagler since 2008, will transition to his new role effective July 1st, at which point he will be Dean Dean no more. UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp and Chancellor-Elect Carol Folt shared news of Dean’s appointment in a May 23rd email to the UNC community. The University’s board voted on the appointment earlier that day. Read more

Our 2014 Admissions Director Q&A with Kenan-Flagler's Sherry Wallace is now available.  Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, told us that she wants to make the admissions process as transparent as possible. “There is no advantage to us in our selection process if people feel like they are in the dark,” she said. Wallace herself graduated from the Kenan-Flagler MBA program in 1987 and pursued a career in advertising and marketing with several major consumer packaged goods companies. She later married and returned to North Carolina, and 15 years ago she was offered the opportunity to come back to Kenan-Flagler as part of the admissions team. “It fit me to a tee, and I didn’t need to think very long about coming back to work in Chapel Hill,” she recounts. While she might not have imagined herself in her current role at the start of her career, that she is here now shows the power and flexibility of the MBA, she says. In the interview that follows, Wallace takes the time to completely demystify the admissions process for prospective applicants to Kenan-Flagler, sharing candidly about what they can expect and how best to prepare. She also underscores the strength of the school’s career services offerings, notes the development of a new healthcare curriculum and more. Enjoy! Read more