People and Places: December 2024

New Programs

The Negotiation and Conflict Management Collaborative (NCMC) at INSEAD is launching a Negotiation Course for the World project focused on providing educators and institutions around the world with free materials to effectively teach negotiation and conflict management strategies. The collection of teaching materials includes detailed class plans, lecture slides, exercises, and case studies, with future train-the-trainer videos to be developed. The materials address skills learners need to navigate different types of negotiations, make informed decisions, and build lasting relationships. The NCMC also hopes to increase access to the project and its resources by using AI capabilities extended by Phil Parker, a professor of marketing at INSEAD, to translate the materials into 130 different languages.

Porto Business School in Portugal has redesigned several of its executive master’s and MBA programs to improve the student experience, increase flexibility for participants, and adapt to students’ career growth. In the new flexible learning model, students in select programs have the opportunity to choose from in-person, remote, and hybrid formats. The flex design includes two options: one for fully remote students and one for hybrid students who will meet on campus at the beginning and end of each course, with the remaining classes delivered live online. Participants enrolled in the new Executive MBA program will now have one block of fully online classes per month and, in addition, students living outside Porto District can choose one of the other three-monthly blocks to attend online.

The Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Ontario and Fundação Getulio Vargas Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (FGV EAESP) are celebrating the addition of a double-degree agreement that signifies a first milestone at both institutions. This partnership is the first double degree in South America for the Smith Master of International Business program and FGV EAESP’s first in Canada. Beginning in 2025, students will be the first to take advantage of the new offering. Participants will earn a degree from both business schools.

The University of Warwick’s Business School in the U.K. has established its new Fintech Innovation Lab aimed at overseeing research activities and supporting fintech-focused collaboration between academia and business. The new lab is equipped with high-specification computers, digital screens, VR headsets, voice-to-text AI software, and strategic artificial intelligence tools. Starting in September 2025, Warwick Business School will also offer a new MSc in Financial Technology.

Collaborations

Singapore Management University and Japan’s NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen talent development and digital innovation in both regions. Under this collaboration, both parties will use their respective strengths to develop targeted training programs for professionals, on topics including fintech, entrepreneurship, and digital transformation management.

Four faculty members from the University of Chester in the U.K., including Kirstie Simpson, dean of Chester Business School, were invited to represent the university as “knowledge partners” in the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode’s (IIMK) first international conclave. The event aimed to broaden IIMK’s engagement with new stakeholders, including the University of Chester, and discuss how India’s management principles influence global business and policymaking. The partnership between Chester and IIKM will include joint events, professional exchanges, and teaching and research initiatives.

Rutgers Business School’s new collaboration with Google will give students and faculty access to Google’s generative AI tools designed to expand the school’s efforts to ensure that students are job-ready in a constantly changing world. As part of the partnership, Google will make its Cloud AI large language models—including Llama, Claude, and Gemini—available to students and faculty across Rutgers’ campuses in New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey, through a single interface. The school is also working to revamp its coursework for graduate and undergraduate students to include both a fundamental understanding of AI and a practical knowledge of how the technology is being used. Beginning in spring 2025, both full- and part-time MBA students will have the option of enrolling in a new AI concentration. Courses will cover AI applications in supply chain, leading with AI strategies for business management, algorithmic machine learning, and data analysis and visualization.

Imperial College London Business School has joined forces with higher education insights company QS to launch a forum that aims to transform the use of AI in higher ed. The partnership will also include EDHEC Business School in France and Luiss Business School in Italy. The forum, titled the “Responsible AI Consortium,” will develop project-based learning opportunities, foster collaboration in thought leadership and research, and provide a sandbox environment for piloting new AI-driven technologies. The project will involve the creation of an AI roadmap, which will assess each business school’s level of competency and ability to integrate AI technologies within its operations. Partner organizations will also be awarded a certificate of excellence in AI in higher education to showcase their commitments toward students and industry partners.

Centers and Facilities

Last month, Aston University, with its main campus in Birmingham, U.K., has announced the launch of Aston University London. The hub will use collaboration, industry engagement, and interdisciplinary learning to inform its degree programs and the respective curricula delivered by Aston Business School and the university’s computer science and digital technologies faculty. Aston University London will welcome its first cohort in spring 2025.

Grants and Donations

Dallas Baptist University in Texas has received a 20 million USD gift from Linda Carter and her two children, Ron and Christi, to establish the Don and Linda Carter School of Business. The gift honors Linda’s husband, the late Don Carter, and represents the largest gift in the university’s history. The money will enhance the school’s current academic programs and support new student-focused initiatives.

The University of Maryland in College Park has received an 18 million USD gift from Stephen Schanwald, a university alum and executive vice president of business operations for the National Basketball Association team the Chicago Bulls. Nearly half of the gift, 8 million USD, will endow the Sports Management Program, which will fund student scholarships at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The program, launched last year, aims to prepare students for sports careers through specialized courses, meetings with industry leaders, networking, and other professional opportunities. The rest of the money will go to the Maryland Athletics department.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has received a 5 million USD commitment from Scott Wieler, an alum of Wharton’s Executive MBA program, and his wife, Mary. The money will create the Wieler Family Professorship, a position focused on philanthropy and creating research that empowers business leaders to achieve a positive impact. The professorship will further encourage faculty to extend their teaching and impact beyond the business school. The inaugural professor will hold a primary appointment in the School of Social Policy and Practice and a secondary appointment in the Wharton School.

Cornell University has received an 11.5 million USD gift from the estate of longtime donor Kenneth Grailer, who died in March at the age of 100, to support the Nolan School of Hotel Administration at the College of Business. A portion of the money will go to the Center for Hospitality Research, an academic hub that aims to support emerging faculty, allow the school to expand industry connections, and develop new areas of research that reflect the evolving dynamics of the services economy. A second portion will provide funding to renovate the school’s Grailer Food Labs with new kitchen equipment. Finally, the gift will also provide scholarship support for students in the Master of Management in Hospitality program. Together, these commitments allow the school to invest in its experientially focused curriculum.

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