A Welcome Message From Interim Dean Jeff Guan, PhD

Dear Friends,

It is a great honor to be appointed as the Interim Dean of the College of Business at the University of Louisville. This is a time of challenges both for the world at large and for the school. But more important, it is a time of great opportunities. The University and the College of Business are well prepared and positioned, and I am incredibly optimistic about our future and the people who define it.

There is a convergence of factors that make this an especially exciting time to be at the College of Business:

Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Now, more than ever, entrepreneurship is essential to economic growth, job creation, and prosperity. The College of Business has a well-recognized strength in educating entrepreneurs and launching impactful new ventures. We instill in emerging leaders the ability to innovate, a tolerance for risk and change, and methods to identify and evaluate business opportunities. The Entrepreneurship MBA is ranked 33rd in graduate programs in entrepreneurship. Our undergraduate students can complement their business degrees with a minor in entrepreneurship.

Globalization. Another factor that makes this an especially exciting time to join the College of Business is the increasing success and depth of our international programs on the undergraduate and graduate levels. Our robust undergraduate education abroad program sends students around the world for classes and to experience other cultures. The Fulbright Scholar program takes this a step further by sending our brightest students to over 140 countries. The University of Louisville has been one of the highest producers of Fulbright Scholars—providing more Fulbright Scholars than all other Kentucky public universities combined. Our MBA/MSBA/MSAA international study trip follows suit as one of the highlights of the program. Our Global MBA program hosts European students here on campus for two months through a partnership with Akademie Würth Business School in Germany.

Focused offerings. Executives and students are increasingly looking for focused programs – degree and non-degree—that meet specific needs at the specific times and places they occur. For example, The UofL College of Business Equine Industry Program is the world’s only equine industry program housed within an AACSB accredited business school. The College of Business has also developed stackable certificates in several key areas of graduate offerings, such as Franchise Management, Distilled Spirits, Family Business Management and Advising, and Managerial Analytics.

An organization is fortunate to have strengths like these. But at the end of the day, an organization like the College of Business is a human enterprise defined by its people. People here are talented, enquiring, and engaged – and the energy is extraordinary. At the College of Business, we share compelling core values. We are:

  • Diverse and Inclusive. We are an accepting and supportive community that invests in each person’s safety and success and prepares tomorrow’s leaders and executives to succeed in future diverse and multicultural workplaces.
  • Open and Innovative. We are an intellectual community that values inquisitiveness, new ideas, critical thinking, and innovation. The ideas that will drive tomorrow’s economy are in our classroom and research today, and we train our students to continue innovating and inventing for their lifetimes.
  • Excellent and Aspirational. We challenge ourselves and others to take risks, grow, and achieve excellence in all that we do. Like everyone, we sometimes stumble. But here, we learn to tolerate risk, accept disappointments, and persevere toward success. We are a world-class business school contributing to the economies and communities of our city, our state, and the world with important ideas that change business practices and change lives.

If you are a student, staff member, partner, or faculty member in our organization, or if you’re just joining the College of Business, we welcome you. We are committed to your success.

Go Cards!

Jeff Guan, PhD
Interim Dean
University of Louisville College of Business