Dean's Message

It’s easy to talk about the strategic advantages of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

Let’s start with our name.

Jon M. Huntsman is a visionary leader and an extraordinary entrepreneur whose commitment to principles of ethical leadership is known throughout the world. His historic gift in December 2007 gave us two incredible assets: a very significant infusion of financial resources and equally as important—perhaps even more so—a name that embodies the aspirations and values we want our students to emulate.

Dare Mighty Things

But that’s just the beginning. Take, for example, our school motto, “Dare Mighty Things.” We borrowed the phrase from President Theodore Roosevelt. We want our students to have the courage to experiment with bold, innovative ideas and to aspire to greatness. Fortunately, they do not have to look far to find outstanding models of fresh, innovative thinking. In addition to our many alumni who are making a difference around the world, our students are privileged to learn from world-class faculty and staff right here at the Huntsman School of Business.

World-Class Faculty

One obvious example is Stephen R. Covey, who became the Jon M. Huntsman Professor of Leadership in February of 2010. How many business schools can talk about a professor having the kind of worldwide impact that Dr. Covey has had? We pride ourselves in having not just academics in our faculty, but what we call ‘prac-ademics’, who possess extensive real-world experience to bring to our classrooms. In our marketing department for example, Eric D. Schulz spent over 25 years working for corporate titans such as the Procter & Gamble, The Walt Disney Company, and The Coca-Cola Company before joining us. Our outstanding faculty is comprised of experts in their fields, many who have been recruited to teach at the Huntsman School from prestigious universities such as Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, The Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, NYU Stern School of Business, ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, The University of Notre Dame, and others.

Our Pillars

Shortly after I became dean in 2006, we decided our focus needed to center on developing ethical leaders, inspiring entrepreneurial spirit within each of our students and helping them gain a global vision of what they can accomplish. Subsequently, we articulated a fourth area of emphasis. It’s vital that our students develop mastery in communication and critical-thinking skills. We call this focus “analytical rigor.” These four areas are now often referred to as the four pillars of the Huntsman School of Business.

We are on a journey to become a top-tier college of business—a school that will serve as a career accelerator for our students and an engine of growth for our community, the state, the nation and the world. We hope you will join us.

Douglas D. Anderson
Dean and Professor