Interview with Darden Dean Robert Bruner(1)

2007-02-06 13:06:20 Zongxing[ Big Normal Small ]

　　
　　
　　About Darden,
　　 Named for Colgate Whitehead Darden, Jr., former Virginia governor, congressman, and president of UVA, and one of the school's greatest advocates, The Darden School of Business was founded in 1954. Darden develops people who lead, create, and transform organizations. Darden faculty focus on six broad issues that impact business today: innovation and entrepreneurship, e-business, sustainability, the extended enterprise, post-merger integration, and diverse leadership teams.

　　Faculty-led teams work with students and corporate leaders, as well as government, community, and public-policy organizations to address these challenges around the globe. Emphasis on these issues allows students to develop the skills and knowledge that shape the success of today's most dynamic and profitable companies.

　　The school's state-of-the-art facilities include five interconnected buildings comprising 260,760 square feet. Inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s original design for the University of Virginia’s “academic village,” the buildings create a series of outdoor spaces that echo the traditional architectural detailing of the University’s Central Grounds. The Camp Library boasts more than 125,000 volumes, 1,100 periodicals, and 150 online databases with access to thousands of business journals and daily newspapers.


　　Z: Dean Bruner, you are named as one of BusinessWeek magazine Master of MBA classroom. In your opinion, what makes a professor to be a master in MBA classroom?

　　B: Well, the difference for me is the ability to take the students’ point of view, wrestling with the issues of the courses that I teach. This is very different from taking teachers’ point of view. To be student centered, is to look at the problem, look at the challenges, look at the content of the course, the way that students would engage it, and to structure the actual student engagement, in a way that helps students learn.
　　 In contrast, new Ph.D. graduates will tend to take a teacher’s point of view. New Ph.D.’s learn the whole theory, the knowledge and expertise that stand at the frontier of the field. But in fact, what most students want to learn is the core body of knowledge in the field. So the mistake teachers often made is to put students immediately at the frontier without thinking through all the small steps that students will take in order to get to the frontier.
　　 I agree the very well educated person should understand the issues at the frontier of the field, but a student-centered teacher helps the student get there. A teacher-centered teacher will not think like a student.

　　Z: So that’s why on the home page of Darden website, there is a saying “the best professors in the world don’t speak”.

　　B: That’s absolutely right. The gift is to listen to students and know their challenges. That makes a difference between good teaching and great teaching.

　　Z: For the professors in Business school. There is some argument in China about who fits the role most properly. Some say, the professor who just goes through academic will do a good job. Others argue the scholars can go to industry and then go back to school. This will make them more popular. What do you think?

　　B: That’s a very good question. Business schools are professional schools. We are preparing students to be professional manager. Everything should be oriented towards helping to elevate that profession. The mission of the school should be to discover and disseminate best practices. We know that practices are determined in part by what people actually do in the world. But practice can also be improved by theoretical studies and research. Examples of where academic research made a difference in business practice are numerous: the invention of linear programming, the invention of option pricing model, and the invention of conjoint analysis to assist in marketing and pricing strategies.