In this Centennial year, we continue to build momentum for the future of business. Dean Idie Kesner shares what sets the Kelley School apart—including the key role our alumni, corporate partners, donors, and friends have played in providing innovative business education for our students, talented hires for the business community, and meaningful programs and services for our alumni network. Additionally, she discusses how you can join us as we celebrate our success.
Financial Times ranks Kelley MBA program 40th worldwide, recognizes school’s career services and faculty research efforts
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Fueled by its top-notch career services and faculty research activities, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business continues to gain ground in the Financial Times’ annual survey of the top 100 MBA programs worldwide.
In rankings released Jan. 27, the school’s Full-Time MBA Program rose to 40th worldwide from 43rd last year and 57th in 2018. Kelley remains 22nd among all U.S. business schools, eighth among all U.S. public institutions and third in the Big Ten.
The FT’s ranking methodology involves 20 data points, including salary increases for alumni, international mobility and percentages of female and international faculty. A key strength for Kelley is its career services ranking, which moved up two positions to No. 3 worldwide.
The Financial Times also ranked the Kelley School 15th worldwide for research. During the previous academic year, professors published 284 articles in peer-reviewed journals and nearly 35 books.
“Recognition like this is especially meaningful when it reflects the quality of our efforts to prepare students for fulfilling careers and the solid, research-based education they receive from our faculty,” said Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the Kelley School and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management. “We’re proud of our collaborative culture, which connects students to the networks and experiences they need for whatever successful executive path that follows.”
Kelley School of Business introduces next class of Dean’s Council Scholars for a new decade
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has announced its Dean’s Council Scholars for 2019-20.
Chosen from among all entering freshmen who applied to IU and were directly admitted to the Kelley School, 16 incoming freshmen are Dean’s Council Scholars. Preference is given to students who are traditionally underrepresented in the field of business.
Students receive funding toward standard tuition and fees. They also receive support in the form of an advisor and a Kelley student mentor during their time at IU. They also have the option of residing in the Kelley Living Learning Center, a residential program that focuses on personal, academic and professional development. Each program has its unique events.
The Dean’s Council Scholarship was created in 2015 out of a shared aspiration of the Kelley School’s dean and Dean’s Council to pool their philanthropic resources to sustain and enhance the school’s diversity efforts, which includes students from all different economic backgrounds as well as students from diverse cultural backgrounds.
The Kelley Dean’s Council is composed of over 150 CEOs, vice presidents and business leaders who represent all ranges of industry. It advises on institutional goals, school strategies, and curricula. The council is also actively involved with long-term goal planning for the school and offers input on research, fundraising and the creation of new programs.
No. 1 ranked Kelley Direct Online MBA program also praised for graduates’ career outcomes
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – U.S. News and World Report again selected the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and its Kelley Direct Online MBA Program No. 1 from among a record 335 business schools that participated in its Best Online Education Program rankings.
Another media outlet, FIND MBA, has included Kelley Direct in its new list of the Top 10 Online MBA Programs for Career Outcomes, which include programs in the United Kingdom, Spain and the U.S.
“Employers are now looking to online MBAs in search of more experienced candidates than full-time courses. Business schools wax lyrical about the benefits of digital education: completing an online MBA proves one is adept at managing multiple priorities,” wrote FIND MBA. “Studying online also fits the way we work today, with managers expect to lead global teams from a distance.”
FIND MBA took special note of the service provided by Kelley’s Graduate Career Services office and resources available in the Conrad Prebys Career Services Center.
“The Kelley Direct Online MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business also scores very well for the strength of its career services team,” the article said, adding that the average salary increase after graduation is among the highest at any online MBA program. (more…)
Kelley’s Indiana Business Research Center supports U.S. Opportunity Zones initiative
WASHINGTON – A new online tool developed at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business to help economic and community developers in areas identified as Opportunity Zones is being praised by a top official at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The USA Opportunity Zones tool was created by the Indiana Business Research Center at Kelley for the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, which announced the tool’s launch on Jan. 14.
“This new web-based mapping tool will help investors and economic developers target investment toward Opportunity Zones to effect positive, socially-conscious change in these communities,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming.
It is designed to provide support to the more than 390 EDA-designated Economic Development Districts across the country, as well as those fostering long-term private sector investments in low-income communities in more than 8,700 opportunity zones nationwide. These include 156 Opportunity Zones in Indiana.
Looking ahead into 2020 and celebrating 100 years of moments leading to momentum
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In November, faculty at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business toured the state, sharing its annual economic forecast for the coming year.
While the presentations are valuable and attract news coverage, a yearly special issue of the Indiana Business Review, published by the Indiana Business Research Center, provides an opportunity for much deeper dive into the forecast and how local communities may be affected.
The special issue includes nearly 20 articles, including those about the state housing picture and financial markets, as well as economic forecasts for 2020 for the nation, state and 14 cities and metropolitan statistical areas. They include forecasts for Indianapolis, Louisville and cities where the Business Outlook Panel didn’t travel to, including Fort Wayne and Muncie.
Articles are prepared by Kelley professors and economists, as well as contributors from Ball State University, Purdue University and Purdue University Fort Wayne, the University of Southern Indiana, IU East, IU Northwest, IU Kokomo, IU South Bend, IU Southeast, Indiana State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
In its overall forecast, the Kelley School panel indicated that the U.S. economy will continue to expand for a 12th consecutive year in 2020, but by only about 2 percent and struggling to remain at that level by year’s end. Indiana’s economic output will be more anemic, growing at a rate of about 1.25 percent.
Here are highlights from the special issue of Indiana Business Review (click on the links to full articles):
- The Indiana housing market remains locked in a standoff between strong buyer demand and scant supply. With the inventory of homes on the market likely to remain exceptionally low in 2020, total housing starts should continue to increase. However, the strong house price gains threaten to put homeownership out of reach for more Hoosiers.
- No room for mistakes in international markets. The anticipated recovery of economic activity in the emerging markets will drive the 2020 global growth estimate of 3.4 percent. But much uncertainty remains, driven by continued Brexit concerns and several ongoing trade disputes.
- Indiana is expected to experience slower job growth and gross output due to a tight labor market. With fewer and fewer people available to hire, the tightness of the Indiana labor markets will serve as a drag on output and employment growth.
For the Kelley School, this holiday season is particularly meaningful. This year marks Kelley’s Centennial, and everyone is proud to celebrate the school’s 100-year history at the same time IU celebrates its Bicentennial. In this video, Kelley students, faculty and staff in Bloomington and Indianapolis share what makes Kelley special and what they hope Kelley’s next century will bring.
IU Kelley School of Business announces its inaugural class of Conrad Prebys Scholars
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When the late Conrad T. Prebys committed $20 million to Indiana University and its Kelley School of Business in October 2015, the real estate developer and philanthropist was profuse in his admiration for his alma mater.
“I love Indiana University, the beautiful Bloomington campus, and it’s exciting to be able to make this gift to the university,” Prebys famously said. “I am very proud to help the Kelley School build on its strong foundation and further its profound promise to students and their futures.”
Sadly, Prebys (pictured below), who was president of San Diego-based Progress Construction and Management, passed in July 2016, before seeing the fruition of his generosity.
Raised in a working-class area of South Bend, he was the first of his five brothers to attend college and participated in the ROTC Program at IU. After graduating in 1955, he returned to his hometown, where was a manager at a steel company and operated a pizzeria. A decade later, he moved to San Diego and became a successful developer of affordable, middle-class residences.
The $14 million Conrad Prebys Career Services Center was built and dedicated in March 2018, and addressed important career development and placement needs for an increasing number of students at the Kelley School of Business and IU.
The summer before, IU President Michael McRobbie also presided over the inauguration of a new outdoor amphitheater for musical and theatrical productions named for Prebys, located next to Bryan House.
These facilities were vitally needed, but this fall Prebys’ gift is contributing to another building project – in the form of the next generation of future successful Kelley alumni, through a new student scholarship program.
The Kelley School selected its first group of 13 Prebys Scholars, who began their studies this fall.
New ‘Star Wars’ movie awakens marketing memories for IU Kelley School faculty member
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — When the ninth Star Wars movie and final installment of the “Skywalker saga” opens in the theaters Dec. 19, it also will bring back memories for Paul Palmer Jr. II, an Indiana University Kelley School of Business professor who helped develop iconic toys tied to the film series.
Palmer, a senior lecturer of marketing who began teaching at Kelley in 2010 and self-professed Star Wars enthusiast, for four years was a senior brand manager for Hasbro Inc.’s product line for episodes I and II of the classic science fiction franchise.
After earning an MBA in 1996 from the Kelley School, Palmer went to work for consumer products giant Procter & Gamble as a brand manager, but two years later, the “big kid at heart” left for Hasbro Inc.
“It was crazy,” Palmer said. “We had an opportunity to be a part of the rebirth, for the next chapter in truly an evergreen saga that resonated with fans and moviegoers across a broad spectrum around the world. It was exciting that I could be part of something that I was passionate about 20 years earlier.”
Kelley alumni named to Forbes’ ’30 Under 30′
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Two alumni of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business – Martin Aguinis and Rooshy Roy — have been named to Forbes’ prestigious “30 Under 30” lists.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 lists highlight 600 rising stars in 20 industries, who were chosen from more than 15,000 nominees in the United States and Canada. Past recipients have included Spotify’s Daniel Ek, Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and cosmetics entrepreneur Emily Weiss.
Aguinis, (pictured above) who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing in 2017, leads global marketing for Flutter, Google’s open-source mobile-app development framework. Clients include Alibaba, eBay, Groupon, BMW and Capital One.
He launched #MyFlutterStory, a campaign promoting the diversity of the framework’s users, as well as Flutter Create to encourage the global community to create apps and spotlight them.
In October, Aguinis was recognized by the Product Marketing Alliance with its global Rising Star award. Before Flutter, Martin founded his own companies and also worked in the YouTube team on virtual reality. While at IU, he developed a ride-sharing app for fellow students. He was recognized in the marketing and advertising category.
Roy, (pictured below) who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in finance in 2011, founded and is CEO of cosmetics company Aavrani. A first-generation Indian American, her company’s products are rooted in ancient beauty rituals. She was recognized in the retail and e-commerce category.
New webinar provides healthful information for parents of Kelley students, along with other resources
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – As the semester winds down, students at the Indiana University and the Kelley School of Business face final exams and most return home for the holidays. It also renews a period of adjustment for parents, who are still getting used to being empty nesters. How can they continue to be supportive of their loved ones, while encouraging them to be more independent?
To help, Kelley’s Undergraduate Program has produced a hour-long webinar for parents, “Helping Your Student Achieve Balance and Independence.” It is part of the school’s broader ongoing, collective efforts to help parents contribute to the success of their sons and daughters, who are transitioning into adulthood and professional life.
Kelly Higgins, MSW, LCSW and MBA and assistant director of student experience, who works with undergraduate students on issues involving mental health and wellness, presents information in the webinar. She also responds to common questions with the help of Kelley senior Brian Mitcham.