Message From the Dean — November 2021

With just a few short weeks until the upcoming winter holiday break, it’s a great time to reflect on the accomplishments of our GWSB Community. It is with pride that I share with you the 2020-21 Annual Report for the School of Business.

Each year our community works diligently to develop impactful research and cultivate a teaching and experiential learning environment where our students thrive. This collective effort was especially important in 2020-21 and we share the pride in the high-quality outcomes of our community. We developed and implemented innovative and inclusive solutions that brought us together and advanced our impact on business across sectors and around the world.

GWSB Good News

• Alumna Impact: We are #GWSBproud of Dominique Tolbert (MBA ‘20) and her company Mesean Spices, who were featured in the The New York Times. Read about her mission to unite people all over the world using the flavors of Libera. 
• Empowering Entrepreneurship: The Princeton Review this year recognized GWSB at #37 among U.S. institutions for Entrepreneurship. 
• Global Celebration: For International Education Week in November, GW Today interviewed GW Alumni Association President Christine Brown-Quinn (MBA '92) and Ama Appiah (MBA ‘22) who is going abroad this spring to South Korea. 
• Online MBA Excellence: “We have moved beyond binary choices. Since we offer six MBA formats, we allow students to blend online and in-person classes.” GWSB was recently mentioned in a Find MBA Online article, featuring Vice Dean Shivraj Kanungo, discussing the value of being flexible in our MBA offerings.

Awards & Recognition

• The Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate honored Herman Aguinis, chair of the Department of Management and Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Management, and Annamaria Lusardi, University Professor of Economics and Accountancy and academic director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC), in their list of researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.
• The Journal of Consumer Research awarded Donna Hoffman, Louis Rosenfeld Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing and co-director of the Center for the Connected Consumer, and Tom Novak, Denit Trust Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing and co-director of the Center for the Connected Consumer, the 2021 Journal of Consumer Research Best Article Award for “Consumer and Object Experience in the Internet of Things: An Assemblage Theory Approach” from Volume 44, Issue 6, April 2018. 
• Young Hoon Kwak, associate professor of decision sciences, received the 2021 Richard R. Torrens Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Dr. Kwak currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Management in Engineering, a top ranked journal published by ASCE. The Richard R. Torrens Award honors volunteer journal editors who make outstanding contributions to the ASCE publications program.
• The Pitch George Competition provided an opportunity for GW students to showcase their ingenuity, receive mentorship and compete for prizes. Congratulations to all the GWSB participants. Among the 31 students across GW on the winning teams, ten were GWSB students. The winners were as follows: Tier 1: empyre webs: Megan Chadha and Maximilian Stein; Clebby’s: Sabrina Clebnik, Kat Grubbs, and Lyna Obi; and POP!: Anna Shaw; Tier 2: SideStreets: Ad Watts Lane; and The Accountability Group: Joshua Bostick; and Tier 3: CREW Entertainment: Dayla Durandisse; and Lōpe Tree / Desert Date Co.: Lauren Servin. Read more about the competition and the winners who receive automatic bids into the 2022 GW New Venture Competition. Applications are now open and I encourage all GWSB students to participate.

Faculty Expertise

• James Bailey, Hochberg Professorial Fellow of Leadership Development and Professor of Management, was recently quoted in the Forbes article, “Do You Need Massive Followers On Social Media To Be Creditable?’’ and authored the article for The Hill entitled, “Reviving urban economies by returning to the office: The case of the nation's capital.’’ Bailey’s Harvard Business Review article was cited in Entrepreneur, HealthLeaders Media, Nasdaq, Tribune Content Agency, and was the No. 1 worldwide Google position according to key search terms. 
• Joel Gehman, Lindner-Gambal Chair of Business Ethics and Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy, authored the paper, "Winds of Change: A Neo-Design Approach to the Regeneration of Regions" published as part of a special issue on regenerative organizations in Organization & Environment.
• Patrick Hall, Visiting Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences, provided expertise for S&P Global to public concerns regarding facial recognition technology used by Facebook. 
• Salah Hassan, Professor of Global Marketing and Brand Management, delivered the presentation, "Redefining Brand Identity in Disruptive Times" at the American Marketing Association's 2021 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education that was attended by senior university leaders from around the world.
• Danny Leipziger, Managing Director of The Growth Dialogue and Professor of Practice of International Business, authored a letter published in the Financial Times on “Argentina faces painful adjustments if it is to end its debt crisis” and was interviewed for This Morning with Henry Shinn on TBS eFM 101.3 Mhz Seoul. The interview is available to listen to on both their Korean podcast platform Naver Audioclip and iTunes. 
• Jennifer Merluzzi, Associate Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy, published the paper “One Path Does Not Fit All: A Career Path Approach to the Study of Professional Women Entrepreneurs” with Ronald S. Burt.
• Lisa Delpy Neirotti, Associate Professor of Sport Management, was quoted in The New York Times article “Do Sports Still Need China?’’ by Andew Keh.
• Katina Sawyer, Assistant Professor of Management, had research was featured in a McKinsey that outlines the challenges that transgender employees face at work.
• Robert Weiner, Program Director for the Master of Science in International Business; Professor of International Business; Professor of Public Policy; and Professor of Public Administration,  published “Leviathan as Foreign Investor: Sovereign Wealth Funds and Geopolitics,” as the lead article in the September 2021 Journal of International Business Studies. The article is coauthored with former GW-CIBER SDI Ph.D. student Wendy Wang, former GWSB Assistant Professor Srividya Jandhyala and Professor Quan Li of Texas A&M.
• Elaine Worzala, Charles Bendit Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Real Estate; Chair, The Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis (CREUA), shared her expertise on the Self Storage Industry Trends for STORAGECafe.

Events & Reminders

• December 3 (Friday) Full-time Student UPass Card Pick Up Deadline: GW is offering full-time students enrolled in fall 2021 the opportunity to participate in a free trial of the UPass Program from Dec. 1–22. To participate, you will need to show your student GWorld card and pick-up a physical UPass Metro Smartrip Card. View dates, times and location. 
• December 3 (Friday) UBA Interview Day: Undergraduates sign up for a spot between 1–6 p.m. for an event aimed at interview preparation.
• December 3 (Friday) “What are you grateful for, GW?” Deadline: Please send in your video or photo submissions of something or someone that made you grateful this year.
• December 1–15 - The Final Lap: The Final Lap is a series of free programming open to all GW students and designed to provide stress reduction opportunities prior to and during the week of final exams. Check out Doodle & Destress with GW Art Therapy, Vern Lights and GW Late Night to name a few.
• December 9 (Thursday) - Midnight Breakfast: GW’s Annual End of the Semester Study Break! Midnight Breakfast is a great opportunity to take a break from studying for final exams, grab free food, and relax with friends at the end of the semester. Located in the University Student Center, this year’s event will be out of this world with inflatables, giveaways and food! Come take a break from studying and decompress with us on Thursday, Dec. 9 from 10 p.m. to midnight.
• December 13 (Monday) - Creativity and Technology for Innovation in the Online Game Industry: Join the virtual panel discussion hosted by the Korean Management Institute (KMI) at GWSB on December 13 at 7 p.m. ET, featuring Ms. Yuchen Yuan, Team Lead of Operation Management at NetEase, Inc., one of the largest Internet technology companies in the world based in China.

As we anticipate the end of the semester let’s continue to lean into our talent and effort to close the semester with great impact and outcomes.