School Notes: School of Management
March/April 2008

Progress on new SOM facility

The final design for SOM's new campus is starting to take shape. In September, Yale announced that world-famous architectural firm Foster + Partners won an international competition to design new facilities to house the school. The 246,000-square-foot structure will be built on Whitney Avenue, across from the Peabody Museum of Natural History. Since the announcement, a number of firms have also been hired to consult on the building's technological innovations, environmental impact, lighting, and landscaping. In addition, the architects have run a series of exercises with faculty, students, and staff in order to better understand the needs of the SOM community, and they've performed extensive surveys of the grounds. School leaders have held meetings with neighbors of the site. The design concept is expected to be completed and approved this year, with a ground-breaking anticipated in the fall of 2009.

Trips give students global perspective on business

The 180 members of the Class of 2009 spent two weeks before the beginning of the spring semester traveling to 11 countries as part of eight different International Experience trips. A required part of the Yale Management Integrated Curriculum, the trips are designed to provide students with a unique perspective on global business through meetings with top industry, political, nonprofit, and cultural leaders in each country. Now in its second year, the program has established the school as a leader among business schools in requiring international study. The eight trips this year are organized not just by region but also by discipline. The Israel/Turkey trip focused on healthcare; the China trip took an in-depth look at the rise of financial service companies and private equity in Beijing and Hong Kong; and the Costa Rica group studied the rise of ecotourism, plus the business of conservation and its impact on development. For more information on the International Experience, go to www.mba.yale.edu/internationalexperience.

Top CEOs gather to assess 2007

The 56th Yale CEO Summit of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute met in New York on December 13 and 14 to look both forward and back, discussing the events that shaped business over the past year while delving into the factors that will influence global business in the years to come. Participants included top executives such as John Thain of Merrill Lynch, Mark Fields of Ford Motor Company, and David Neeleman of JetBlue, along with public officials including Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and U.S. District Court judge Jed Rakoff. CELI was founded in 1989 to provide original research on leadership and lively educational forums for top corporate leaders. "We are thrilled to continue to provide a safe oasis for candid discussions and peer-driven learning," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale School of Management and CELI president.