Eccles Business Buzz Podcast

S8E10: Wrapping Up A Year of Growth: Priorities For the Future

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Season 8 concludes with our final conversation about the new strategic direction at the David Eccles School of Business. In this episode we go straight to the top for another discussion with Dean Kurt Dirks.

Dean Dirks reflects on his first year on the job, and shares his thoughts about the strategic priorities of student success, societal impact, and what a strong legacy for the Eccles School really means. Together with host Frances Johnson, Dean Dirks highlights some significant achievements of the past year, including increased student enrollment, re-accreditation by the ACSB, and substantial donations from alumni through a novel fundraising strategy. Dean Dirks also discusses future plans including innovative educational models, fostering business community relationships, and leveraging unique economic opportunities in Utah, such as the 2034 Winter Olympics. This episode provides an in-depth look at the exciting growth and future ambitions of the Eccles School as it aims to become the premier business education institution in the West.

Episode Quotes

Dean Kurt on why the university’s three strategic goals stood out

[08:32] We can be stronger and more successful if our priorities are aligned with the university’s priorities.

On ensuring our impact lasts for generations

[10:05] We are coming up on our 110th year as a school in a few years. We have a very proud legacy of helping to have that societal impact and helping students over time, and we want to make sure that that continues long into the future to ensure that we have that pride of our students and alumni, that they are carrying the flag with them as they go out into the world, that we have the financial strength to be able to achieve those goals, and that we have the reputation that matches our quality. I think that’s one of the things that have come to discover is that we have an amazing campus here and a university here, and that we need to make sure the rest of the world knows about that.

The implementation phase: executing internally and creating new opportunities externally.

[17:31] Another area that we’re looking at is how to create some programs which are, again, helping to fit and fuel the Utah economy and there’s a number of them that we are looking at there. One of the ones which I’m excited about with the Olympics coming as well as all the pro sports teams here, as well as creating the sports and entertainment district downtown. I think there’s a great opportunity for us to do something around the business of sports. And so, I’ve been in conversations with a number of our leaders throughout the community about what that might look like. What types of relationships might we build, what type of opportunities out there are there to get our students involved in this very exciting era of our community.

Dean Kurt opens up about the unexpected insights from his first year in leadership.

[13:10] We’re going to lean heavily into the concept of students are not coming here just to get a degree, but they’re coming here to not only learn business but also to experience business. So, we’re going to lean into a model which is really all around learning through experience. And that is in the classroom in various ways. It’s not just listening to a lecture and taking a test.

It’s really learning through experience and really absorbing the information, discovering what that means for themselves. I learned that happens in the classroom as well as how it also goes beyond the classroom. So, students are out there doing projects with businesses which have real meaning, real consequences, as well as the internships. That’s the first concept.

And part of that student success priority is how do we bring that to light? We’re doing a lot of it already, I have to say. And that’s what so impressed me. And so, this is really taking that to the next level of how we fully integrate into it to make sure that our students are prepared for how business can evolve and change in the future and to be able to help them achieve success right away when they’re going to and be at a competitive advantage compared to their peers who are going to other institutions.

So, what does that look like for all of our students? The other pieces that we’re also looking at then is how we create ensure access so that students desire and opportunities are not hindered by anything that they bring to the school in terms of their economics or background or anything else that we want all students to be able to, again, seek and reach their peak. And so, making sure that we are placed for access to do that. And we’ve had, you know, so many alumni and supporters come on to make sure that that happens.

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