OCOB Ann Rep 07-08 - Orfalea College of Business - Cal Poly San ...

DEAN’ S MESSAGEMaking life better through teaching and learningDear Alumni, Parents and Friends,We continue to commit ourselvesto excellence in everything wedo. The support and encouragement Ireceive from each of you as we striveto improve is tremendous – thank you!Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Businessis the school of choice by outstanding students and faculty.Once again this year, I am sharing with you thedetailed goals that we have chosen as priorities for thisyear. We have not changed our focus, which will continueto be the development of people, forming partnerships,and building a community of scholarship and practice.Through these pages, we hope to remind you of allthe ways that we are making life better through teachingand learning. Several of our outstanding faculty haveshared their current thinking about important questionsthat surround their research. We have more student successstories than we could ever include here. Our studentmanagedportfolio project had another successful year ina difficult market, and 11 of 17 finance seniors passedLevel 1 of the Certified Financial Analyst examination ontheir first attempt, defying the national averages.Our students engage productively in communitybasedlearning and service through effective business. Wehave invested in enhancing our offerings in entrepreneurship,and seek university-wide participation by studentsand faculty in every discipline. At the same time, we seekways to involve our business students in the polytechnicdisciplines that are core to the identity of Cal Poly.In response to important questions that challenge usto assure students and employers that our graduates haveachieved our learning goals, wehave focused on outcomes assessmentfor each of our degree programs.I realize that the K-12implementation of learning assessmenthas met with mixed resultsand some dissatisfaction. Wedecided that we can and will do better, and seek to ensurethat every graduate of our programs is an effective communicator,can analyze data when making decisions, andunderstands the global nature of business and how tobuild effective teams to achieve goals. We believe that ourcurricula achieve these goals, but we want to be certain,and we want to improve.For example, we want to enhance leadership developmentin our students. This winter, we will initiate a newLeadership Institute aimed at nominated sophomore studentswho we believe can be coached to become effectiveleaders. We have always been committed to developingleaders through our clubs and organizations; this initiativeis a deliberate strategy for enhancing the results.Please remember that you are always welcome at CalPoly. While we can greet you best when you let us knowthat you are coming to campus, I often meet alumni whohave taken a break while driving the 101 and are just informally“checking in.” This inspired us to install aWebcam on our Orfalea College of Business Web site. Ifyou wonder if the grass is green and the sun is shininghere, just go to www.cob.calpoly.edu and click on theWebcam. We hope it makes you smile when you catch aglimpse of Cal Poly.Sincerely,ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ❚ 1