“The SJSU College of Business is the institution of opportunity, providing innovative business education and applied research for the Silicon Valley region.”

[College of Business Mission Statement]

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there.”

[attributed to Yogi Berra]

A Strategic Plan should reflect an institution’s mission, and yet it also is a living document. While at any point in time as you travel through life you ought to know where you are going, circumstances may change to such an extent that the destination should change as well. An example of this is our comparison of the status quo with the “Strategic Framework” developed by the College of Business (CoB) five years ago. Hence, what is presented herein reflects a particular point in time, early in the year 2001 - the beginning of the third millennium.

The Plan has several overarching objectives: to enhance the reputation of the College of Business and San José State University (SJSU); to provide programs and services to our students that enable them to learn as well or better than they could at any other post-secondary institution they might attend; to provide graduating students, programs, research results, and other services to the communities we serve that best meet their needs; and to enhance the well-being of our faculty and staff. In brief, we should strive to maximize the value added by the College of Business to our students, faculty, staff, institution and the community that we serve, subject to resource constraints. To accomplish the above we should strive to increase our resources to the extent possible.

This document will commence with an Executive Summary, which states our priorities. Following that will be eight sections entitled: Assumptions and Presumptions, The Status Quo, Our Reputation, Students and Alumni, Serving our Communities, Faculty and Staff, Obtaining Resources, and Summary. The distinction is rather artificial as the factors are highly interdependent, as will be obvious in the body of the report. Nevertheless, it provides a basis for organizing the supporting discussion. The Summary attempts to show how the Actions relate to each other.

This Strategic Plan is heavily dependent on three separate studies undertaken by various College of Business faculty members: the CoB Mission Statement and Strategic Framework of 1995, a Strengths and Weaknesses report, and an Opportunities and Threats report. These can be found in appendices A, B, and C respectively.

Executive Summary

This summary presents only the top priorities of the Strategic Plan. The supporting arguments for these, along with many other action plans, can be found in the body of the report, along with the person with ultimate responsibility (many may participate) for assuring a given action is completed by the date(s) specified.

The top priority, without question, concerns our ability to hire and retain excellent faculty. We are blessed with an excellent faculty, most of whom were hired when the rewards of being a faculty member at CoB, SJSU, when compared to the cost of living, were far greater. We must do everything within our power to retain them, but many are nearing retirement age, and others will seek to enhance their careers elsewhere. Hence, hiring top flight faculty who are new to CoB is critical to our success. Many of the proposed actions focus on this issue. A number (see “Obtaining Resources”) concentrate on increasing faculty remuneration. Others are aimed at easing the cost of housing (see “Faculty and Staff: Recruiting”). Still others seek greater support for teaching and research (“Faculty and Staff: Teaching” and “Faculty and Staff: Research”).

There are several other high priority areas of concern. Perhaps the second in importance is our external relationships, particularly with local businesses, the rest of the San José State University community, and the public at large. An entire section entitled “Serving Our Communities” states a number of recommended actions designed to improve these relationships. They are very important to our well-being, especially since we are essentially a service organization.

Another high priority area is CoB’s reputation. Obviously this is interdependent with many of the recommended actions. As examples, the better our external relationships are, the better our reputation is; and the better our reputation is, the better our fund raising capabilities are. The better our reputation and fund raising capabilities are, the easier it is to hire excellent faculty, which in turn enhances our reputation and fund raising capabilities. Nevertheless, excellence has to be publicized; and there are several actions listed under “Reputation” that have that as their purpose.

Our educational programs are obviously a high priority item, but as they appear to be in relatively good shape, they require less attention than other aspects of the College of Business. Nevertheless, we should never lose sight of the fact that our educational capabilities underlie our external reputation and our ability to serve our students, which is the primary reason for our existence. We must always strive for pedagogical excellence.

The last item to be noted here is the hiring and retention of staff. While academics have a tendency to focus on faculty, we too often forget that the success of our faculty and our relationships with our students are heavily dependent on a highly motivated and effective staff. Several action statements (see “Faculty and Staff: Staff”) are specific to this issue.

Assumptions and Presumptions

Every Plan is based upon certain assumptions and presumptions, and this one is no exception. Therefore it would appear appropriate to state those which we recognize at the start. One is that San José State University will continue to be primarily a teaching institution where research is important but not the driving force. A second is that our primary concern in terms of student intake will continue to be the San José metropolitan area. Third, financial support from the State of California will continue to be modest and will not increase at a greater rate than increases in inflation and FTES. Thus real increases in resources must come from other sources. Fourth, Silicon Valley will continue to be a very high cost location in which to live and work.

Fifth, we are an integral component of San José State University and will work with the other components to achieve our own goals and help them achieve theirs. Sixth, we have excellent and dedicated faculty and staff and can build upon this excellence. Seventh, we have a large number of alumni upon whom we can call that are willing to support us in a variety of ways. Eighth, we have the capability and the opportunity to influence our own destiny; and our successes and failures rest more in our own hands than in the hands of others.

The final assumption is that everyone associated with the College of Business, especially its faculty and staff, will be involved. While the Actions denote a person or persons who is (are) responsible for its execution, this is the ultimate responsibility. To quote Harry Truman: “the buck stops here.” This in no way suggests that others are not direct participants and in fact share the responsibility for success. It merely designates the person that in the final analysis must oversee an Action’s completion. However, no Action is the domain of one person. In reality, each is in the domain of all faculty and staff, and many outsiders as well.

The Status Quo

The reason for starting with the status quo should be obvious. Yogi Berra has not been quoted as saying the following, but he certainly could have said it. “If you don’t know where you are, you’ll never get where you’re going.” This is also the first step for a navigator. You have to plot where you are before you can plan the route. While this makes good sense, it is all too often ignored.

Five years ago the College of Business completed an extensive strategic planning exercise culminating in the publication of the “Strategic Framework.” This was done as part of the accreditation procedure for the AACSB – American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (now the International Association for Management Education). The most specific recommendations/actions were stated as “Strategies (critical things we must do to achieve our goals).” There were 25 of these, listed under five headings: “People,” “Research,” “Instruction,” “External Relationships,” “Internal Operations.”

The first thing to note is that most of the recommendations were acted upon, which is a measure by itself of the success of the strategic planning exercise. The levels of actual achievement, however, varied, especially when compared with the proposed “measurements.” A high degree of success was achieved under Instruction. All of the proposed committees were established – Continuous Program Improvement, Continuous Curriculum Improvement, Assessment of Student Competencies. Moreover, there were clearly identified accomplishments. The core curriculum has been revised and is in the process of moving toward a focus on competencies. Advanced courses have been kept up-to-date and reflect the present rather than the past. And there has been continuous innovation in both course content and modes of delivery.

Perhaps the greatest success was the response to the “Strategy” of “accelerate development of specialized graduate degree programs, with recruitment of appropriate off-campus students.” Programs were established for particular enterprises (e.g. Hewlett-Packard and Cisco); a full-time, one year MBA program has been launched successfully; a joint effort with Engineering, offering both an M.S.E. and an MBA, is underway; and fee-based MBA revenue has increased many-fold. Not only have we reached students that we could not have obtained by other means, but gross revenue from fee-based programs has increased more than twenty-fold. Furthermore, the conditions that have been created by the Instruction part of the Strategic Framework are such that even a greater level of success can be achieved. Therefore, this area will not be a focal point of the new Strategic Plan as many of the appropriate mechanisms are already in place.

With respect to Research, the situation is less obvious. We do have a Research Committee, and we do allocate a considerable number of summer research grants, both of which were recommended. A positive consequence is that research in terms of both process and output has increased. However, a great deal remains to be done. Financial support of research, including the provision of student research assistants and the ability to buy-out a course or two, has changed very little. Nor have there been significant changes in the level of incentives to motivate research excellence and in the infra-structure required to support it. As an example of the latter, we lack a research information system, one that indicates who has done and is doing what with whom. In other words, there is considerable room for improvement here.

Internal Operations have definitely been improved. The most dramatic example is the complete renovation of the Business Classroom building, including greatly expanded computer laboratories and state-of-the-art equipment for classroom presentations. Our students and faculty now have access to the best technology available, and we intend to keep it that way. This is being facilitated by our excellent business computing staff. We have an equally excellent facility at Rose Orchard, which provides a first class environment for our fee-based programs. Looking at other aspects of Internal Operations, we can state that our students are being well served by the Business Student Advisement Center and the university’s Career Center. We are moving toward more effective tutoring, though we have not made much progress on the implementation of mentoring programs. Perhaps the only other negative that belongs within Internal Operations is that we remain under-staffed. This does require further action.

Far less progress has been made on the External Relationships front. The College of Business still lacks development and public relations staff. Little is being done with local high schools and community colleges, though most of our students come from them. With one or two exceptions, our partnerships with “corporations in Silicon Valley” revolve around education and are not true partnerships. We have minimal relationships, other than at a personal level, with the regional community, and we have not built strong ties with the rest of the University. Faculty exchanges are no further along than they were five years ago. The funding relationships with charitable foundations that helped us with our classroom building renovations are not continuing. Not surprisingly, considerable attention will be paid to external relations in the current Strategic Plan.

One specific aspect of external relations deserves a paragraph of its own – the College of Business Alumni Association (CoBAA). This volunteer organization has had a great deal of success in the past as a bridge between the external community and the College of Business. In the recent past it lost all of its permanent staff, and financially it went from a significant surplus to a deficit position. The CoBAA is now in the process of rebuilding and has a new Director. However, it still lacks additional staff, and its financial position remains precarious, depending heavily upon the success of a single annual event. Alumni have been and will continue to be our best ambassadors. They are keys to the doors of local and regional businesses and are our biggest donors, and many of them maintain their relationships with CoB through our Alumni Association. The College of Business Alumni Association should be financially stable by the summer of 2002. In the meantime the College is and will continue to subsidize its activities. The CoBAA is too important to the College to have it fail.

The last item to be mentioned concerns People, and it was left to last since most of the issues, such as “improve the sense of community” and “improve morale” depend heavily upon the successes obtained under the preceding four areas of concern. This will be as true in the future as it is now. Hence, improvement in this area depends upon improvements in the others. As a consequence, this aspect of the past Strategic Framework will not be treated directly in the Strategic Plan which follows, but rather will be an implied outcome.

We have made considerable progress over the past five years, but much remains to be done. Furthermore, the environment in which we operate has changed substantially. The competition for hiring new faculty and retaining those already on board has increased considerably. In virtually every field of business the supply of new Ph.D.s is far below the demand, and forecasts suggest that this will worsen rather than improve over the next five years. This presents a major hurdle, as not only is our salary structure constrained, we also live in an exceptionally high cost-of-living region. We face other forms of competition as well. While the Silicon Valley is an exciting place to be located as it is now the engine of the “new economy,” it has also attracted top ranked Schools of Business, such as Wharton, Harvard and Berkeley. We now have to present programs and services that are perceived to be competitive at this level. In addition, web-based technology now permits any organization to offer virtually any program or set of courses at virtually any location. Thus the number of our potential competitors has increased many-fold. That is why reputation becomes very important.

Our Reputation

We start with reputation for it is heavily dependent on the plans for the four sections that follow. In essence, a discussion of reputation sets the scene for them. The ingredients of a College’s reputation include: the quality of its faculty, the quality of its graduating students, the programs and courses offered by the College, and the extent to which the College effectively serves its communities. We have excellent faculty. Many of our graduates have been extremely successful. Most of our programs are very popular and are highly regarded. The College serves the metropolitan community in a great many ways, perhaps the most important of which is that we are a very efficient and effective provider of post-secondary education. No one in the region can do a better job adding value to those whom we educate. However, high quality and excellent performance by themselves are not sufficient. The external world has to be aware of that quality. Hence hand-in-hand with a focus on quality has to be an effective communications plan.

Actions:

RC1 - Work with SJSU public relations to develop a communications plan.

Dean. 1 July 2001

RC2 – Hire a full-time staff member to handle public relations and to execute the

communications plan.

Dean. 1 July 2002

Two other items might be added to the list, resources and the reputation of the university; but the flow is more often in the reverse direction. While an increase in resources can enable a College to enhance its reputation, more often the enhancement of the reputation of a College enables it to obtain greater resources. And while the reputation of a university has a favorable effect on the reputation of its components, it is the schools and colleges that comprise a university that give it its reputation. Physics at Berkeley, engineering at MIT and Cal. Tech, business and liberal arts at Harvard, medicine at Northwestern, arts and sciences at Williams and Swarthmore (and the list could go on and on) do more to enhance the reputation of the university of which they are a part than vice versa. Hence, outcomes of an improved reputation of the College of Business should be better access to resources and an improved reputation of San José State University, which in turn will provide further positive feedback.

Quality of Faculty

Turning to the first item on our list, faculty, the primary sources of their reputations in the community at large are their research and publications and the impact of these publications. This suggests several courses of action. One is to expand the opportunities for those who have the capability of doing excellent research to do research. This implies that we provide them with the time, facilities, research assistants, and perhaps money that are needed to enable them to conduct research and publish their findings (this is covered more thoroughly later in this Strategic Plan). In addition, we need to ensure that our research success stories are communicated to the world at large.

Another course of action is to ensure that outstanding teaching is recognized and communicated to the external world. The College of Business is blessed with a large number of excellent teachers, as should be the case for a university that is primarily a teaching institution. Nevertheless, except for the exposure of our students to these faculty members, few others are aware of their capabilities. Therefore, we must increase public recognition of our top teachers, and we must ensure that the College’s teaching excellence as a whole is promulgated to the community at large.

Action:

RF1 – Elaborate the CoB website to provide complete coverage of faculty research

output and teaching excellence, highlighting exceptional performance.

Dean, CoB Faculty and Webmaster. 1 July 2001

Additional actions will be detailed under “Faculty and Staff.”

Graduating Students

Turning to students, our alumni are our best ambassadors. Or, they could be our worst ambassadors if we don’t treat them well. While the grapevine is not as global as an excellent communications campaign, it is likely to be more effective in terms of affecting behavior. For example, a study of what influenced high school graduates to go to a particular university indicated that the number one factor was feedback from friends currently going to that school. As a consequence, if we want to improve the quality of our intake, it behooves us to ensure that our current students, especially our top students, have a very positive experience with respect to the actions of the College of Business. This indicates that we should not only foster an excellent environment for learning, but should provide services outside of the classroom that reflect favorably on the College. Important among these are admission, registration, advising, counseling, and job placement services. Specific recommendations will be detailed in the section entitled “Students and Alumni.”

Another essential element in regard to our alumni being our ambassadors is a strong and active alumni association. The College of Business Alumni Association is in the process of rebuilding, and it is essential to our well being in the community that this rebuilding process be a success. The Alumni Association facilitates our reputation by the events it sponsors, networking by its members, and the distribution of its newsletter. Alumni provide access to most Silicon Valley corporations, as the College of Business has more alumni employed in the Valley than any other College on campus or business school in the country. And alumni are key to our fund raising activities. Actions to be taken with respect to our alumni will be described under “Students and Alumni.”

Programs and Courses

Many an institution, whether it be a university or a college within a university, has developed its reputation based on very few programs, programs which attract attention because of their quality, their uniqueness and/or their delivery system. In serving our community the College of Business has to remain rather broad in its approach, as the demands of students and employers are varied. At the same time, that does not prevent us from establishing excellence that would attract wide attention in one or more areas. In fact, referring back to the argument noting that universities and their component parts benefit from the reputation of each other, the programs throughout the College of Business would benefit by the noted excellence of a few. Hence, it behooves us to establish several niches where we can be seen to have an advantage over virtually all of our peers. The halo effect of a perceived outstanding reputation in two or three programs (content, uniqueness, delivery system) can carry over to the advantage of the rest of the College, as reputation enhances fund raising, our ability to hire and our ability to attract top students.

Actions:

RP1 – Identify two to four niche “programs” that can be used to enhance the

reputation of the College of Business.

Dean (along with the Deans and Chairs). 1 April 2001

RP2 – Obtain the resources, including hiring new faculty, needed to support the

selected niche programs.

Dean. 1 July 2002

While we don’t wish to preclude the outcome of the participatory process that will be used to determine the niches, examples of niches may be useful. Four come to mind: electronic commerce, management of technology, entrepreneurship, and international business. These four have certain characteristics in common. They reflect what is going on in Silicon Valley and hence would be responsive to apparent employer needs. Each would involve all four of the College’s departments, as none of them are discipline specific. And while we may not have the resources to undertake a particular one at this time, it would be feasible to obtain such resources. In summary, our choices should reflect both desirability, both internally and externally, and feasibility.

Serving our Communities

The most important element in serving our community is to provide programs and courses that best meet the needs of the community. It has to be made clear at the start that the community we serve is far from homogeneous. Firstly, it comprises potential students from the metropolitan area who come from a wide variety of ethnic environments and mother tongues, with an equally wide variety of motivations with respect to education. Secondly, it contains a large number of potential employers who are seeking a multiplicity of skills to meet their specific needs. Thirdly, it comprises the community as a socio-political-economic entity that has certain expectations in terms of participation, values, ethical behavior and knowledge on the part of our graduates. Fourthly, there are the taxpayers who want to minimize the costs of a system that is to provide appropriate educational opportunities for all who are capable of taking advantage of them.

All of these groups are concerned about the nature and quality of the educational programs and courses we provide. The more appropriately our programs are perceived to meet the needs of the various communities, the better our reputation will be. However, this presumes that these programs and the courses that comprise them are of high quality, and we may not be in a position to supply what is demanded. Nevertheless, we need to be seen as making an effort to move in the direction of supplying high quality programs in the areas of greatest demand. This requires that we act in ways that are consistent with this perception, and that our actions are made known to our publics. Specific actions will be noted under “Serving our Communities.”

Students and Alumni

Since our two primary groups of students, undergraduates and graduates, differ substantially in terms of their abilities and requirements, they will be considered separately. Other students, such as those who take our courses under the “open university” concept, will be treated under “Serving our Communities.”

Undergraduate Students

The vast majority of our undergraduate students come from the metropolitan area in which we operate. Given the mandate of the California State University System, this is not likely to change in the reasonable future. This yields both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, we are truly “the institution of opportunity.” We have a captive audience, as many who matriculate have neither the financial resources nor the outstanding grades that would permit them to go elsewhere. The population in Silicon Valley is continuing to grow despite the ridiculous cost of housing, as is the demand for an education in business, perhaps partly because of the cost of living. Thus, it is highly probable that the demand for an undergraduate education in business at SJSU is likely to grow over time rather than shrink. This will be especially true for fields that feed the local high-tech industries such as management information systems, e-commerce, the management of technology and entrepreneurship. Even a recession is unlikely to reduce demand significantly. The number of high school graduates is forecast to grow substantially over the next decade, and we will remain the “low cost alternative.”

Another plus is the diversity of our students to the extent that no one ethnic or cultural grouping comprises a majority. This brings a richness to our courses that could not be achieved in a more homogeneous environment, and adds an international dimension to our undergraduate program. This particular plus, however, also presents a challenge since for many of these students English is not their mother tongue. Thus, their ability to communicate in English is often below what is required to succeed in the business world.

The flip side to being the “institution of opportunity” is that the College of Business at SJSU is viewed too frequently as the court of last resort, as the place to obtain an undergraduate degree in business if no other opportunities are available. And there are other problems in terms of how we are perceived by our students. The vast majority of our graduates are transfers from the Community College system, and thus we don’t have the same period of time to build loyalty as do colleges where the majority of students do all of their undergraduate work at the same institution. It is the exception rather than the norm when a student takes a full course load, as the majority are working 20 or more hours a week. As a consequence our students have split loyalties. Furthermore, when a student spends that much time at work, s/he is unlikely to devote the time to studying that ought to be done to learn the material well.

The above factors pose problems, but they also lead to opportunities. While educating our undergraduates is not as simple a matter as it would be in Ivy League schools, it does mean that we can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our students. We provide them with opportunities they might not otherwise have, and we are in the position to provide tremendous value added, not only to our students but to society in general. And our ability to add substantial value, most likely far greater than that provided by our neighboring institutions such as Stanford and Berkeley, is a point that we have to publicize over and over again.

To provide the appropriate value added we must maintain standards of excellence that we wish to associate with graduates of our College of Business. This has three implications: One is that we ensure, to the extent possible, that our entering students have both communication skills in English and the basics of mathematics that are needed to succeed in business. The second is that we offer, if necessary, remedial instruction in both English and mathematics so that our students can obtain these skills before they graduate. And the third is that students should not be able to pass courses where they clearly demonstrate they do not have the communication and/or analytical skills required.

Actions:

US1 - Restrict registration in upper division courses to those who have passed the

WST.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2001

US2 - Develop and implement a test equivalent to the WST to measure analytical

skills.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2002

US3 - Provide remedial education for those who fail the WST.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2001 on

US4 - Provide remedial education for those who fail the analytical equivalent to the

WST.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2002 on

US5 - Establish standards, and the means to assure they are met, for communication

and analytical skills in all upper division courses where relevant (e.g.

communication for marketing, analytical for operations management).

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 January 2002

Establishing standards is not sufficient. Some faculty members, especially junior faculty, may be afraid to enforce them, fearing that to do so would substantially reduce their SOTEs (Student Opinion of Teaching Effectiveness), thus harming their chances for tenure and promotion, and merit increases in salary. However, not to establish high standards may lead to “watering down” courses to the lowest common denominator so that virtually everyone in the class can do well. This does not accomplish our objectives of maintaining quality programs and graduates. Thus we need to do whatever we can to assure faculty members that the maintenance of quality standards is to their advantage, not their detriment, by making such actions act as positive contributors to tenure, promotion and merit increase decisions.

US6 – Encourage and support those faculty members who require their students to

adhere to the established communication and analytical standards.

Dean. 1 July 2001 on

Obviously communication and analytical skills are not sufficient; an undergraduate business curriculum must have a group of required core courses that assure that graduates have a basic understanding of the critical functions of business. We set the course content for those students who enter our program as freshmen or who transfer early enough in their studies that they take the core courses from CoB faculty. However, the majority of our students take many of their core courses in community colleges. While we cannot exercise direct control over course content in these schools, we can work with their staff so that the transition for students from community college to CoB is as smooth and effective as possible.

US7 – Hold annual meetings between the appropriate SJSU and local community

college faculty to ensure that course content in articulated courses is equivalent.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2001 on

Our upper division courses should provide our students with the knowledge and skills they need to be of an immediate benefit to their employers and to enable them to continue their learning so that they can progress on their career tracks. This requires both appropriate upper division courses and appropriate course content. While faculty generally have the best interests of their students in mind, and are usually aware of the most recent trends in the fields that they teach, academics are not always in touch with the realities of industry. One way of improving communication with the “outside world” so that either side can better understand the needs and constraints of the other is to establish a meaningful forum for such an exchange.

US8 – Establish a committee of influential alumni and faculty members to conduct

jointly an annual review of undergraduate programs and course content.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 January 2002.

US9 – Establish the means to obtain periodically feedback from employers of our

students regarding the quality and relevance of their education.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 July 2002.

There are two additional ways we can increase the quality of our graduates. One is to motivate our students to achieve excellence by recognizing outstanding performance with named monetary awards. The other is to increase the quality of our incoming students by offering them scholarships sufficient in size to permit them to attend SJSU on a full-time basis. Everything we can do to encourage our students to attend to their studies is likely to be worth the effort.

US10 – Increase the number and value of awards for outstanding academic

performance.

Dean. 1 July 2003 on

US11 – Increase the number of “full-cost” scholarships for entering students.

Dean. 1 July 2002 on

Graduate Students

Graduate programs yield a number of benefits. First, we have much greater freedom to define their content and to refine them for particular audiences. In other words, they can be developed for specific niches. Second, we have much greater control over admission standards. Third, graduate programs in general, and MBA programs in particular, are highly significant factors in the reputation of a school of business. Fourth, they can be a source of considerable additional revenue that permits us to support programs and activities that are not funded or are under-funded by the State. Fifth, they provide us with an excellent cadre of alumni. Sixth, they yield research opportunities for our faculty.

Since we have considerable control over the graduate business programs that we offer, and since they offer many benefits, including additional income, in an ideal world we would expand these programs as long as there is sufficient demand to cover fully loaded costs at the margin. There is a very significant constraint, however. We have a limited number of tenured and tenure track faculty, and these are the people that staff such courses. Hence, we have to make the best use of such faculty, being careful not to cause undue burdens. Recommended actions with respect to faculty will be detailed later.

Given constraints, we want to maximize our return on scarce resources. There are three basic issues here. One is to maximize our net revenue subject to constraints. For this we need careful cost/benefit analyses. A second is to enhance our reputation. Here we need to determine the competitive advantages and disadvantages of existing and proposed programs. The third is the extent to which a program serves our communities, especially employers. These lead to several actions. Others will be noted under “Serving our Communities.”

Actions:

GS1 – Conduct a cost/benefit analysis of each existing and all proposed fee-based

graduate programs, determining the net revenue earned per course unit.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2001 on

GS2 – Determine the extent to which each existing and proposed fee-based graduate

program provides a public relations advantage because of its comparative

strength and/or uniqueness.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2001 on

GS3 – Maximize the net revenue obtained from fee-based graduate programs.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2001 on

GS4 – Expand our graduate program offerings in areas of high demand and which

enhance our reputation, subject to the constraints of faculty availability and GS3.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2001 on

Alumni

As mentioned above, our alumni are our best link to the “outside world.” They can provide us feedback on what we have done and what we are doing now. They are willing to participate in the classroom. They provide entrees to the organizations that employ them. And they donate both time and money on behalf of the College of Business. Since alumni are our number one source of external support, we in turn have to provide support for the infrastructures that enhance alumni activities.

Past experience and discussions with alumni indicate that many of them are interested in supporting the institution that provided the education which helped them get where they are. This takes many forms, and there is substantial evidence to suggest that it is generally wise to take small first steps which get them involved before asking for major commitments of time and money. Perhaps the most effective first step is to invite them into the classroom to relate their experiences and how their education had an influence on their careers. A second step may be involvement in alumni activities, or counseling students, or serving on panels at new students’ orientations, or teaching a class or two. These, and other activities, such as serving on the Board of Directors of the CoBAA or a Board of Advisors of the College of Business, establish the bonds, providing the activities are meaningful, which lead to major commitments in the future. This progression suggests several actions.

Actions:

AA1 – Provide both time and financial resources to re-establish the College of

Business Alumni Association infrastructure so that it can be an effective source

of alumni activities.

Dean. 1 January 2001 to 1 July 2002

AA2 – Work with SJSU’s alumni office to ensure participation in university-wide

alumni affairs.

Dean. 1 January 2001 on

AA3 – Establish a liaison between alumni interested in participating in the

classroom and CoB faculty to ensure as wide use of alumni as possible.

Dean and Chairs. 1 July 2001

AA4 – Re-establish a CoB Board of Advisors comprising prominent alumni and

non-alumni leaders of the business community; assure that the Board of

Advisors has meaningful tasks to accomplish.

Dean. 1 January 2002

AA5 – Survey alumni five years after graduation with respect to their perceptions of

quality and relevance of programs/courses.

Dean and CoBAA. 1 January 2002

Serving our Communities

In this section we are going to restrict our discussion to external communities, as students, alumni, faculty and staff are covered elsewhere. We will examine our relationships with the remaining communities by placing them in four groups: local businesses; SJSU; our sister institutions, especially those within the CSU system; and the public at large, including government.

Local Businesses

Currently the job market in Silicon Valley is such that demand greatly exceeds supply. As a consequence, a great many firms are seeking ways to get direct access to our better students. This takes many forms and includes closer contact with professors who teach the pertinent upper-division courses, expanded internship opportunities, and participating in the classroom. All of these help the College build better relationships with local firms. None of them, however, expand the labor supply. Furthermore, with the exception of long-term internships that bind a student to a given employer, the actions taken have a very low yield. This is because the vast majority of our students are already employed, and when they graduate they tend to continue working for the same organization.

There are ways of increasing the supply, especially in areas of particularly high demand, such as management information systems. One way, of course, is to increase our capacity to handle students in high demand disciplines. This assumes two things. One is the capacity (i.e., tenure track slots and financial resources) to hire. The other is the capability to hire – the ability to compete in the market place with sufficiently attractive offers. The capacity issue will be discussed in the next sub-section. Our ability to compete in the market place for faculty will be discussed under “Faculty and Staff: Recruiting.”

Another way to increase the supply is to attract and train people who are seeking to enter high tech industries but have neither the experience nor the education to do so. This has been done successfully elsewhere, and requires a high degree of coordination and cooperation between the College of Business and a given employer interested in recruiting such employees. The principle is not complex. It involves developing a degree program, usually at a graduate level, such as an MBA, tailoring its content to suit the needs of the employer while at the same time maintaining the standards and requirements of the graduate degree. Recruiting for the program and for employment in the firm would be done simultaneously, with the candidate having to be acceptable to both. The attraction would be the opportunity to obtain the education required to switch careers while at the same time being fully employed by the company offering that opportunity. The firm paying for the program has the benefit of attracting and keeping employees that would otherwise not be in the market place. CoB would benefit by having a close relationship with the company involved and would gain earned income that would permit it to provide more effective support to its faculty, staff and students.

The success stories are based on the employer paying for the program on a contract basis, paying for each course rather than for each student, with an agreed upon upper limit to class size. Typically the first few months are spent as full time students in courses designed to provide the skills needed most urgently by the employer. Over time the proportion of work to education increases to the point where the individuals involved become full-time employees and part-time students. This transition usually takes about a year to a year and one-half, and depends on the extent of up-front technical training required. Note, this suggests that such programs are likely to be offered jointly with the Colleges of Engineering and/or Science. Since the employer is paying for the education, they would have a contract with each candidate indicating the length of employment required before the cost of education is deemed to have been repaid. Should the employee leave before that time there would be a buyout provision.

Action:

SB1 – Contract with a Silicon Valley firm to provide a graduate degree program

aimed at recruiting and retaining those who seek careers in high tech industries

but do not have the education nor the experience to do so.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2002 on

While increasing the supply of educated employees to local industry is of critical importance to them, increasing the educational level of existing employees is of equal importance. This we are doing, and we have proposed to increase this activity as noted by Action GS4. Degree programs, however, are not the only way to provide appropriate educational services. A number of senior executives have pointed out that many of their technically trained employees need management education but have neither the time nor the willingness to complete an MBA, at least not at present. An alternative is to work with major employers to develop certificate programs, of perhaps four or five courses, tailored to the needs of these employers. These would be fee-based courses, arranged in packages that would lead to a “Certificate.” Furthermore, we would permit these courses to be applied to an MBA degree at some future point in time should the candidate be interested in completing that degree. Whether these would be core courses, or courses designed to educate one in particular aspects of management, such as the management of technology, remains to be determined.

SB2 – Develop and implement a graduate level Certificate program for local

industry, the courses of which could be applied toward a graduate degree at a

later date.

Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2002, 1 July 2003,

1 July 2004

Another way of working with and supporting the local business community is to develop consortia of firms, the members of which benefit from educational and research opportunities offered by the College of Business and through working with each other. An excellent example is the Manufacturing Advisory Board (MAB), a consortium of manufacturing executives throughout Silicon Valley, who meet regularly to discuss common problems. MAB is led by a member of our faculty, and it provides an excellent network to better understand the needs of local businesses, and it provides research, student internship and consulting opportunities as well. Generally such consortia are disciplined based, but they could be more broadly construed. In particular, it would be highly desirable to develop a consortium of firms, represented by senior executives, around the subject of the management of technology. Initial guidance in this area might be obtained from Northwestern, where they have established MATI (Manufacturing Advanced Technology Insertion), and Cambridge where such consortia already exist. Attractive features of these are the additional funds and the research opportunities they provide.

SB3 – Provide the infrastructure support, including staff, to foster CoB based

industry consortia that provide clear advantages to our faculty and students.

Dean and Chairs. 1 January 2002

SB4 – Develop a consortium of firms that will foster educational, research and

funding opportunities.

Dean and Chairs. 1 July 2002, 1 July 2004

An additional avenue to pursue involves business incubators. Currently SJSU has affiliations with four local incubators: Software Business Cluster, Environmental Business Cluster, International Business Incubator, and The Enterprise Network. These offer opportunities for both faculty and students, and enhance our service to the local business community. Faculty could assist the start-ups on a variety of fronts and at the same time use their experience for case studies of various stages of business development. They could also garner excellent material for courses that concern start-up enterprises. Business students, including interns, would benefit by working directly with entrepreneurs, thereby enriching their entrepreneurship and small business related course content. A possibility exists for the College to establish a Center for Entrepreneurship Education, which could be an important addition to our services to entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Such a Center would solidify our relations with the various local business incubators.

SB5 – Determine the extent to which we should expand entrepreneurship in our

programs, including the possibility of establishing a “Center for

Entrepreneurship Education.”

Deans and Chairs. 1 April 2001

SJSU

There are two aspects of the College of Business’s relationship with San José State University. One concerns the University as an entity; the other concerns relations with its individual components. With respect to the first, we must appreciate the fact that the College of Business is an integral part of SJSU. Our faculty, staff and students benefit from the many facilities and services provided by the central administration, most of which are far more efficiently provided collectively rather than at a college level. The University benefits from the quality of our faculty, staff, students and the popularity of our programs. With respect to the latter, we are the only college at present that is exceeding its FTES quota, and demand is such that we have room to grow further. At the same time, we have by far the highest student-to-faculty ratio; and again we are the only College which at present exceeds its assigned standard.

The increasingly pragmatic orientation of the student population suggests that the demand for our programs will increase both relative to other programs and absolutely. While expansion in our undergraduate student base would enable the University to better meet its objectives, expansion faces a major constraint, a lack of qualified faculty. This has two dimensions. One is the number of tenured and probationary faculty that we are permitted to hire. The other is our ability to attract and retain faculty. We will consider the first here, the second under “Faculty and Staff: Recruiting.”

Actions:

SU1 – The College of Business should increase the number of undergraduate

students it serves conditional upon receiving permission and being able to hire

probationary and tenured faculty that allow us to stay within our assigned

student/faculty ratio.

Deans and Chairs. 1 July 2002

Our current allotment of probationary and tenured faculty positions is based solely on the state-supported programs we offer. It does not take into consideration the use of our faculty in a number of fee-based graduate programs. These latter cannot be ignored. Not only does the revenue from these provide additional support to both the University and CoB, but the programs are a significant service to the Silicon Valley business community and clearly enhance our and the University’s reputation. These programs are as likely to continue, and in fact more likely to expand, than other state-supported programs throughout the University. Hence, allocating positions based on these programs is no more risky than positions allocated to state-supported programs elsewhere within the University. In fact, given the growth in demand for CoB fee-based graduate programs, the risk is likely to be considerably less. Furthermore, since over half of all CoB courses are taught by temporary and part-time faculty, even if our graduate offerings should shrink we could more than absorb the additional permanent positions within our regular cadre.

SU2 – Work with senior administration to obtain permission to hire probationary

and tenured faculty based on our fee-based graduate programs.

Dean. 1 January 2001 on

The College of Business is currently offering a combined MBA/MSE degree with the College of Engineering and a Hospitality Management degree jointly with the College of Applied Sciences and Arts. The degree program in Industrial Technology requires Business as a minor. Industrial Design and the Health Science’s concentration in Health Care Management require two or three business courses. Several other programs suggest business as a possible minor. This is just the tip of the iceberg of possibilities. At the undergraduate level there are a number of majors that would benefit from having business minors or joint majors. These range from fine arts and economics, to computer science and engineering. At both undergraduate and graduate levels, especially if we tailor courses as suggested by Action SE1, there is great potential working with the Colleges of Engineering and Science. In particular, a number of technically trained alumni have mentioned the need for graduates who understand both the technologies involved and the principles of management. As an example, joint degrees in Engineering and Management elsewhere have proven to be very popular from both employer and student standpoints, and have attracted excellent students.

SU3 – Pursue opportunities with other Colleges regarding joint majors and/or

business minors, subject to CoB’s ability to obtain the resources required to

offer them.

Dean, Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs and Chairs. 1 July 2001 on

SU4 – Expand and develop new joint fee-based graduate programs with the

Colleges of Engineering and Science.

Dean and Dean of Grad. Studies & Research. 1 January 2001 on

Another component of the University, one with which we currently work closely, is Continuing Education. We have already covered our fee-based programs which run through CE; and, as we noted above, we intend to expand them to the extent possible. CE also manages our summer course program, which was an additional source of revenue. However, this will be discontinued once we operate on a year around basis. A new venture, for which the infrastructure of CE will be valuable, will begin the subsection entitled “Public at Large.”

Sister Institutions

The demands for business education are so varied that no single institution, no matter how large, can meet them all. Thus, while we have to provide a broad spectrum of programs and courses to our undergraduate student body, and do so without significant variations in quality, we, as other Colleges of Business, need to focus our efforts on relatively few areas for which there is a significant demand and in which we can excel. We have already discussed the need to establish niches. Given that our sister institutions are also doing so, it should be expected that neither we nor they will have all the competencies needed to fulfill those niches. Thus, we will need to seek faculty from other institutions, and in turn they will offer opportunities for our faculty. On the surface, this is welcomed as we can all expand our niches beyond our own capabilities. However, this also uses our scarcest resource, our probationary and tenured faculty. Therefore, since most of the teaching that is done outside of one’s own institution is for revenue generation purposes, we need to establish a basis upon which such teaching can be done. Simply put, there needs to be an appropriate net revenue distribution plan. We suggest the following:

Actions:

SC1 – All faculty who teach in our fee-based programs that hold positions in other

Colleges within SJSU or in other Universities, will entail a 50:50 split of the net

revenue generated by the course taught between CoB and the Unit to which the

faculty member belongs.

Dean. 1 July 2002

SC2 – All courses taught by CoB faculty for other Colleges within SJSU or for other

Universities, for fee-based programs, will entail a 50:50 split of net revenue

between the unit offering the program and the College of Business.

Dean. 1 July 2002

Public at Large

Our most global perspective of serving the “public at large” concerns the fact that the College of Business, through its alumni and faculty, has access to most aspects of Silicon Valley. As a number of residents of other parts of the world have noted during visits here, Silicon Valley is the most sought after destination among business people throughout the world. Both internally, among our faculty, and externally among those arranging such tours, the establishment of a means to educate businessmen and women about the businesses in Silicon Valley and to enable them to visit sites of interest has been proposed. The demand appears to be great and is now being met on strictly an ad hoc basis by many organizations, none of which have the broad-based capabilities that we do. Success requires that an appropriate infrastructure be in place. This is where the use of the facilities and services of Continuing Education makes sense. Furthermore, since visitors to the Valley are likely to be interested in far more than just business topics and tours, various other components of SJSU would undoubtedly get involved. This is another reason for coordinating our efforts through CE. We might also make use of the events planning and execution capabilities of the Hospitality Management program.

We have a tentative name for the operation – the Gateway to Silicon Valley. We would provide short courses in subjects of interest, tours to local businesses, and exposure to the sites and cultural events of the Valley. To enhance the image of both SJSU and the College of Business, we would want it to be seen as “top of the line.” We want the College of Business and San José State University to be perceived not only as institutions of opportunity, but as quality operations that can hold their own with any institution. Not only do we serve our public, but we serve them very well.

Action:

SP1 – Develop and implement the factors required to operate successfully the

concept underlying the Gateway to Silicon Valley.

Dean and Gateway Committee. 1 January 2001 on

There are two other ways we can increase our service to the international community. One is by increasing the international content of our programs. The other is to expand our reach to foreign students by bringing them to the College of Business for study and by taking our programs and courses to them via distance education and on-site delivery, and/or by combinations of these approaches. While we are essentially serving the Silicon Valley community, it in turn is a very significant part of the global economy. The better our students understand globalization, and the better international students understand business as exemplified by Silicon Valley, the better we are serving our communities. How to accomplish this is a larger question. Clearly we would like to encourage the inclusion of the globalization of the economy in courses where such inclusion is relevant. We also may wish to be far more active in recruiting foreign students to programs that we offer on campus. Another possibility is to engage in joint programs with foreign universities that wish to expand their horizons by offering their students some of their education in Silicon Valley (we get about one such request a month). We also might expand our distance education offerings so that our reach has no geographical limits. All of the possibilities require study in terms of their financial implications, their use of our scarce resources, their impact on our reputation, etc.

SP2 - Determine how we should incorporate international issues into our

curriculum.

Deans and Chairs. 1 January 2002

SP3 – Determine to what extent and how we should handle international students

and educational opportunities.

Deans and Chairs. 1 January 2002

Another way we serve the public at large is through funded educational/research institutes. Two excellent examples are the recently established Korean E-Commerce Institute (KECI), funded by a major Korean enterprise, and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), funded through contracts and grants, mostly from governmental agencies. Both institutes have educational and research arms. The latter, for example, offers a master’s degree and a certificate in Transportation Management. At present there are over 50 students in the two programs, with classes being offered at a number of sites using interactive video technology. MTI also has a very extensive research program supported by more than a million dollars in contracts.

Considerable discussion has taken place regarding the desirability of establishing an umbrella institute within the College of Business for a variety of research activities. As there has been no consensus on this matter, it will not be listed as an action item. Nevertheless the notion will not be dropped, and if there are several faculty members who collectively wish to establish and promote such an institute, we will encourage them to do so. Note, the term “several” was used, for institutes that have been built on the basis of a single champion seldom survive when that particular champion leaves the scene. The establishment of an umbrella institute has to have sufficient leadership so that there is a reasonable likelihood that it will have a useful existence over a considerable period of time.

Faculty and Staff

We present five categories for this part of our Strategic Plan, recognizing that most of what we propose requires additional financial support. How we obtain that support will be detailed in the following section.

Teaching

Teaching is not only the primary function within the College of Business at SJSU, but it is an activity at which most of our faculty members excel. This is fine as far as it goes, but it is not sufficient. We need to do a better job of recognizing and rewarding teaching excellence, and we need to publicize to our external communities how good we are. Furthermore, we need to encourage innovation in both course content and delivery systems. These objectives can be obtained through the following actions.

Actions:

FT1 – Establish summer teaching fellowships to provide the time and financial

support required to develop new courses, radically revise existing courses, and

prepare new delivery systems.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. 1 April 2002 on

FT2 – Establish Chairs and Professorships to which outstanding teachers can be

appointed; these would supplement one’s salary and provide funds for activities

noted under FT1.

Dean. 1 July 2003 on

FT3 – Work through CoB’s public relations director (see R2) to publicize the

excellence of our teaching staff.

Deans and Chairs. 1 October 2002

Education in the future is likely to be far different that it has been in the past. For centuries we have viewed the learning process as being built around the face-to-face lecture and seminar, and we continue to construct facilities to enhance this process. An excellent example is the renovated Business Classroom building, albeit with the latest in electronic delivery technology. While the lecture mode of educating students will be with us for many years to come, growth in education, particularly continuing education, is going to take place using other delivery systems, especially those that overcome barriers of distance and time. This will become particularly important as significant competitors, such as Harvard and Wharton, move into our geographic area and as we reach out to the global community. The web provides just such a vehicle, and it will undoubtedly have a dramatic effect on how people choose to learn. Assuming that the CoB intends to be an educator of choice, we have to learn how to make effective use of these systems. To do so we need to establish goals and provide appropriate incentives.

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least:

5% by 1 July 2002,

10% by 1 July 2003

15% by 1 July 2004

20% by 1 July 2005

25% by 1 July 2006

Assoc. Deans and Chairs.

FT5 – Provide support (e.g. course buyouts) to faculty who wish to offer courses

that rely heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology.

Dean. 1 July 2002 on

Research

A number of CoB faculty members are excellent researchers, and it is likely that more could join their ranks if they had the resources (time and money) to do so. As the reputation of an institution is heavily dependent on its published research, it behooves us to support the research of our faculty members to the extent possible. Note, however, that while all faculty members are expected to do an excellent job in the classroom, research at the same level is not required. There are other venues where one can excel that deserve recognition in terms of promotion. Furthermore, applied research is held in the same regard as theoretical research, and is to be recognized as equivalent.

Actions:

FR1 – Establish summer research fellowships to provide the time and financial

support required to develop and execute a research program.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. 1 April 2002 on

FR2 – Establish Chairs and Professorships to which outstanding researchers can be

appointed; these would supplement one’s salary and provide funds for the

conduct of research, including course buyout.

Dean. 1 July 2003 on

FR3 – Work through CoB’s public relations director (see R2) to publicize notable

research findings and excellence.

Deans and Chairs. 1 October 2002

FR4 – Work closely with the Associate Vice President of Research to increase the

research funding opportunities of our faculty.

Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2001

FR5 - Provide up to 10 fully funded student research assistants to faculty on a

competitive basis.

Dean and Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies & Research. 1 July 2002

Recruiting and Retention

At present and in the foreseeable future, nothing will be more important to the success of the College of Business than hiring and retaining excellent teachers and researchers. This implies that we have both available positions and the resources needed to attract and keep the best candidates for these positions. Position availability has already been discussed, and at the moment is not the major concern. Attracting and retaining candidates is.

Salaries within the California State University system are moderate, but might be sufficient in low cost-of-living areas. As we all know, Silicon Valley is among the highest cost-of-living areas in the world, especially when it comes to the cost of housing. As a consequence, it has been extremely difficult to recruit new faculty. Retention has been a problem as well; faculty have left to take positions at much higher salaries and/or in areas where the cost-of-living is much lower. This problem, which is of great concern where the supply of business school faculty is low and the demand is very high, has to be approached on at least three fronts: obtaining funds that would permit CoB to take a joint equity position in a residence purchased by a new hire; obtaining mortgage funding at rates that make the monthly payments manageable for new hires; and increasing annual remuneration. It is unlikely that any one approach will be sufficient to attract the quality and number of new faculty that we need now and will need over the next five years.

Actions:

FH1 – Obtain the funding needed to provide a joint equity possibility for up to 25

new hires.

Dean. 1 January 2003 on

FH2 – Work with the University administration to obtain preferential mortgage

interest rates that enable our faculty to meet monthly payments on purchased

residences.

Dean. 1 January 2002

FH3 – Work with University administration on all other possible venues that would

provide affordable housing to new hires.

Dean. 1 January 2001 on

FH4 – Provide junior chairs and professorships that can be used to supplement the

salaries of highly desirable new hires.

Dean. 1 January 2003 on

There is another aspect to recruiting that has to be considered, and that concerns taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. Occasionally an academic, whom we have not actively recruited, asks us about employment opportunities, wanting to move to Silicon Valley for any number of reasons. Among that group are those who have excellent teaching and/or research credentials, and are willing to accept the salary constraints of the State University system. When we encounter these people, and when we could make excellent use of their talents, we would like to be in a position to hire them with the intent of eventually making their positions permanent, even though a position has not been allotted for the skill set in question nor has the required advertising taken place. There are also potential faculty members who would like to work in Silicon Valley for just a few years and for whom tenure is not an issue. We need to be in a position to be able to offer them appropriate term contracts. Given our difficulties in recruiting, we hate to lose any hiring opportunity, as we are currently understaffed and are likely to be for a number of years to come.

FH5 – Work with senior administration to develop a means to obtain permission to

hire “opportunity appointments.”

Dean. 1 January 2001 on

“Temporary” Faculty

Approximately half of all our courses are taught by what the California State University system calls “temporary” appointments. The term is clearly a misnomer, for a number of them have been teaching for the College of Business on a full-time basis for many years. To state that we are dependent on those who hold these positions on our faculty, whether on a full-time or part-time basis, is only a fraction of the story. The vast majority are excellent teachers, and wouldn’t be working for us if they didn’t love to teach and work with students. Most bring considerable experience from working in the “real world” to their classrooms, and this greatly enhances our students’ education as it enables them to understand more fully how theory translates into practice. In addition, many participate in activities associated with CoB that are outside of the classroom, allowing us to do much more than we could without such assistance. Yet, for all this, our “temporary” faculty are seldom recognized at a level commensurate with their contributions. We should attempt to rectify this situation.

Action:

TF1 – Establish an award for outstanding contributions by a “temporary” member

of CoB’s faculty.

Deans. 1 July 2002, 1 July 2003

Student support

Our reputation in the eyes of our students is as dependent on their interaction with our staff as it is with our faculty. Staff services such as counseling and job placement (not to mention admissions and registration, which are outside of our control) can have a very significant impact on the lives of our students. Fortunately, we appear to be doing well in the areas over which we have some influence, such as BSAC, despite the fact that we face staffing constraints. The better we can provide these services, the better we will be perceived. And as noted before, the choice of which university to attend is more dependent on the feedback from friends already attending that institution than any other single factor.

Action:

SS1 – Determine the appropriate complement of our student support services staff

so that our students perceive these areas of service to be excellent.

Deans. 1 January 2002

SS2 – Hire and retain the appropriate complement of student support services staff.

Deans. 1 July 2002

Staff

One could view our staff as providing the lubrication for the faculty engine. Without that lubrication the engine would freeze and come to a screeching halt. This implies that our staff needs to be both sufficient in number and effective. Here too we have a recruiting and retention problem. The number of positions we are allotted under the current allocation scheme is below our needs, and our salary structure is very modest in comparison to that offered by other employers in Silicon Valley. We have increased the number of positions by using the net revenue obtained from our fee-based programs. Still, the number may be insufficient. On the salary front, while the CSU system does provide excellent benefits, these are not peceived to be enough to overcome the salary gap. This requires that we provide an excellent work environment, both from a morale standpoint and education and training, and that we seek to increase remuneration whenever it is feasible to do so.

Actions:

ST1 – Undertake a study to determine the appropriate number of staff positions for

the various offices within the College of Business.

Dean. 1 July 2001

ST2 – Obtain funding to support the additional positions recommended by ST1.

Dean. 1 July 2002

ST3 – Provide our staff with an organizational environment that is conducive to

high morale, which includes treating staff with considerable respect.

Dean, Assoc. Deans and Chairs. 1 January 2001 on.

ST4 – Provide staff with effective (with respect to hiring and retention) perquisites

to the extent permitted.

Dean and Chairs. 1 January 2002

Obtaining Resources

There are essentially three sources of financial support: the State of California via the State University System and San José State University’s administration, earned income, and donations. As we have assumed that the first source will increase at no more than the rate of inflation and growth in FTES, we will concentrate on the latter two. Furthermore, they are the two sources over which we have some control.

Earned Income

The vast majority of current earned income is obtained by means of fee-based graduate programs. These include the off-campus MBA (a part-time program), MBA One (an intensive one year, full-time MBA program), the Master of Science in Taxation, and two corporate based, part-time MBA programs offered on the premises of Cisco and Hewlett-Packard. The latter will be completed by the end of this calendar year. At present we know that total gross revenue, which is received through the Center for Continuing Education, exceeds our direct expenses. However, we do not know the net contributions of any given program, nor the return we are obtaining for teaching any given course. These are the reasons for action GS1.

Our ability to expand our earned income is in direct relationship to the size of our probationary and tenure track faculty, those permanently dedicated to working within the College of Business. This is covered under SU2 and FH1 through FH4. Given our present complement, we have limited means to expand our net revenue (see GS3 and SP1). However, if we can expand the number of probationary and tenured positions by means of SU2 through SU4, we would be in a position to undertake a number of new revenue generating programs. These have been detailed under the subsection entitled Serving our Communities, Local Businesses.

Actions:

ER1 – Given present constraints, generate $100,000 additional net revenue through

better use of existing resources (see GS1 and GS3).

Dean and Assoc. Dean Research and Grad. Studies. 1 July 2002

ER2 – Given expanded resources (a net increase of at least 10 new full-time faculty

members) generate $3,000,000 per year in gross revenue.

Dean and Assoc. Dean Research and Grad. Studies. 1 July 2003

Achieving ER1 should enable us to maintain the status quo plus hire a public relations expert. It should also enable us to undertake remedial education for those students who cannot meet our communication and analytical skills standards. This assumes that the CoB Alumni Association becomes self sufficient. ER2 should provide an additional increase to net revenue that would enable us to hire needed staff, and to begin implementing summer teaching and research fellowships. Fund raising will also be undertaken for the latter purpose.

Fund Raising

Many of the stated objectives cannot be achieved without a very effective fund raising campaign. This implies at least two sources of support: the University’s Advancement Office and a full-time staff member charged with advancement activities. The latter will comprise the first fund raising action. What is stated in the actions which follow are targets. The dates associated with them are speculative and depend heavily on our ability to find a donor interested in the naming opportunity provided by the College - the John Doe College of Business. Not only would such funds, targeted at a minimum of $20,000,000, enable us to provide the funds needed for offering joint equity opportunities for incoming faculty (and those who have joined us in the past year), but the funds could be used to provide matching opportunities to other donors so that they would make the stretch to fund Chairs and Professorships.

Actions:

EF1 – Hire an Advancement Officer for the College of Business, splitting the cost

with the University’s Advancement Office.

Dean. 1 July 2001

EF2 – Raise $5,000,000 for joint equity toward housing to enable us to hire new

faculty.

Dean. 1 July 2003 [depends on finding a “naming” donor]

As we have noted previously, hiring and retaining faculty not only require that we help them with the cost of housing, but with the overall cost of living, especially since we are in competition with other universities that offer both superior salaries and a lower cost of living. In this regard, and with the intention of recognizing existing and hiring new faculty who are outstanding teachers and/or researchers, we intend to establish a number of Chairs, Professorships and Fellowships. The “Distinguished Chair” category is to be sufficiently well funded that it enables us to add to our existing faculty complement. The categories of “Chair,” “Distinguished Professorship,” and “Professorship” provide funds to supplement salaries with additional stipends and provide funds for research and teaching activities. Teaching and Research Fellowships, which appear on the list below have already been mentioned. The processes of selection of those to be offered Chairs, Professorships and Fellowships will be similar to those used for hiring new faculty.

In every case we are seeking endowments so that the activities supported can last in perpetuity, the assumption being that the income obtained from the endowment, after accounting for inflation, will be approximately 5%. We should note that if matching funds are not available (we are proposing a match of $2 for every $3 donated) from a “naming” donor, the timing of the targets would be delayed at least a year, and the amounts sought would be exceedingly ambitious.

EF3 – Raise $3,000,000 for a Distinguished Chair (2 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2004, 1 July 2005

EF4 – Raise $ 1,500,000 for a Chair (4 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2003, 1 July 2004, 1 July 2005, 1 July 2006

EF5 – Raise $1,000,000 for a Distinguished Professorship (8 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2002 (1), 1 July 2003 (2), 1 July 2004 (3), 1 July 2005 (2)

EF6 – Raise $500,000 for a Professorship (16 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2002 (1), 1 July 2003 (3), 1 July 2004 (6), 1 July 2005 (4),

1 July 2006 (2)

EF7 – Raise $200,000 for a Teaching or Research Fellowship (20 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2002 (2), 1 July 2003 (4), 1 July 2004 (6), 1 July 2005 (5),

1 July 2006 (3)

Another source of financial support for faculty could be put under either Earned Income or Fund Raising. That is the development of internship opportunities for faculty with local industry. This is a double-edged sword, as past faculty interns have found the financial rewards in industry so appealing that they have left the University to take permanent employment with their previous internship employer. Nevertheless, this may be mitigated with appropriate contract stipulations with the employer offering the internship, and internships have a number of benefits. The most obvious is additional remuneration for those holding them, which we suggest should be at least $20,000 for a full summer internship and $30,000 plus for one which involves activity the year around though perhaps with greater emphasis in the summer. Another is an opportunity for our faculty to get grounded in the reality of local business. This can help their research program, especially if it is applied, and enable them to bring “real world” experience into the classroom. From the employers’ standpoint, they are operating in an extremely tight labor market, and this provides them with expertise that they might not otherwise be able to obtain. Furthermore, working closely with a faculty member may give them access to students that they might not be able to hire on a less personal basis.

EF8 – Develop a summer faculty internship position with local industry paying at

least $20,000 per year.

Dean with Faculty. 1 January 2002 (2), 1 January 2003 (3),

1 January 2004 (3), 1 January 2005 (2)

EF9 – Develop a year-around faculty internship position with local industry paying

at least $30,000 per year.

Dean with Faculty. 1 July 2002 (1), 1 July 2003 (2), 1 July 2004 (3),

1 July 2005 (2)

We mentioned earlier the importance of attracting top students and rewarding outstanding academic performance. Here too we seek endowments so that the scholarships and awards can be offered in perpetuity.

EF10 – Raise $ 250,000 for a full-load entering scholarship (4 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2003, 1 July 2004, 1 July 2005, 1 July 2006

EF11 – Raise $ 20,000 for an outstanding academic performance award (6 in all).

Dean. 1 July 2002 (2), 1 July 2003 (2), 1 July 2004 (2)

There is always a need for general funds to support new activities, to acquire new equipment, and to support entrepreneurship and excellent performance among faculty and staff. For these and allied purposes we would like to develop a “Deans’ Fund.”

EF12 – Raise $3,000,000 for a Deans’ Fund.

Dean. 1 July 2001 to 1 July 2006

Summary

The Executive Summary states the top priorities of the Strategic Plan, and it gives the reader some idea of how they are related to each other. The details of the Plan are then presented, and in the process of reading them one might lose sight of the forest as the focus is on the trees. Here we want to return to the forest, showing how the Actions, working together, enable us to achieve our priorities. We start by presenting a diagrammatic representation (see Figure 1), along with verbal descriptions of the relationships. We close by cataloguing all action statements, placing them in the most

Figure 1: Diagrammatic Summary of Strategic Plan

pertinent of the 11 headings used in the diagram. Within a given category Actions are listed in chronological order according to the date by which the action is to be executed.

The eleven categories used in Figure 1 either reflect directly one of our top priorities and/or enable one or more. “Hire and retain excellent faculty” is priority #1. This objective is furthered by having: excellent staff support, excellent relations with local industry, an excellent reputation, the means to reward excellent teaching and research, a substantial earned income and a strong endowment base. In turn, a strong faculty enhances our reputation, our ability to obtain endowment funding, our ability to earn revenue and the learning experience of our students.

Another major priority item is to “improve the learning experience” of our students. After all, this is the raison d’être of the College of Business and SJSU. Many factors contribute to this objective: improved curricula, excellent teachers, better working relationships with other components of the university, excellent support staff, alumni and local business participation, and financial support. The consequence is well educated and enthusiastic graduates who are of substantial benefit to their employers and who become supportive alumni.

While there is little point in justifying all of the relationships shown in the diagram, as the reasons for most are obvious, two more will be mentioned because of their importance. One concerns “improve industry relations, alumni relations.” Note the

direct benefits. Our abilities to earn income and raise funds are significantly enhanced. Our students’ learning experiences are fostered in a number of ways, everything from local business leaders and alumni making classroom presentations to internship opportunities and permanent jobs. And our reputation, which is an essential ingredient in our abilities to hire and improve our financial situation, improves.

The last item has already been mentioned in each of the three preceding paragraphs. It concerns our financial resources and their importance in enabling us to achieve our key objectives. While there is no perpetual motion machine, improving CoB’s financial situation possesses some of its characteristics. The higher our revenue, the better able we are to hire and retain excellent faculty and staff, and improve the learning experience we provide our students, all of which enhance our reputation. But these in turn provide the bases for increasing our revenue. The question then becomes where to start? The answer is everywhere; the Strategic Plan makes it clear that we have to move on all fronts at once. This is shown in the following catalogue of Actions, each of which is listed chronologically under the heading characterizing its primary purpose.

Hire and Retain Excellent Faculty

1 January 2001 on

FH3 – Work with University administration on all other possible venues that would

provide affordable housing to new hires. Dean. (p.22)

FH5 – Work with senior administration to develop a means to obtain permission to

hire “opportunity appointments.” Dean. (p.23)

1 January 2002

FH2 – Work with the University administration to obtain preferential mortgage

interest rates that enable our faculty to meet monthly payments on purchased

residences. Dean. (p.22)

1 July 2002

RP2 – Obtain the resources, including hiring new faculty, needed to support the

selected niche programs. Dean. (p.8)

1 January 2003 on

FH1 – Obtain the funding needed to provide a joint equity possibility for up to 25

new hires. Dean. (p.22)

FH4 – Provide junior chairs and professorships that can be used to supplement the

salaries of highly desirable new hires. Dean. (p.22)

Reward Teaching/Research Excellence

1 July 2001

FR4 – Work closely with the Associate Vice President of Research to increase the

research funding opportunities of our faculty. Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies &

Research. (p.22)

1 April 2002 on

FT1 – Establish summer teaching fellowships to provide the time and financial

support required to develop new courses, radically revise existing courses, and

prepare new delivery systems. Dean and Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad.

Affairs. (p.20)

FR1 – Establish summer research fellowships to provide the time and financial

support required to develop and execute a research program. Dean and Assoc.

Dean Grad. Studies & Research. (p.21)

1 July 2002

FR5 - Provide up to 10 fully funded student research assistants to faculty on a

competitive basis. Dean and Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies & Research. (p.22)

TF1 – Establish an award for outstanding contributions by a “temporary” member

of CoB’s faculty. Deans. (p.23)

1 July 2003

FT2 – Establish Chairs and Professorships to which outstanding teachers can be

appointed; these would supplement one’s salary and provide funds for activities

noted under FT1. Dean. (p.20)

FR2 – Establish Chairs and Professorships to which outstanding researchers can be

appointed; these would supplement one’s salary and provide funds for the

conduct of research, including course buyout. Dean. (p.21)

TF1 – Establish an award for outstanding contributions by a “temporary” member

of CoB’s faculty. (1, total = 2) Deans. (p.23)

Hire and Retain Excellent Staff

1 January 2001 on

ST3 – Provide our staff with an organizational environment that is conducive to

high morale, which includes treating staff with considerable respect. Dean,

Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.24)

1 July 2001

ST1 – Undertake a study to determine the appropriate number of staff positions for

the various offices within the College of Business. Dean. (p.24)

1 January 2002

SS1 – Determine the appropriate complement of our student support services staff

so that our students perceive these areas of service to be excellent. Deans. (p.24)

ST4 – Provide staff with effective (with respect to hiring and retention) perquisites

to the extent permitted. Dean and Chairs. (p.24)

1 July 2002

SS2 – Hire and retain the appropriate complement of student support services staff.

Deans. (p.24)

ST2 – Obtain funding to support the additional positions recommended by ST1.

Dean. (p.24)

Improve Learning Experience

1 July 2001

US1 - Restrict registration in upper division courses to those who have passed the

WST. Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.10)

1 July 2001 on

US3 - Provide remedial education for those who fail the WST. Assoc. Dean

Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.10)

US6 – Encourage and support those faculty members who require their students to

adhere to the established communication and analytical standards. Dean. (p.11)

1 January 2002

US5 - Establish standards, and the means to assure they are met, for communication

and analytical skills in all upper division courses where relevant (e.g.

communication for marketing, analytical for operations management). Assoc.

Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.10)

SP2 - Determine how we should incorporate international issues into our

curriculum. Deans and Chairs. (p.19)

SP3 – Determine to what extent and how we should handle international students

and educational opportunities. Deans and Chairs. (p.19)

1 July 2002

US2 - Develop and implement a test equivalent to the WST to measure analytical

skills. Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.10)

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least 5%.

Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.21)

1 July 2002 on

US4 - Provide remedial education for those who fail the analytical equivalent to the

WST. Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.10)

FT5 – Provide support (e.g. course buyouts) to faculty who wish to offer courses

that rely heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology.

Dean. (p.21)

US11 – Increase the number of “full-cost” scholarships for entering students. Dean.

(p.12)

1 July 2003

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least

10%. Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.21)

1 July 2003 on

US10 – Increase the number and value of awards for outstanding academic

performance. Dean. (p.12)

1 July 2004

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least

15%. Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.21)

1 July 2005

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least

20%. Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.21)

1 July 2006

FT4 – Increase the proportion of our undergraduate and graduate courses that rely

heavily (but not necessarily exclusively) on web-based technology to at least

25%. Assoc. Deans and Chairs. (p.21)

Improve Curricula

1 April 2001

RP1 – Identify two to four niche “programs” that can be used to enhance the

reputation of the College of Business. Dean (along with the Deans and Chairs). (p.8)

1 July 2001 on

US7 – Hold annual meetings between the appropriate SJSU and local community

college faculty to ensure that course content in articulated courses is equivalent.

Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.11)

1 January 2002

US8 – Establish a committee of influential alumni and faculty members to conduct

jointly an annual review of undergraduate programs and course content. Assoc.

Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.11)

AA5 – Survey alumni five years after graduation with respect to their perceptions of

quality and relevance of programs/courses. Dean and CoBAA. (p.13)

1 July 2002

US9 – Establish the means to obtain periodically feedback from employers of our

students regarding the quality and relevance of their education. Assoc. Dean Academic & Undergrad. Affairs. (p.11)

Improve Industry Relations

1 April 2001

SB5 – Determine the extent to which we should expand entrepreneurship in our

programs, including the possibility of establishing a “Center for

Entrepreneurship Education.” Deans and Chairs. (p.16)

1 January 2002

SB3 – Provide the infrastructure support, including staff, to foster CoB based

industry consortia that provide clear advantages to our faculty and students.

Dean and Chairs. (p.16)

1 July 2002

SB2 – Develop and implement a graduate level Certificate program for local

industry, the courses of which could be applied toward a graduate degree at a

later date. Assoc. Dean Grad. Studies & Research. (p.15)

SB4 – Develop a consortium of firms that will foster educational, research and

funding opportunities. Dean and Chairs. (p.16)

1 July 2002 on

SB1 – Contract with a Silicon Valley firm to provide a graduate degree program

aimed at recruiting and retaining those who seek careers in high tech industries

but do not have the education nor the experience to do so. Dean and Assoc.

Dean Grad. Studies & Research. (p.15)

1 July 2003

SB2 – Develop and implement a graduate level Certificate program for local