Dear Alumni and Alumnae,

CBA Dean Joseph Eisenhauer

As you read through this edition of The Current, you may notice a theme: a strong and growing commitment among our faculty, students, and alums to advance our mission as a Catholic business school.  As you know, we have never been content—and never will be content—with academic excellence alone.  To paraphrase a famous Saturn advertisement, we are a different kind of business school, with a different kind of education—one that emphasizes social responsibility.  Indeed, our MBA program is ranked among the top 100 in the world for its focus on ethics and sustainability.  Our mission of promoting academic, ethical, social, and spiritual growth in the Jesuit and Mercy traditions drives everything that we do, and our dedication to those values is continually being strengthened.  We've recently exemplified our mission in several new ways.

• The College formally renewed its commitment to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education, and issued a progress report which is publicly available online.
• We launched a new graduate certificate program in Forensic Accounting, which trains accountants to detect and prevent fraudulent business practices.
• We developed a new Academic Integrity Policy to ensure that we "walk the walk" on business ethics.
• Many of our undergraduates participated in the annual Ethics Bowl competition, and several faculty members served as judges; for the third year in a row, a business major was on the first-place team.
• We've expanded service learning in the College, through which our students learn good business practices while assisting the community.  In the past year, nine different undergraduate and graduate courses incorporated service learning, including the provision of financial literacy to Detroit schoolchildren and free income tax preparation for community residents.
• We initiated fundraising for a new scholarship to recognize business majors for their outstanding service-learning achievements.
• Our College faculty and staff participated in a specially designed Mission Retreat, taking time out to reflect on our Jesuit and Mercy values and their role in business education.
• In September, our students participated in a special Mission Retreat so they, too, could become more familiar with the Jesuit and Mercy charisms and their role in the practice of business.  The bonding this created among them was remarkable, and the retreat has quickly become a model for other UDM colleges.
• Members of our two sponsoring religious orders, Sr. Maureen Mulcrone of the Religious Sisters of Mercy and Fr. Gregory Hyde of the Society of Jesus, have joined our Board of Advisors.
• We've begun moving our Business Turnaround Management program online to accommodate those whose family obligations, careers, or locations make traditional courses inaccessible.
• And our College faculty continue to produce mission-consistent research.  The most recent titles include "Using Catholic Social Teaching to Evaluate Business Activities" in the Journal of Catholic Social Thought; "Service-Learning and Leadership" in the Journal of Business Ethics; "Fulfilling Our Mission: Integrating Catholic Social Teaching into the Core Business Curriculum" in the Journal of Jesuit Business Education; and "Compliance and Ethics Programs" in the Journal of Management and Governance. 

All of these efforts are designed to ensure that there will continue to be future generations of business alumni and alumnae who embrace the Mercy and Jesuit philosophies.  Ultimately, this work must be evaluated according to our Mission Statement.  Do we, in fact, prepare students to serve both business and society?  Have we, in fact, developed both academic excellence and good character?  Judging by the four individuals we welcomed into the Hall of Honor this Fall, the individuals honored at the Annual Philanthropy Day, and the many others among you who pursue these efforts daily—often with little or no public recognition—the answer is a resounding Yes. 

Happy reading!

Joe Eisenhauer
Dean, College of Business Administration