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Darden School Dean Pushing Mba Business

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 December 2005, 06:00 CST

By Bob Rayner

Bob Bruner works in one tough business.

He competes in a fractured market, with dozens of well- established players. Scores of upstarts have entered the industry in recent years, threatening to convert the core product into a commodity.

Globalization and technology pose threats -- and offer opportunities.

Bruner is dean of the Darden School of Business, the University of Virginia's graduate program.

He's selling master's degrees in business administration -- top- notch MBAs, he'll tell you. Make no mistake, though, selling is precisely what Bruner is doing.

"The business school industry is getting more and more competitive. MBA programs are viewed as cash cows at many institutions," Bruner said during a conversation Wednesday morning. "We need to assert what's special and unique about the Darden School."

It's easy to imagine Bruner behind the lectern, engaged in a crisp give-and-take with students.

He's a fluent speaker, a finance professor at Darden for more than two decades and a recognized expert in such arcane pursuits as investing in emerging markets, technology transfers and mergers and acquisitions.

He has written 16 books, including, most recently, "Deals From Hell: M&A Lessons That Rise Above the Ashes," a real-world look at big deals gone bad -- and why.

But when he talks about Darden's future, his manner is more savvy marketing executive than theory-bound academic. He's a quick learner. Bruner was named dean in August and accepted a five-year appointment last month.

So what makes Darden special?

"Three things: We're high-touch, high-tone and high-octane."

Pithy. Please explain your answer.

High-touch means the school insists on lots of interaction between students and professors, students and businesspeople, students and other students, Bruner said.

"Darden is the antithesis of a school where you sit in the back of a large auditorium taking notes."

High-tone expresses the school's "highly principled" approach to graduate business education, Bruner said. "Our emphasis is on developing leadership, rather than just graduating technocrats."

He stresses Darden's honor code and its required, graded course in business ethics.

And high-octane?

"We have a demanding program. We make no apologies about it. There's no disguising it."

Students who come to Darden want to be challenged, Bruner said. "They don't want to be told you're good, you're good, you're good. They know that coming in. They want to rise higher."

Darden established its own reputation long ago.

The school is consistently ranked among the top 15, sometimes the top 10, in national surveys of graduate business schools.

These days, that kind of prominence doesn't necessarily guarantee a bright future, Bruner said.

That's why Darden is launching an executive MBA program, aimed at established businesspeople a decade or so older than its traditional students, who are typically about 28.

The 21-month program, which begins in June, is aimed at folks who want to keep working while they earn their graduate degrees. They'll come to Darden for intensive sessions that last two or three days.

Between the trips to Charlottesville, they'll use technology to link with the university, a process that should raise the school's learning curve along with the students'.

Bruner is working to recruit more women, minorities and international students. The school's students, he said, should match the diversity found in any global corporation.

"I don't think any business school can claim greatness without being open about the impact of globalization on management."

That's one reason this 55-year-old dean, who chats comfortably about building Darden's brand, will be spending his December hopping across Asia.

"This is a recruiting trip."

Think he'll have better luck than the U.Va. basketball team in recent years?

Bruner lifts his head and laughs. No answer. But he looks confident.

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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