Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/124472
from the editors Shrinking the Distance 6 May/June 2013 BizEd Adam Taylor /G etty I mag es Raqu ita H e n de r son M y nephew lives out of town, so I knew I was going to miss his cello solo at the middle school concert. But one day as he and I enjoyed a video chat over Facebook, I begged for an advance performance, so he set up his music stand in front of the open laptop and started playing. For bonus points, I recorded the broadcast so I could share the concert later with my family. So far, this sounds like a story about technology, but it's not. Technology might be the magician, but globalization is the driving force that makes the magic necessary. My brother's family is currently residing in Copenhagen—something like 4,500 miles from where I live in St. Louis. In the hopes of shrinking that distance to almost nothing, we're using whatever means we can: phone calls, texts, emails, IMs, blogs, letters, and visits. I'm currently debating when to make my first trip to Denmark, and my brother talks about the sights we'll see when I arrive. In some ways, business schools face the same question: How does the institution keep in touch with alumni once they move away from campus? They're responding by using some of the same tools my brother and I employ. For one thing, they're creating entire online communities, from websites to social media pages, devoted to their alumni. For another, they're organizing special events designed to lure former students back to campus. You can read about all of these activities in "To Alumni with Love." Many of these alumni outreach efforts have global components to them because business schools around the world are becoming more international. While a multicultural student body provides an enriched learning atmosphere for everyone, sometimes foreign nationals face special challenges adjusting to a new campus in an unfamiliar city. In "International Integration," representatives from Fordham University, Sabanci University, and the University of Iowa describe how they're making nonlocal students feel at home. And in "Smoothing the Way for International Students," Meenakshi Sharma of Case Western Reserve describes how the Weatherhead School of Management is helping foreign nationals find jobs. The fact is, in today's globalized society, more people will choose to study and work in cities far from home. It requires some effort to hold on to people whose lives have taken them on these fascinating and distant journeys. But the tools exist to keep them deeply involved in the life of the family, or the institution, that's so many miles away.