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fessionally. We plan to spend more time upfront helping students clarify their personal values. In the future, we expect to make adjustments on a continuous basis, because we constantly revisit and assess our curriculum. In the mid- dle and at the end of every semes- ter, the faculty members meet to debrief each other on what's going right and what's going wrong. In the short term, this information helps instructors prepare for the next semester, as they learn which pedagogical devices work for a cohort and which ones don't. In the longer term, it helps us redesign our courses for the next year. For instance, during the debrief- ing sessions, we learned that the noncredit statistics class that was offered during orientation wasn't sufficiently preparing students for the more quantitative courses they would take later. Therefore, we've enhanced it and made statistics a for-credit course. This meant reducing the credit hours in other aspects of the formal program. In addition to meeting frequently with faculty, we constantly collect feedback from our students. We con- duct formal class evaluations at the end of each term, but we also gather feedback every fourth week, and we distribute the results to all the instructors. Last spring, at the end of the semester, we had a town hall meeting to let students know how we were using their comments to improve the program. Sharing this information with stu- dents accomplishes two things. One, it increases their sense of responsi- bility and gives them a stake in the future of the school, so they take seriously the job of giving us feed- back. We tell them, "You're putting your fingerprints on the program." Two, it allows us to make mis- takes. Students don't expect a perfect program; they know they've signed up for a work in progress. We tell them, "We're not going to pretend we know everything. In fact, we'll tell you when we're shooting in the dark. You need to tell us whether or not we hit the mark." This co-evo- lution process can be as painful as pulling teeth without anesthesia. But when it works, it's gratifying. Prepared for Work Four years ago, the Global MBA was barely an outline on a piece of paper. Next spring, our first gradu- ates will set out into the business world. We hope we have given them the best possible prepara- tion for thriving in that world. Like business schools everywhere, we plan to continually adjust our program to reflect the needs of our students, the needs of the orga- nizations that hire them, and the constantly shifting realities of the global marketplace. Phillip Phan is professor and interim dean of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore, Maryland. BizEd September/October 2011 45