Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/61367
s Provide more and better feed- back to faculty, chairs, and units in strengths. s Redesign our undergraduate demic offerings by about half to allow us to focus our efforts on our annual reviews. s Cut the number of our aca- ilar changes to our MBA program. s Erase a budget deficit and central administration. s Plow available resources into following week, we arranged another all-college briefing. There the team leader waved our action plan above his head, gave his "bottom-of-the- ninth-inning" analogy, and told us that if we followed this plan we just might make it. That moment galva- nized the faculty and prepared them for the coming changes. In many ways, our reaccreditation bid, and the college's trajectory, changed for the team's visit, we called an all-college briefing where we presented an action plan to our faculty and staff. A few faculty members were angered that we had created the plan over the summer without their direct par- ticipation. Many were shocked by the severity of the problems—not to mention the scope of the solutions. When the review team came the with WSU's four core strategic goals: offer the best undergraduate experience in a research university; nurture a world-class environment for research, scholarship, graduate education, and the arts; create an environment of trust and respect; and develop a culture of shared commitment to quality. One week before the review our development team. In addition, our plan aligned secure growth in our budget from core business curriculum to be focused on outcomes, and plan sim- In my very first week on the job, I had to implement an externally imposed budget cut that involved job eliminations. In addition, a mountain of AACSB reaccreditation materials covered my desk, for I had taken the job during the third year of a continuing review of the CBE. With the possible reaffirmation of our accreditation just two months away, we had completed more than 90 percent of our action plan. We had succeeded in a near- total re-engineering of our College of Business and Economics. We were breaking records for fund rais- ing. We had redesigned our under- graduate curriculum and had a redesign of our MBA program in the works. Something dynamic was happening in our college. By April 2004, our reaffirmation of accreditation was formally announced at AACSB International's Annual Meeting in Montreal. We had done it. As a new dean, I had accepted better that day.We had angered some faculty, but in taking this difficult step we had turned a corner. Now we had to follow through on our plan. Fast forward to early 2004. this challenge and worked with the entire community of the college, university, and other constituents to accomplish it. We know we're not done yet in our "good-to-great" transformation, but we're well on our way. For example, our interna- tional business and entrepreuneur- ship programs have risen in the rankings, and we are now leading a campuswide Entrepreneurship and Innovation Initiative. We're taking the vision that carried us through the reaccreditation process and incorporating it into our formal strategic plan: "To be one of the balance between the rewards and challenges of home and career is imperative for any dean. To make it through these last two years, I had to rely on my family. Even though my wife was working to achieve tenure at another college on cam- pus, she took on more responsibili- ties at home and made sure I was as engaged in the family when I was at home as I was in my job when I was at work. At the time, our daughter was a charming four-year-old and our new baby boy was growing more delightful every day; my wife didn't want me to miss a thing. As a result, despite long hours at work and time away on work-related trav- el, I still feel connected to her and our children, now six and two. If I had the opportunity to do it that a college—or a dean—rely on reaccreditation as dramatically as we did to effect transformation. But the experience has been a signifi- cant opportunity for me. I have learned that surrounding myself with competent, committed people at work is one of the best decisions I could have made as a dean. I also learned that achieving a best and most innovative programs in the world by the end of the decade." I certainly don't recommend all over again, I'd do it in a second. This experience has given me two of the most fun and rewarding years of my life. To continue our review team leader's baseball analogy, I truly feel as if we've hit a grand slam to win the game.More important, I feel ready and eager to serve as coach for many games to come. s z Len Jessup is the dean of the Washington State University College of Business and Economics in Pullman, Washington. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 51