Welcome to the School of Management at Clark University
On behalf of our entire team of faculty and staff throughout the School of Management (SOM), I want to welcome you. The study of “business” and its many aspects has never been as exciting as it is today. The three sectors of any economy — the public sector (government), the citizen sector (society), and the business sector are seemingly merging to address the many issues facing our world today. Our environment, wealth disparity, racial inequities, food security, and the many issues identified in the ‘Principles for Responsible Management Education’ by global business leaders (United Nations Global Compact) are concerns that business students and seasoned corporate leaders throughout our world are now grappling with. How do we advance our economic health and wealth — both personally and collectively — while simultaneously advancing sustainably responsible business practices on a local, national, and global scale? This is a question schools around the globe are asking today and is a focus of the ever-evolving curricula offered here at the Clark University School of Management.
The World Economic Forum recently cited ‘5 Essential Skills of the Future’ that are musts for all students, and in particular for business study scholars. They include:
- Creativity: the ability to solve meaningful problems in new ways and to think imaginatively across disciplines.
- Digital Skills: the ability to Master new forms of digital technologies, especially algorithm design and data handling.
- Collaboration: the ability to work with others and perform complex tasks and adjust your actions to other people’s needs.
- Global Citizenship: A universal respect for people from other cultures and backgrounds and the willingness to embrace diversity, equality, and inclusion, and
- Environmental Stewardship: to be able to understand the fragility and finiteness of our natural ecosystems and how we can interact with them in sustainable ways. (World Economic Forum, 2023).
It is my fervent hope that as you join and become part of our SOM community you’ll reflect upon these ‘essential skills’ and consider how each may have relevance to the various classes of study you engage in with your professors. Our covenant to you is this: to offer you the finest business education available in the world today, incorporating the academic rigor you expect, along with the essential skills noted which will set you apart as a magnificent business leader of tomorrow.
I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
David A. Jordan, DHA, MPA
Interim Dean, School of Management
Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence
David Jordan earned a master’s in public administration at Clark University in 2002 while simultaneously pursuing his doctorate in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. For nearly 20 years, he has served as an adjunct professor in the School of Management, the School of Professional Studies, and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program. Since 2009 he has led Clark students who are interested in social change and social entrepreneurship on research and experiential learning/global citizenship trips to Ghana, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, Jamaica, Brazil, Haiti, and elsewhere.
His research and teaching have focused on strategic management, public policy and administration, health care administration, strategic marketing, and social entrepreneurship. In 2007, then-President John Bassett named David Clark University’s first Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence.