The Robert H. Smith School of Business kicks off an exciting new year in 2005, with the start of its fourth Executive MBA class in College Park, new Executive MBA programs in China and a host of campus activities planned for the spring semester. The school will award its first Leadership and Excellence awards and host a number of business, technology and academic forums, from the National Undergraduate Business Symposium (NUBS) in March, to the annual Netcentricity Conference in April. As the Smith School looks forward to 2005, we also look back on a remarkable 2004.

Driving Innovation in Business Education

The school began the fall semester with a groundbreaking technology initiative made possible through a partnership with Nextel. All of the schools full-time MBA students, along with many members of the faculty and staff, were given BlackBerry wireless hand-held devices to provide them with always-on, instant communications and to help the school continue its focus on innovation in business education.

Also in the fall, the schools Supply Chain Management Center launched an innovative and comprehensive online course to provide a practical blueprint for building, implementing, and sustaining supply chains in today's volatile and rapidly changing environment. The course is offered to members of the Council of Logistics Management and other industry professionals.

The Smith School also teamed up with Reuters in 2004 to deliver the first-ever external certification program for Reuters 3000 Xtra, the company's high-speed, high-performance information service for finance professionals.

Research for the Digital Economy

A Smith School-based research project to learn from the failures of the dot-com boom and bust received a $480 million boost thanks to a grant from the Library of Congress. Researchers, led by David Kirsch, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, will use the grant to develop a digital repository to house business records and other materials collected through the Business Plan Archive (BPA), which was launched in 2002. The BPA is a Web portal that contains business plans, marketing plans, technical plans, venture presentations, and other business documents from more than 2,000 failed and successful Internet start-ups.

In addition, a team of researchers that includes Louiqa Raschid, professor of information systems, was awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation for data management research for the life sciences. Raschid's research objective is to develop new data modeling and data integration tools that will make scientists and biologists more effective and efficient as they navigate through vast amounts of Web-accessible information.

Successful Faculty Recruitment

The Smith School welcomed 12 new faculty members in September, as it continued its course to becoming one of the nation's top management education and research institutions. With the fulfillment of our faculty appointment goals, Smith creates and shares knowledge that advances business practice and prepares our students, as well as business and government partners, to succeed in a dynamic, technology-powered marketplace.

Global Expansion

The Smith School continued to expand its international footprint in 2004 , announcing three new programs in China. Traveling in China with Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich in October, Dean Howard Frank announced a custom Smith MBA program for Otis Elevator China and the launch of a Smith EMBA program in Shanghai, the schools second EMBA program in China. And in November, the Smith School announced a partnership with ChinaCast Communications Holdings Limited, a leading provider of e-learning solutions in China. The partnership will enable Smith to deliver business education courses throughout China, beyond its largest cities.

Indeed 2004 was a busy year for the Smith School. No doubt 2005 will prove to be equally remarkable, as the school continues to chart a course to advance business thinking and education for the digital era.