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 No matter where you look, technology is changing business
in ways we are only beginning to see,” says Dean Howard
Frank. Here’s an example: tonight, when darkness falls
on Boston, almost all the radiology functions of Massachusetts
General Hospital will be performed in India.
While MGH’s American radiologists are home for the
night, their Indian counterparts will be evaluating
X-rays from their facility across the planet. It is easier
and cheaper for the hospital to get radiologists in India
during India’s daylight hours than at nighttime in
Boston, explains Frank.
New challenges come up in the business world all the
time, but never before have they come so quickly. Ten
years ago, no one could have imagined a radiologist in
Boston competing for jobs with radiologists in Indiana,
let alone India. The tremendous pace of technological
innovation is driving constant change in the way business
is done.
The Smith School is creating leaders who are prepared
to manage, anticipate and create those changes. The
school has built an outstanding research faculty, a rigorous,
focused curriculum and a high-tech facility to equip
tomorrow’s leaders with the tools they need to handle the
rapid flow of information so vital to our digital economy.
All these changes have happened in just seven years’
time, in an explosion of growth unprecedented in the
school’s history.
“We’re one of the few places where this could occur,”
says Frank. “Over the last seven years we’ve changed
dramatically.”
The Road to Greatness
In 1997, the University of Maryland Business School was
a reputable institution, with a solid foundation of core
competencies and a well-structured MBA program.
The curriculum was diverse and incorporated many
approaches to business education including cases, teamwork
and experiential modules.
But it wasn’t truly distinctive. And it wasn’t yet great.
Frank and the faculty believed the school could become
truly exceptional, but it required a compelling vision that
faculty, students, staff, and alumni could rally behind.
Frank’s vision was clear: he wanted Smith to become the
top tech-oriented business school in the world, creating
leaders who were adept at engaging technology and
releasing its power to transform business.
Changes began immediately, with content innovations
to the school’s curriculum and a new netcentric research
agenda. The size of the school’s physical plant was doubled,
and a technology infrastructure installed that was not
just wireless, but state-of-the-art. A concerted effort was
made to hire the best new faculty and faculty salaries were
made competitive with those of other top business schools.
“Our tag line, leaders for the digital economy, is not just
a hypothetical statement or a promise of the way things
will be someday. Our curriculum is different, our
research agendas are different, our laboratory infrastructure
is different, the content of courses and course
delivery is different,” says Frank. “When you put it all
together, there are very few schools on earth that are
actually preparing students for leadership in the digital
economy in the way that we are.”
 From Excellence to Greatness
Smith has joined an elite group of distinguished business
schools since it took those first steps on a journey toward
greatness. But, says Frank, the school shouldn’t rest on its
laurels. “It’s not like a road race, where you pass a mile-
very competitive, and every very good school wants to be
a top-tier school. We have to keep moving.” In order to
continue the Smith School’s ascent to the top, Frank has
identified the following strategic priorities for 2004–2008:
Refining Academic Program Distinctions
Students who come to the Smith School expect an excellent
return on their investment—and Smith delivers.
Innovative coursework integrates the traditional pillars
of management education with the latest and greatest
technological tools to produce leaders who are able to hit
the ground running out in the real world. The use and
management of information technology (IT) will continue
to be a core competency, helping tomorrow’s
leaders become highly adaptive and receptive to new
and complex information.
On a graduate level, Smith will expand services for
part-time MBA students and strengthen MBA communications
mastery skills, which are so vital to leadership.
Executive education programs in the U.S., Asia and
Central Europe will expand the school’s influence
around the world and make Smith a significant player
on the international stage (see sidebar, page 11.)
First in Research
Several other leading schools are focusing their efforts on
the convergence of business and technology. But no one
can match Smith in the area of research production. Our
thought leaders are changing the way the world thinks
about everything from health technology to high finance.
Because of our exceptional research, Smith is having a
real impact on a global scale.
Smith’s world-renowned faculty—brilliant, original,
creative—provide the impetus for the school’s prodigious
research output. They are superstars in their fields, academic
innovators who are advancing business thinking
and education for the netcentric era. These men and
women aren’t just teaching about business tools—they’re
creating them.
Smith faculty have become so respected and their
research so valued that they are a frequent target of raiding
by other top business schools. To continue on our
quest for greatness, the Smith School must retain top
tenure-track faculty and continue to attract the best in
the business. The school has a very competitive salary
profile but needs additional endowed positions to compete
with the academically elite private business schools
for future top level recruiting.
Improving Resource and Infrastructure Support
As the number of faculty grows, the need for space also
grows. The super-wired, super-modern Van Munching
Hall has helped the Smith School differentiate itself as
much as its innovative curriculum and phenomenal
faculty. “Every person who walks in the door of Van
Munching Hall becomes a convert,” says Frank. “It’s like
wearing a really nice suit to give a speech instead of
jeans. This building is a really nice suit.”
Frank doesn’t want the lack of physical space to stand
in the way of the school’s ascent to greatness. “My goal is
to set the record at the University for putting up a building.
In two and a half years I’d like to see the Smith
School put up another 30,000 square foot facility. That
would allow us to give our faculty and students access to
more space and more cutting-edge technology.”
Establishing Smith’s Identity
Building the Smith School’s global brand began with the
adoption of the tag line “Leaders for the Digital
Economy” in 2003. The school is developing materials to
help students, recruiters and alumni translate the school’s
unique approach to business education, as encapsulated
by that tag line, into clearly understood career benefits.
Holding high-visibility symposia and conferences at the
school will help educate the general public to the breadth
and quality of research taking place at Smith. These marketing
efforts will increase the value of a Smith education
and help the school compete for the best students and
attract the best faculty.
Building the Smith Community
Smith wants to build a lifetime alumni community that is
the equal of alumni networks at schools such as Kellogg,
Michigan or Stanford. Finding ways to connect Smith’s
nearly 40,000 living alumni to each other and the school is
a high priority on the dean’s to-do list. “The difference
between a good school and a great school is an engaged
alumni community,” says Frank. “We are in the process
of building such a community. The Smith School has a
huge alumni base in all walks of life. We want to do a
better job of creating partnerships with them, to get
them engaged and involved.”
The school’s alumni—by any measure a powerful,
diverse and international group—have been a tremendous
resource to the school. Smith is planning new
programs, tools and services that will help unite and
strengthen this influential community, so alumni can network
effectively with the Smith School and each other.
(see article, page 14.)
From Excellence to Greatness
The Smith School is determined to achieve greatness, and
it has the ability to do so. So what does it take to move
from excellence to greatness? Focus on the strategic priorities,
says Frank, continue to be excellent in every area,
and greatness is just a matter of time. “There are very
few schools on earth that are actually preparing students
for leadership in the digital economy,” says Frank.
“We’ve been working at it for seven years now. We are
certainly one of the top two or three schools in the world
when it comes to the convergence of business and technology.
And if we’re not number one, I don’t know who
is.” 
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