UW business dean Vallabh Sambamurthy talks business education and navigating COVID-19│Ep. 52

BizTimes MKE: Milwaukee Business Insights

Vallabh Sambamurthy, the Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison, joins BizTimes associate editor Arthur Thomas to talk about his first two years on the job. Dean Samba accepted the position in early 2019 and came to Madison in August of that year. Even before arriving, he had started laying the groundwork for a new strategic plan for the business school. A group of 20 professors and staff then worked to engage stakeholders and identify what the school needed to work on going forward. The result was Roadmap 2025, a new strategic plan for the school to follow in the coming years. Of course, immediate priorities dramatically shifted the following as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and classes went virtual. Dean Samba discusses lessons learned from delivering education during the pandemic and what changes he expects will stay around in higher education. He also addresses the WSB's efforts in diversity and inclusion, not only when it comes to attracting students from a variety of backgrounds, but also in preparing them to enter a workforce that places value on being able to work with teams from a variety of backgrounds.