Spring Break
LeBow holds reception for new business center
Joshua Kurtz
Issue date: 6/5/09 Section: News
|
The center opened June 1 and will begin hosting activities in the fall, according to Elliot Schreiber, clinical professor of marketing in the College of Business and executive director of the center. A number of programs are being considered, including events to enhance students' co-op experience and ways to obtain research money for graduate students.
Schreiber said he hopes the center highlights current College of Business courses dealing with corporate reputation.
Richard Konrad, managing partner for Value Architects Asset Management, and a member of the new center's advisory council, said his organization hopes to contribute to the center through avenues such as lectures to classes or other groups.
Under the corporate reputation umbrella, Konrad said he is especially interested in the interface between reputation and finance and how this relationship affects capital and shareholder value.
"The center capitalizes on our areas of expertise - research and education," Schreiber said.
Schreiber also said the center will be valued by the business community and will "add value to the LeBow degree."
"Reputation is one of the things that boards and CEOs are very concerned about," Schreiber said. "If reputation suffers, you suffer in a lot of ways."
The center did not purposefully open during the current business climate, though the present situation is "exactly the right sort of backdrop" for the program, Konrad said.
Although the center is a part of the College of Business, Schreiber said he hopes the center will be a resource for many colleges and schools at Drexel.
"We're looking for partnerships across Drexel," Schreiber said. "We're also looking for partnerships within the business community."
The center has been drawing interest from businesses across the country. For some businesses involved with the center, this is their first introduction to Drexel.
Schreiber reached out to companies including Xerox, Cisco, AstraZeneca, Tyco Electronics and others while the Center was being planned.
The Center was influenced in part by a similarly themed program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and Canada, according to Schreiber, who previously taught at McMaster.
The College of Business currently has three additional Centers of Excellence: the Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Corporate Governance and the Sovereign Institute for Strategic Leadership.
Donna DeCarolis, LeBow associate dean of strategic initiatives and department head of management, said the College of Business said she would consider adding future Centers of Excellence as new capabilities arise.
Be the first to comment on this story