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Alumni in Action

Donor Support Inspires Experiential Learning Opportunities and Growing Faculty

Donor Digest: Q4

By Wisconsin School of Business

October 27, 2022

The Wisconsin School of Business (WSB) Fund ensures that the school is able to invest in top priorities and innovations to further enhance the student experience and our reputation as a world class business school. Gifts to the WSB Fund support both immediate and long-term strategic goals, with a particular emphasis this year on expanding experiential learning opportunities for all WSB students.  

We are grateful for the gift you made to the WSB Fund within the last 12 months. Your support is critical to our ability to innovate and grow, so we wanted to share with you the following recent milestones that you helped make possible.

A Lambeau-Sized Leap into Leadership

Experiential learning, outside of the classroom, is key to developing top-notch business leaders—and support to the WSB Fund makes these opportunities possible. This past May, 40 undergraduate students took part in the inaugural Leadership at Lambeau summit—a three-day intensive retreat held at Lambeau Field, designed for students to develop their own personal philosophy of leadership alongside peers, leadership experts, and executives. At the end of the summit, students received a Business Badger Badge: a digital certification to display on their résumés and LinkedIn profiles to showcase specific leadership skills and help them stand out as they enter the workforce. Feedback from the summit has been overwhelmingly positive, and WSB plans to make Leadership at Lambeau an annual signature experience.

Upward Trend for Career Outcomes

Last year, the Wisconsin School of Business undergraduate program launched Career Forward, a collaborative and innovative initiative designed to give WSB’s more than 3,000 undergraduate students the tools and experiences needed to achieve their individual career goals. Placement results have been extremely encouraging, with 95% of 2022 graduates securing a full-time role within six months of graduation (up from 93% last year) at an average base salary of $68,500, a 12% increase over 2021 salaries. To support our students in exploring career paths and achieving their career goals, with philanthropic investment, we offered opportunities for students to join three new career treks to visit leading companies in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Austin. In addition to the progress in the undergraduate space, full-time MBA employment placement is strong and on par with peer schools with 89% of students securing full time roles and a 17% increase in starting salaries.

WSB Welcomes Five New Faculty

This fall, WSB welcomed five new faculty members to four different departments. This growth demonstrates the school’s continued investment in research, teaching excellence, and commitment to adding expertise in emerging technologies and cross-disciplinary fields. Faculty members continue to develop new courses and curricula, moving business education forward and shaping trusted business leaders. New faculty include:

  • Michael D. Johnson (BS ’78), chair, Department of Marketing and Dean and E.M. Statler Professor Emeritus, Cornell University
  • Andrea Tillet, assistant professor of accounting and information systems
  • Yi Liu, assistant professor of marketing
  • Zhuoxin “Allen” Li, Michael and Mary Sue Shannon Professor, associate professor of operations and information management
  • Dan Sacks, associate professor of risk and insurance

WSB Multicultural Center Grand Opening

On September 9, the Wisconsin School of Business celebrated the grand opening of the new Multicultural Center, becoming one of the first business schools to have a dedicated space for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. The grand opening included events for both students and faculty, staff, and community members, and highlighted the individuals who helped bring the center to life. Going forward, the center will offer a range of events and programming, including mentorship opportunities, alumni panels, workshops, and discussions.

Did you miss last quarter’s Donor Digest? Read it here.


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