Michael R. Cooper took over as dean of the College of Business at Bryant University in May under a five-year contract. He oversees programs for approximately 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a 60-member faculty. He has 20 years of experience in the private sector, as head of two different research companies.
Cooper describes as his major strengths the ability to build relationships with local businesses and the emphasis he places on practical learning rather than research. His goals are to increase Bryant’s international reputation, enhance the study of supply-chain management and establish a global MBA program.
PBN: What do you see as your top priority as dean of the College of Business at Bryant University?
COOPER: First is to build on the reputation of the university and the degree to which its brand is recognized. Bryant is primarily recognized in New England and my objective is to see it recognized on a global level.
Secondly, to differentiate Bryant from most other New England universities, and we have a program to accomplish that in effect.
Thirdly, continue to focus on engaged learning. The emphasis at Bryant is more on teaching than research, in contrast to Rutgers, which is a top research university. … Bryant really emphasizes engaged learning and has an excellent record of placing its graduates, roughly 98 percent of its graduates have jobs within three to six months of graduation.
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PBN: How do you intend to increase Bryant’s recognition globally and in New England? PBN: So, supply-chain management is a hot field? PBN: What advances do you see at the College of Business in terms of the latest technology? PBN: How is the local business community involved in the College of Business, and how can such connections be strengthened? PBN: What are your plans to attract the best and brightest students? PBN: How has your experience in the private sector affected your work as dean of a business college? INTERVIEW
COOPER: The first order of business is differentiation and that is, what assets does Bryant have that we need to promote and let students know about?
So, for example, we’re developing a global, supply-chain management capability which will eventually turn into a department, and there are only three supply-chain management departments in New England. I would say supply-chain management is the No. 1 department in demand at all business schools, right now, especially in light of the disaster in Japan.
COOPER: Yes, it is and we have six professors who are actually in different departments – marketing, management, finance – that have supply-chain expertise and are active in that area. We’re going to go through a consolidation and promotion to build up a prominent supply-chain-management department. Our research thus far indicates: (a) the need is strong in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut; (b) it’s even stronger in the Asian Pacific [region], so we will attract students in particular from China.
That’s one example of differentiation. The second example is international. We’re actively consolidating international capabilities. Most students at Bryant study abroad for a semester. I am in the process of building a global MBA [program] with six or seven accredited [foreign] universities about the same size as Bryant, and there are very few global MBAs.
COOPER: We are discussing and exploring how to create what we call an informatics capability, which is quantitative analysis and IT training and actually is a large part of the core of supply chain. Supply chain is highly quantitative.
COOPER: One of the surprising things I discovered when I got to Bryant is that there is no board of advisers for the business school. I am in the process of building a board of advisers with [members from local] companies who have an interest in participating in what I call forward-thinking, in building a very special university, perhaps providing internships and scholarships, and being able to recruit students, for example, in supply chain [to work at their companies]. … When you connect to companies that get involved, many of the senior executives in companies want to teach and want adjunct positions, and we’ll open those up as well.
COOPER: Well, I will tell you, if you take the concept of differentiation and take one of the areas we’re focusing on, supply-chain management, we will attract only the top students because it’s a very demanding field, it requires top skills. … Supply-chain management has many applications and we’re not Rutgers, we don’t have 60,000 [student] openings, so we can only select the top candidates.
COOPER: It’s been enormous. I would say my primary emphasis is on building relationships with companies. I’m really not a dean who sits behind his desk all the time. I’ll probably spend half my time outside, meeting with senior executives and talking about Bryant’s future. … I think my greatest strength is connecting to the world of work and emphasizing to the faculty and the department chairs and the program chairs the importance of producing practical knowledge that can be applied and that companies need.
Every business graduate will have to have a minor in arts and sciences. Why is that? That’s because of what I’ve learned in the world of work. Business students are usually weak in communication skills, writing and presentation. •
Michael R. Cooper
POSITION: Dean of the College of Business, Bryant University
BACKGROUND: Dean of the business school at Rutgers University, N.J., Newark and New Brunswick campuses, from 2007-2011; founding dean of the Executive Leadership Institute and associate dean of the Howe School of Technology Management at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J., 2002-2004; chairman, president and CEO of Opinion Research Corporation, 1989-1999, which he took public on NASDAQ. He also was a psychologist in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, 1972-1974.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Hofstra University, N.Y., 1968; doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology, Ohio State University, 1972
FIRST JOB: Door-to-door sales
RESIDENCE: Princeton, N.J., and Providence
AGE: 65
