Rich Lyons, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley since 2008, was reappointed last month for a second term by UC Berkeley’s provost and executive vice chancellor. Following his reappointment, which became effective July 1st, Lyons shared his vision for Haas’s future, specifically with regard to technology in education and the school’s work environment and global profile.
Lyons wants Haas to be a “definer of what’s next at the confluence of technology and management education.” More than simply translating existing courses into digital format, he wants Haas to change the courses themselves and the way it thinks about pedagogy. “It’s about things like ‘game-ifying’ content to engage students even more fully, having courses that adapt in real time to individual students’ needs, and letting students ‘test again’ until they have truly mastered material,” he said in a statement.
As management education needs change over the next 10 to 15 years, Lyons wants the Haas School’s facilities to transform as well. Specifically, he would like the facilities to include classrooms designed for digital education, more team-based study rooms and more flexible-use laboratory-type work areas for experiential learning. In his vision of the Haas of the future, there will be a new classroom building at the north edge of the campus to house these new classrooms and study areas. In the meantime, the school’s recently renovated courtyard provides for greater student collaboration. And a new Innovation Lab will open next month in Memorial Stadium for experiential learning activities. “Over the next five years we will transform our work environment so that it, too, fully supports our culture, community and strategy,” Lyons stated.
Lyons has also pledged to significantly strengthen the school’s global profile, with a continued focus on Asia. Among his planned initiatives are business development for non-degree executive education, alumni network investments, student and faculty exchange and an Asia Board. “Berkeley’s reputation and brand globally are stunningly strong,” he said in a statement. “We aim to bring that fully to bear in shaping the leaders who will create our future.”
Finally, Lyons wants to continue efforts he made during his first term as dean to differentiate the school from other business schools. “I want Haas to be known as the school that has taken institutional culture more seriously than any other; as the business school for leaders who want to create value by putting new ideas into action; as the business school without peer in the world in areas like technology, social impact and strategy,” he said.
Read more about Lyons’ reappointment as dean and his vision for the Haas School’s future.
