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Stories
Campaign Ends, Exceeds Expectations
Topics: Philanthropy-Capital CampaignEducation-Business EducationNews-School NewsPhilanthropy-HBS CampaignWalking through HBS today, visitors experience a school that has been transformed. Spangler Center, home base for the MBA Program and crossroads of the HBS community, is teeming with people grabbing a bite to eat, checking e-mail, or picking up cases. Hawes Hall, the School’s first new classroom building in fifty years, and its newly renovated neighbor, Aldrich Hall, have the technology to beam a distant visitor into class or poll students at their seats. Inside, students from almost seventy countries discuss a curriculum rich in international cases, many written with the support of the School’s global research centers. The names of several buildings honor recent gifts supporting key research priorities of the School: entrepreneurship, global business, and leadership.
When the School reaches the close of its capital campaign at the end of December, it is safe to say the historic fundraising effort will have been a resounding success. The Campaign for Harvard Business School exceeded expectations on all fronts. At press time the total was $579 million and counting, well beyond the $500 million goal. With events in more than fifteen cities, the campaign energized alumni worldwide with new awareness and support for the School’s mission, resulting in increased alumni involvement. By every measure, the campaign has had a tremendous impact, invigorating the people, ideas, and physical environment of the School and retaining the best of Harvard Business School’s tradition of excellence while preparing for the future.
Teaching and Technology
With a goal of en-hancing the learning experience, the campaign raised $120 million to integrate technology into classroom learning. Hawes Hall, which opened in 2002, and a completely renovated Aldrich Hall, are now equipped with the latest presentation, video production, and e-learning technology. In this technology-rich environment, HBS faculty partner with the School’s IT staff to develop innovative tools that strengthen teaching and learning. Online courses, for example, allow students to learn at their own pace, while electronic case studies introduce rich, multidimensional material into classroom discussions.
The HBS experience remains focused on participant-centered learning. Technology is also key to the Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning, which helps new and experienced faculty improve their teaching skills through one-on-one coaching sessions, seminars, and workshops.
A Diversity of Voices
The campaign raised more than $100 million to support MBA financial aid, ensuring that HBS remains accessible to the broadest range of leaders possible. Diversity of student voices is a key ingredient in effective case-method learning, and HBS classrooms are a microcosm of the global economy.
The School’s strategic approach to financial aid is two-pronged. First, it enables a wide variety of qualified applicants to attain an HBS education, regardless of their means. Second, graduates who wish to enter less financially rewarding fields can apply for a variety of loan-assistance and fellowship programs.
Global Research
The Global Initiative, headquartered in Greenhill House, helps faculty develop in-depth international re-search and course materials in order to increase understanding of global business. HBS now supports re-search offices in Silicon Valley, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and Mumbai, and the School produces about seventy international cases and research projects each year.
Working in international settings, the School has contributed substantially to global intellectual capital and strengthened its relationships worldwide with important constituencies, including alumni, academics, and emerging and established companies.
The School has also expanded its efforts to train management faculty from other regions in case-method instruction. The HBS Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (CPCL) has brought more than 250 faculty from top business schools in emerging economies to HBS to learn about case-method instruction, and the School is now hosting versions of this program for faculty from China and Taiwan as well as from Europe.
Campus Transformation
With the addition of Spangler Center on the south side of campus and the opening of a south entrance to Baker Library, the School now prominently faces Harvard’s future expansion into Allston. The reconstruction of Baker Library has done more than restore this historic structure; it has created an information and intellectual hub, offering a full menu of resources to help scholars understand today’s world.
Like the ubiquitous but invisible wireless network that connects the campus, many of the changes brought by the campaign are seamlessly integrated into everyday life at HBS. The HBS community has been strengthened significantly thanks to the generosity of the thousands of alumni who have participated in The Campaign for Harvard Business School.
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