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A MESSAGE FROM INTERIM DEAN V. KIRNAN - SPRING 2009
Students,
It is with a great sense of sadness that I announce to you my resignation as the Interim Dean of the School of Business effective April 1st. I have really enjoyed these past 25 months and I leave here knowing that the school is in a far stronger position than it was when I first arrived here. We were incredibly successful in achieving our reaccreditation with AACSB and now have a 5 year window to redefine our strategic mission and vision as a school and to carefully assess how we can make our curriculum even more relevant and flexible for the future. We also witnessed substantial growth in the both the number and breadth of student run clubs that offer added opportunities for networking and leadership development. I am also very pleased at the growing number of our students who have participated in a host of regional and national student competitions as well as presenting research at conferences, providing further opportunities for personal and professional growth. It is not surprising therefore that your school witnessed a first ever ranking in the 2008 Business Week Survey of Best Undergraduate Business schools during my tenure. Even though we did not secure an official ranking for the 2009 survey, TCNJ scored exceptionally well on a number of key metrics used in the survey including internship placement, return on investment dynamics, several different measures of academic quality, and one which all of you should be particularly proud of and that is achieving the 3rd highest student response rate of any school in the country in the student questionnaire part of the survey. I am very confident that together with the leadership provided by your next Dean, TCNJ will achieve a Top 50 Business School ranking in 2010, particularly if we all work together on enhancing our overall recruiting and career service activities.
As I leave here, please know how impressed I have been with all of you and the special gifts and talents each of you bring to the School of Business. Your energy, your enthusiasm, your thirst for knowledge, and the passion you have for learning continue to differentiate each of you from all of the other fine schools in the greater NJ area. I know how challenging the employment and internship markets have been these past few months and the likelihood is these markets will remain very difficult through at least the next academic year. Your faculty, the School of Business staff, and the good folks over at Career Services will do everything they can to help you navigate that road ahead.
However, I need each of you to look within yourself and proactively work on those things you know in your heart you can still improve on. Is your resume as well written and prepared as it can be? Have you taken advantage of any mock interview training? Have you attended the various career fairs and other recruiting venues sponsored by the Career Services office? In short, I want each of you to think of ways that you can be even more creative and flexible in crafting that unique personal story that is just waiting to be told. Keep searching for ways to get out of your own comfort zone. When you can do that, your self confidence will only get stronger and things that once seemed either out of reach or impossible suddenly become quite possible.
So I wish all of you much happiness, good health, and success in the years ahead and I do hope our paths will cross again. Remember that timeless quote from the best-selling book by Spencer Johnson – “Move with the Cheese”
Cheers,
Dr. Jack V. Kirnan
