White: New Business School Shines Light on DePauw’s History

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The president of DePauw University says the new School of Business and Leadership on the Greencastle campus formalizes what the university has done for years. Dr. Lori White cites DePauw graduates who have gone on to become high-profile business leaders, including General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening, New York Giants General Manager Joe Schoen, and Teach for America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard. The university announced the new school last week as part of its five-year strategic plan.

White talked about the new school and strategic plan in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.

“When students are searching for places that they might want to go to college, they search on particular majors and fields of study, and business is the number one area that students search for,” White said.

DePauw also detailed two gifts totaling $40 million in support of the business school. A $20 million gift from longtime donors Sharon Ubben and her late husband, Timothy Ubben, was committed to help launch the school, while another $20 million from alumni Steve and Karen Sanger will establish the Sanger Leadership Initiative, as well as an endowed professorship and scholarships, among others.

White says the strategic plan is designed to help DePauw create a model of a renewed liberal arts university for the 21st Century.

“Certainly, academic renewal is a part of that. We want to offer fields of study that are cutting edge and that students are looking for and that employers tell us they want in graduates,” she said. “And, we also want to be a vibrant institution in terms of the social fabric. We want to be an institution that’s committed to institutional equity and we want to flourish well into the 21st Century.”

She says the goal of the strategic plan is to excite prospective students in a challenging and competitive time in higher education.