UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management Recognized by AACSB International for Global Ingenuity, Innovation and Creativity

Richardson, TX, February 1, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​Business schools have long driven change by creating environments where out-of-the-box thinking flourishes. Today at its 2016 Deans Conference, AACSB International (AACSB), the global accrediting body and membership association for business schools, recognized the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas for creating one of 30 innovations that represent how business schools are modernizing and diversifying the business education environment.

The Jindal School was recognized for its Professional Online Portfolios (POPs) submission. Each POP is a student-designed and student-controlled website that features professional yet friendly photos of the student, examples of school or work projects others may see, descriptions of the student’s community and leadership experience, and information about personal interests and life goals. Each site is made using one of several free website creation platforms (Wix, Weebly and others) and is 100 percent the result of each student’s choices for design, content and approach.

"We regularly innovate; we regularly change," Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the Jindal School, said. "It is one way we are responsive to the business community around us, and in being responsive to the needs of companies and corporations, we serve our students by training them to answer those needs."

Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Dean of the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management

About 2,000 students have created POPs since the projects were introduced in business communications courses as an undergraduate requirement in 2013. Business communication faculty regularly receive emails from former students reporting that they were called in for an interview because of the strength of their POP, and several graduates have received internships or job offers as a direct result of the impression of friendly professionalism they made in the POP.

At the start of the POPs project, students think, “it’s just a website,” Dr. McClain Watson, director of JSOM’s business communication programs and creator of the POPs project, said. “Then you get buy-in as they work on it and see the potential value. They say, ‘This matters because it’s my name and my future.’ ”

The websites are but one example of innovation at the Jindal School, which also takes pride this semester in introducing a startup launch program that make $5,000 in enterprise seed funding available to undergraduates. Other recent advances include the opening of marketing, sales and finance trading labs, where students hone professional skills, and the creation of ProConnect, a matching program that partners MS in Accounting students with companies in need of solutions for accounting, finance, operations and other business challenges.

“We regularly innovate; we regularly change,” Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the Jindal School, said. “It is one way we are responsive to the business community around us, and in being responsive to the needs of companies and corporations, we serve our students by training them to answer those needs.”

Celebrated as part of AACSB’s Centennial Anniversary and upcoming Visioning Initiative, the inaugural Innovations That Inspire shines a spotlight on innovation and diversity. Business schools are redefining the way that academic institutions of all kinds create, teach, connect and lead.

“This year’s inaugural Innovations That Inspire initiative has highlighted the tremendous, trailblazing power of AACSB’s member schools, and the value that they place on innovative and meaningful ideas,” said William H. Glick, chair of the AACSB Board of Directors and dean of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. “We are proud to spotlight the Jindal School’s innovation, as the ideas found within demonstrates how AACSB schools are catalysts for innovation, co-creators of knowledge, hubs of lifelong learning, leaders on leadership and enablers of shared prosperity.”

For a detailed overview of the featured innovations, please visit www.AACSB.edu/Innovations-That-Inspire. In the coming months, AACSB will continue to showcase more schools and innovations.

A comprehensive look at AACSB’s upcoming Visioning Initiative is also available online at www.AACSB.edu/Vision and findings from the Visioning Initiative will be presented at ICAM 2016 in Boston, MA, USA on April 3-5, 2016.

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About AACSB International

Founded in 1916, AACSB is an association of more than 1,450 educational institutions, businesses, and other organizations in 90 countries and territories. AACSB's mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation, thought leadership, and value-added services. As the premier accreditation body for institutions offering undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, AACSB offers a wide array of services to the management education industry. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA; its Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore; and its Europe, Middle East, and Africa headquarters is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

About The Naveen Jindal School of Management

The University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management is the largest of UT Dallas’ eight schools, with a fall 2015 enrollment of more than 8,200, about half of whom are graduate students. The school provides outstanding tuition value, a wide variety of classes on campus and online, flexible scheduling and a convenient location.

The Jindal School of Management keeps abreast of corporate and industry needs as an essential component in providing students with rigorous training and relevant skills for professional success. Programs are offered at the bachelor’s, master’s, PhD and Executive levels.

Contact:

Amy Ponzillo
Senior Manager, Public Relations, [email protected]

Contact:

Kristine A. Imherr
​Communications Coordinator​
​Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas, [email protected]