We are only 30 days in, but the 2019–20 academic year is off to a strong start. The Class of 2021 arrived with many records and accolades, including notable progress toward gender parity.
More than just excellent students are getting into the swing of things, though. Darden also welcomed seven new professors to its ranks.
This new class of professors will join a faculty that is ranked tops in graduate business education. In June, Bloomberg Businessweek said Darden was rated No. 1 for inspiring and supportive professors. The Princeton Review ranked Darden’s faculty No. 1 for Best Professors the past two years.
The teaching (and learning) environment at Darden is unique because faculty don’t see trade-offs between teaching and research — spending time in the classroom facilitating learning via the case method is viewed as a priority and a reward.
“Darden is demanding when it comes to teaching and student development. That’s exactly what leads faculty candidates to Charlottesville. “When they come here, they are interested in teaching as a profession. It is important to their own aspiration, their definition and identity as a scholar.” — Professor Sankaran “Venkat” Venkataraman (Poets & Quants, “The Best MBA Faculty“)
Though great professors aren’t made overnight, Darden does its very best to comprehensively develop its new faculty. Seasoned faculty attend mock case discussions with new professors to provide coaching, serve as informal mentors and provide a network of intentional support systems. As Poets & Quants put it in their recent article naming Darden the “best MBA faculty:”
Senior faculty will sit in on their classes to observe and later provide feedback. Better yet, new faculty enjoy a reduced teaching load, even receiving a teaching credit to spend time in other professors’ classes. For the most part, new faculty are placed in the required core, where they are part of a teaching team. They learn how to design a case discussion, teach a case, create assignment questions, design a course, watch other people teach, and get feedback.
Darden’s newest educators will amp up several academic areas, including Strategy, Ethics and Entrepreneurship; Global Economies and Markets; Technology and Operations Management; Accounting; and Leadership and Organizational Behavior.
These seven professors look to cultivate a rich learning environment. Their accolades and areas of interest are as diverse as the group. They bring to Darden everything from award-winning teaching to research on race and leadership, studies in health care reform, and analysis of CEO succession.
Read the full article introducing our newest faculty members.
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