A Message from Dean Raghu Sundaram

Dean Raghu Sundaram
From STERN BUSINESS Magazine Fall 2021

I'm guessing that much like you, I’ve learned quite a bit about being more reflective, more appreciative, more agile, and more ‘in the moment’ over the past 20 months. Since my last message, we’ve all faced the challenges of a lifetime, on many fronts.

Then earlier this year, the sunlight seemed to cut through the gloom. We resumed fully in-person instruction this fall, welcoming all students to campus for the first time since the shutdown. It was simply extraordinary—a tangible expression of the resilience of our students, our faculty and alumni, our institution, and humanity itself. It was, to say the least, very special.

Which brings me to yet another extraordinary and historic act, featured in our cover story, by two Stern alumni—first, Chairman of NYU’s Board of Trustees William R. Berkley (BS ’66), and then our school’s naming benefactor Leonard N. Stern (BS ’57, MBA ’59) each donated an unprecedented $50 million to help ensure access to a Stern undergraduate education by future leaders through scholarship.

The effects of such support are transformational. Two current scholarship recipients, Makayla Myers (BS ’24) and Sebastian Suarez (BS ’22), serve as remarkable examples.

Despite a year of obstacles, our faculty, published several relevant books and research, including Deepak Hegde’s deep dive into the link between entrepreneurial success and early career rejection, and Sabrina Howell’s examination of the effects of private equity ownership of nursing homes.

Read about our second Faculty Insights video series on “Current and Future Trends” and catch up on the online events held during 2020-2021, including the Fubon Center’s fintech conference, Fireside Chats with Henry Kaufman (PhD ’58) and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and many more.

We are pleased to celebrate several milestones with us—the 20-year anniversary of our undergraduate Honors Program; and coming this spring, the 10-year anniversary of the Stern Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR), and the TRIUM Global Executive MBA marked 20 years as a pioneering program. In other School news, the Endless Frontier Labs launched a Digital Tech track in 2021, and we welcomed the inaugural undergraduate class for our new BS in Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship program. With our NYU Shanghai partners, we introduced two new master’s programs in Organization Management & Strategy and in Marketing & Retail Science.

Read about marketer Brian Feit (BS ’00); alternative adult-beverage maker Emily Onkey (MBA ’11); venture capitalist Maria Toler Velissaris (MBA ’09); and global investor and now publisher Pedro David Martinez (MBA ’06).

In a first for business schools, Stern launched a pioneering Executive Education course, “Leadership for the 21st Century: Delivering on Purpose and Profit,” to equip leaders to advance social responsibility, environmental sustainability, ethics and morality, diversity and inclusion, and employee well-being.

We announced the establishment of a new program aimed at expanding the inclusion of diverse faculty perspectives at Stern—the Fred Renwick Visiting Faculty Fellows Program. Learn about legacy giving and Bruce Berger (BS ’66) and get to know the associate dean for development and alumni relations, Amanda Parker, and her journey from concert pianist to fundraising.

If the past 20 months has taught us anything, it’s that change requires the inherent quality that got us to this place, the quality that you, our alumni, have shown: Resilience. Thank you for your unending tenacity, engagement, and support.

With all good wishes,

Dean Raghu Sundaram