Dartmouth Tuck School of Business: New Faculty and Electives Introduced for the 2019–2020 Academic Year

In early 2019, Dartmouth Tuck School of Business elected to implement broad enhancements to its core curriculum, “The Core,” as it is called. The Class of 2021 was the first to experience the Core in its new form when they began classes in the Fall of 2019 with a 2-week enhanced orientation program, Tuck Launch. Designed to prepare incoming students for the intense and rigorous first year at Tuck, it is structured around integrated programming, experiential learning, and reflection (Dean Slaughter gave each student a reflection journal during the opening orientation session). During this time, students participated in immersive and integrated sessions with Tuck faculty, staff, and alumni around a variety of topics.

Fall term is divided into Fall A and B. One of the new core courses that began during Tuck Launch was “Managing People” with Syd Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management. This course continues through Fall A and B. Professor Finkelstein’s other new course (co-taught with Giovanni Gavetti), “Five Memos for the Modern Leader,” takes a unique approach. Modeled after leaders who receive memos from their lieutenants, in this case the students are the leaders and the professors are their lieutenants. The memos cover subjects including purpose, expertise, integrity, persuasion and creativity.

Another new core class is “Analytics,” taught by two teams (James Smith and Robert Shumsky, and Praveen Kopalle and Prasad Vana). The course focuses on using data to describe the world, predict outcomes, and make recommendations. Students are introduced to Tableau (a data visualization software), spreadsheet modeling and optimization, and machine learning, among many other things. Moreover, the class content is closely integrated with other core courses for a deeper learning experience.

The core classes “Strategy” and “Marketing” were moved to Fall B so that students will have those frameworks before they begin their internship interviews, most of which happen in the first week of January. Winter term has been pushed back to the second week of January to accommodate those interviews. Two new strategy classes are “Digital and Social Media Strategy” (Lauren Grewal) and “Ecosystem Strategy” (Ron Adner), with the latter focusing on developing a “wide lens perspective” on innovation and innovative ecosystems.

For students interested in the VC/PE industry, Gordon Phillips’ “Venture Capital and Private Equity Basics” offers an introduction to the industry participants and their perspectives, strategies, objectives and challenges.

In line with Tuck’s new emphasis on reflection, Pino Audia’s “Leadership Development: Skills-Awareness, Skills, and Strategy” uses a 360-degree feedback tool and the Inventory of Leadership Styles to teach students how to use self-knowledge as a leadership strategy.

Finally, Ella Bell is teaching a new course “Reconceiving Representation: Gender Equity in Management and Society” that takes on how the roles of men and women must evolve in order to make it possible for women to advance in the workplace.

Dartmouth has created an imaginative and integrative structure for their new core curriculum — what an exciting time to be at Tuck!

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