Smeal Scores Among International Elite In Exec Ed Survey

10-17-97
University Park, Pa. -- By several different measures, Penn State Executive Programs, a division of The Smeal College of Business Administration, was among the international leaders in the latest Business Week survey of executive education.

According to this weekís edition of the magazine (dated Oct. 20, 1997) , the Smeal programs, under the direction of Associate Dean Virginia Tucker, were fifth among American public business schools in providing top-level leadership education for businesspeople worldwide. Furthermore, Business Week said, Smeal was fourth overall in programs concerning manufacturing and R&D, and fifth overall in programs in the management of human resources.

Penn State also is a recognized research leader in executive education. Studies in the field are conducted here through the Institute for the Study of Organizational Effectiveness (ISOE), co-founded by Dr. Albert A. Vicere, professor of business administration and former associate dean for executive education, and Scott Snell, associate professor of business administration. Dr. Vicere was cited as an expert in the magazineís special report.

Business Week sent surveys to 535 companies to gauge their preferences in providers of executive education. Each institutionís point total was then divided by the number of companies that had direct experience with them to yield the rankings.

Private American schools dominated the top-20 executive education providers, accounting for 12 spots. Only five public American schools, including Penn State, were included. The other three top-20 spots were taken by European institutions.

Four Big 10 schools were included among the elite. Along with Penn State were the University of Michigan, Northwestern University (Kellogg), and Indiana University. Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) were the only schools from the Keystone State in the upper echelon.

Harvard was first overall, followed by Michigan, Northwestern (Kellogg), Penn (Wharton), and Stanford. Penn State was nineteenth overall, one spot ahead of Cornell University (Johnson), and one spot behind the University of Southern California (Marshall).

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