This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Cory Weinberg.
The deans of the GW School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science cast different outlooks on the country’s status within the global economy in a presentation to alumni Saturday, while pledging to find more ways in which their schools can work together.
David Dolling, in his fourth year as dean of SEAS, offered an optimistic perspective on the state of engineering and innovation in the United States, railing against headlines and rankings that claim the country’s scientific demise.
“Most people seem to think engineering is over in the U.S., and China is eating our lunch, and that we should become a nation of hairdressers,” Dolling said to the audience of about 50 alumni. “We have a knack for beating ourselves over the head with two-by-fours.”
Instead, Dolling said, the country’s supremacy in creating high-tech products like MRI machines drives the future of innovation.
“The school of engineering is focusing on this. We have to produce products that no one else makes, that are expensive and command a premium price,” Dolling said. “We’re going to play our role in a new economy that’s driven by sophisticated technological products.”
He also trumpeted the University’s commitment to SEAS, made apparent by the upcoming $275-million Science and Engineering Hall – the most expensive building in GW history – which will be completed by 2014.
“It’s an investment. Let’s hope it’s not a gamble,” Dolling said.
Doug Guthrie, in his second year as dean of the business school, talked about the “doom and gloom” of the U.S. economy, which he said is hampered by a lack of vocational training for factory jobs and “industrial policy that is not in step with globalization.”
Guthrie, who is a scholar on China and economic sociology, said politicians have failed to pave a way for government to strengthen energy and trade policy.
The solution, he said, is encouraging business leaders to think about the ways in which their companies interact with society, stressing ethics and sustainability.
“At GW, we think a lot about these kinds of issues. We’re trying to frame business leaders to think about the complexities of the global economy,” Guthrie said. “I also have a very specific agenda about building a business school that’s connected to society.”
While the two deans had different opinions on the country’s future, Arlington Butler, who graduated from the business school in 1990, said the discussion was substantive.
“That’s exactly what you should have, not only in the discourse of the University, but outside the University. You should be able to have divergent views that have a constructive commonality,” Butler said.
The two deans also saw ways in which their schools could work together, starting with entrepreneurship.
“There’s no reason why the next Microsoft shouldn’t come from GW,” Dolling said. “The school of engineering historically hasn’t had entrepreneurship in curriculum, but we need to get our students and faculty to be innovative.”
“I’d like for us to converge a lot more. In the past there wasn’t so much overlap between the two schools and we’re really not quite there yet,” Guthrie said.
