Michael Barnes is accustomed to transitions. During his doctoral study, he traveled back and forth between London and Cleveland, Ohio—every three weeks for three years.
He’s made long-term transformations as well. On what he’s called his “odyssey,” he’s moved from his native England to locations all around the world and finally to St. Paul, Minn. He’s also moved from the banking industry, where he spent 25 years, to the world of university administration.
And that’s where we find him now. Barnes joined the Carlson School as assistant dean and director of the Full-Time MBA Program in July. Now he will work with Associate Dean of MBA Programs Stefanie Lenway to guide the transition of the Full-Time MBA Program from a strong program to a nationally recognized flagship for the Carlson School.
“The really important thing is that we’re at a departure point for the MBA program,” Barnes said. “We have to think of new ways of doing things in putting out the message about the school.”
Barnes’s way of thinking about the Full-Time MBA Program is to divide it into three integral links in a “supply chain”: admissions, the design and delivery of the program itself, and the job search/alumni experience. While he has ideas for improving aspects of all three segments, these first few months on the job he has focused on the first parts of a “Virtuous Cycle”—a network of relationships between students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the business community that enables continued growth and improvement of the program.
Admissions is the first locus for this cycle, and the first place to apply his overarching goals for the program: growth, quality, and diversity. Together, these three objectives have become a mantra for Barnes and they form an equation that will increase the program’s national standing.
Click here for more, including details on these three objectives and what's underway for Full-Time MBA admissions.
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As a staff member in the Carlson Ventures Enterprise, Elaine Nissen looks to the future. As a scientific illustrator, she looks to the past. This is her work-in-progress drawing of Troodon, a recently discovered dinosaur.