georgetown business essay

georgetown business essay

The Impact of Georgetown Business School on the Global Business Landscape

1. Introduction

In an October 2019 interview, Georgetown University President Rev. Dr. John DeGioia captures the history and trajectory of Georgetown, America’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, in this way: “There are a handful of Catholic universities working at this level [of global leadership] and in a global city like Washington, Georgetown has a distinctive position.” Nowhere on this campus is this ethos more fully realized than at the McDonough School of Business, and nowhere is that sense of capital grounding at the Global Business Initiative, launched a decade ago, and has become a signature initiative for both the business school and the University. From its very beginning, the GBI is a local initiative with global continuum. It produces faculty scholarship that offers a complex and nuanced understanding of how businesses can and do meet stakeholder needs alongside those of shareholders. It goes without saying that the best faculty teaching and industry outreach flows from that deep expertise. Nonetheless, there is always refinement of the Excel models, SPSS analysis, and experimental method afforded by fieldwork and face-to-face conversations that would have been invisible and unavailable to a distant observer.

2. Georgetown Business School: A Historical Overview

The School’s beginnings, however, were modest. On November 11, 1935, after more than three years of effort on the part of its three primary originators—Dean J. Donald Kingsley, Vice President and Dean of the School of Foreign Service Father Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., and M. Langfish, member of the Georgetown College Board of Directors—a school was established that consisted of a total of 16 faculty members, 22 courses, and 34 students. These were modest beginnings for an enterprise that would eventually grow to become one of the leading American schools of business under the direction of such deans as Nelson T. Hartson, who would later be the Provost of the University, and John J. Nelligan, who served as the Dean for 21 years and later as the University’s President. The partnership with a vibrant and mission-driven School of Foreign Service would come to exemplify what would later become the distinctive set of core values and strategic commitments that would differentiate Georgetown’s identity as one of the leading private national universities in the United States.

Having been founded more than two decades after the establishment of Georgetown College, the precursor to Georgetown University, the School of Business Administration (renamed the McDonough School of Business in 1998) has a history that is remarkably rich, yet young by comparison to the overall history of its parent institution. As the business school at the oldest Catholic university in America, McDonough School of Business has spent the last eighty years building a heritage and tradition that brings special meaning and character to its mission to develop principled business leaders in service to both business and society.

3. Notable Programs and Initiatives

The School’s curricular focus on ethical and public policy dimensions of business appears in the core MBA course Business and Public Policy, as well as the school’s selective programs. These include the Operations & Tier 1 (ENTRE-TIER1) from the McDonough Innovation Center, the Center for Research & Service TODOS consulting program in nonprofit management, and the Regional Public Interest J.D./M.B.A. Program offered with the law center. The School also offers a joint Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Philosophy in Business, an undergraduate certificate in non-profit management, and a Master of Arts in the field through the Center for Continuing and Professional Education. The mission is supported by a series of co-curricular activities, including the Georgetown chapter of the Net Impact organization.

Business & Public Policy

Georgetown Business School’s mission is to deliver business education that contributes to the formation of responsible business leaders who will have a positive impact on business and society. Business and Public Policy faculty are often involved in important university-wide initiatives. For example, Professors Emily Chamlee-Wright and Cheryl Maranto are affiliated with the Center for Intercultural Education and Development and are joint directors of the Democracy and Civil Society project with the College of Arts and Science. More information about faculty and their interests can be found at.

Business and Global Development

4. Alumni Success Stories and Industry Influence

Business degree graduates have many opportunities to occupy head leadership roles in a variety of enterprises. Not only do they gain insight into what it takes to be a good leader from case studies and simulations, but they also learn first-hand how to tackle real-world business problems and lead people through the many experiential activities that they participate in throughout the course of their degree programs. Thus, the program mirrors real-world expectations, allowing graduates an opportunity to stand out in the competitive landscape and reach leadership roles quickly. Georgetown McDonough.

Georgetown McDonough has sent its graduates far and wide to secure positions and roles within fields varying from finance to consulting to multinational corporations to family-owned businesses. This chapter describes the globalization impact of Georgetown McDonough through selected alumni who have succeeded in their career endeavors and have, in turn, attributed part of that success to their experience at Georgetown McDonough. Moreover, they are influences in their own industry inspiring others to give back to the future.

5. Conclusion and Future Prospects

McDonough SoB is not satisfied with responding only to global business opportunities of the twentieth century. As long-range scenarios unfold in countries designated as economically lost, McDonough SoB leadership calls for increased risk in providing community programs, establishing food infrastructure, structuring organizations for competitiveness, supporting staffing procedures, implementing economic planning, and responding to the increasing demands of international business for highly qualified exports, particularly in undereducated countries. It is an inspiring vision and a great challenge. The McDonough School of Business is more than capable of achieving each aspect of this vision, delivering a more competitive world of the future.

The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, located in Washington, D.C., is in a prime location to provide an international administrative perspective. With global historic study travel, faculty development, and student exchange programs, SoB faculty and students have applied their expertise to a comprehensive business plan with global reach in each of the four continents recognized by the global business plan. With curriculums emphasizing a strong foundation in basic business disciplines, exemplary leadership, strong communication skills, knowledge of ethical business, and the financing of international business, graduates take advantage of opportunities for individual integration of career aspirations and excel in working with businesses and governments around the world.