Brandeis International Business School

A message from the president

The International Business School is poised to play a pivotal role in Brandeis’s future

Ron Liebowitz is president of Brandeis University.

Ron Liebowitz is president of Brandeis University.

It is with great pride that the Brandeis community joins the International Business School as it celebrates its 25th anniversary as a key engine of innovation at Brandeis and in the wider world of international business. Since its founding in 1994, Brandeis International Business School has held strong to its distinctive ethos of preparing students for a rapidly changing world.

At the time of this meaningful landmark for the International Business School, the university is also entering a dynamic period of its history. Through the shared priorities outlined in the roadmap we call “A Framework for Our Future,” we are seeking to build upon our university’s unique value proposition. The pairing of our major research accomplishments and our relatively small size and commitment to undergraduate education allows for an unusually high level of connectivity among undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty members, as well as across traditional academic disciplines. As a result, Brandeis students pursue their studies across disciplinary boundaries, and our faculty continue the legacy of being on the cutting-edge of scholarly work and of forging new academic disciplines.

As we look to the future of Brandeis and seek to build upon our unique value proposition, the International Business School will be a cornerstone of our efforts. As founding Dean Peter Petri has noted in the past, the school was built at the crossroads of business and society. The school’s early leaders realized how important it was to educate individuals so they understand the emerging complexities of globalization and its impact on economics, finance and business, and society. For 25 years, the International Business School has stood at the forefront of this broad approach to business, and has been a key innovator in business education as a result.

As technology has pulled our world closer together, the International Business School’s global perspective has grown even more important. Dean Kathryn Graddy has often noted that the school prepares its graduates to use the powerful tools of technology thoughtfully, and with skillsets and perspectives that consider the humanity that is often lost in today’s digital environment.

As we celebrate this exciting anniversary, it is clear that the future of the International Business School, like that of Brandeis, will be focused on our ability to integrate disparate perspectives — between business and society, technology and humanity, and across countries and continents. We extend our warm congratulations to founding Dean Peter Petri, to current Dean Kathryn Graddy, and to the entire International Business School faculty on this most momentous celebration.

Ronald D. Liebowitz is the president of Brandeis University.