B. Joseph White
Encyclopedia
Bernard Joseph White is President Emeritus of the University of Illinois and James F. Towey Professor of Business and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. He is Dean Emeritus of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Michigan
where he also served as Interim President and Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Leadership in Management Education.
School of Foreign Service in 1969. He then earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School
and a doctorate
in business administration from the University of Michigan
.
, first as vice president for management development and then as vice president for personnel and public affairs. He worked for one year at Fred Alger Management Co., an asset management firm devastated by 9/11.
White has written, taught and spoken extensively on leadership, management, human capital and higher education reform. He is the author of The Nature of Leadership (New York: Amacom, 2007) http://www.thenatureofleadership.com/. He was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award from the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations in 2007, the Leadership Award from the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation in 2005 and a Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honorary) from Wabash College in 2003. White is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma
.
, and executive education
programs were highly ranked. The School's endowment rose from $30 million to more than $250 million. Endowed Chairs increased from nine to thirty-nine.
White led a major MBA curriculum overhaul, which aimed to intensify the development of students' professional and practical skills. The reforms re-defined the school's image and fueled a rise in its reputation, including being named one of the two "most innovative" business school's in the nation, according to BusinessWeek magazine's surveys of corporate executives. The core innovation, called MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project), puts students into "live cases" inside companies for seven weeks. White likened it to a medical school residency. In addition, White's curriculum reform included cutting the 14-week semesters in half and adding executive education
-style skills development seminars. Other initiatives, such as research on how to supplement the GMAT with a test of "practical intelligence," helped cement the school's reputation for concerning itself as much with the real-world performance of its graduates as their intellectual development.
Among the other highlights of White's curriculum reform was the introduction of an intensive two-day community service and corporate citizenship boot camp as the kickoff of the MBA program—a first among business schools.
Under White, Michigan's African-American enrollment was the highest among the top-ranked business schools. Enrollment of under-represented minorities hovered around 14-15 percent. The School was found to be "the best business school for blacks" by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. He also moved to aggressively globalize the School. Most notably, he founded the William Davidson Institute to position Michigan as a leader on economies transitioning from communism to free markets.
White was an early mover on distance learning, initially creating partnerships with major companies to deliver management training to their employees. In January, 2000, White's team announced a partnership with FT Knowledge to provide open-enrollment e-learning classes.(FT Knowledge, at the time, was a division of Pearson PLC
, owner of the Financial Times and other major media properties.)
White built on a reputation in entrepreneurship grounded in the Michigan's long-running Growth Capital Symposium, which had started in 1981. White's team created additional opportunities for students to get venture capital and entrepreneurship experience by launching a student-run venture capital fund, called the Wolverine Venture Fund. Founded in 1997, its first investments were reported in the New York Times in 1999 and by 2004 at least one of those investments had turned into an IPO. In 1999, real estate mogul and University of Michigan Law School graduate Sam Zell joined with Ann Lurie, the widow of Zell's business partner, to provide $10 million to found the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and quickly began offering a wide array of courses, heavily oriented toward action learning.
In his second term as dean, White proclaimed that increasing female enrollment in business schools would be a top priority of his administration. This led to a major School initiative, a study of the reasons for low female enrollment at a dozen top business schools, and, ultimately a series of changes at the School. This work also ultimately led to the founding of a major new national advocacy organization, the Forte Foundation.
Under White, several of the School's other major new programs were created. In addition to the William Davidson Institute and the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, White also raised funds for and oversaw the creation of The Erb Institute for Sustainable Global Enterprise and The Joel D. Tauber Institute for Global Operations. His administration launched Michigan's first Executive MBA program and built Sam Wyly Hall, a new home for the School's highly ranked executive education programs.
White served as interim president of the University of Michigan
in 2002. In January 2005 the Board of Regents recognized him as Dean Emeritus of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Professor Emeritus of Business Administration.
. As president, White oversaw the three campuses in the University of Illinois system—Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. (In the University of Illinois system, each campus is headed by a chancellor. Each chancellor reports to the president.)
White took office on January 31, 2005. He was inaugurated on September 22, 2005. In fiscal year 2010, the University of Illinois budget was $4.6 billion. In his inaugural address, White proposed a new "compact" among five parties - the state, tuition payers and their families, donors, faculty members with research grants and contracts, and university leaders - all doing their parts to provide the resources needed to ensure what he termed "excellence and access." In his first year, White initiated a strategic planning
process for the University, its three campuses and their colleges and departments. On June 1, 2007, White announced the $2.25 billion Brilliant Futures fundraising campaign. By August 31, 2009, the campaign had achieved 76% of its goal with 72% of the campaign period elapsed.
White championed the establishment of the University of Illinois Global Campus Partnership, an initiative to make University of Illinois programs and degrees available online to qualified students. Following an extensive shared governance process with faculty on the three campuses, Global Campus launched in January 2008 with a bachelor’s degree-completion program for registered nurses and a master’s degree and two graduate certificate programs in education with concentrations in e-learning, and 15 more degree and certificate programs in development. On White's recommendation to the Board of Trustees, the Global Campus Partnership was terminated in 2009 due to an inadequate number of programs and students. Responsibility for on-line education was assigned to the University's campuses and colleges.
In February 2007 the University of Illinois Board of Trustees announced an end to the Urbana-Champaign campus tradition of Chief Illiniwek
. White supported for the board's decision saying, "While I understand many people have strong feelings about this 80-year-old tradition, for the good of our student-athletes and our university it is time to come together and move on to the next chapter in the history of this distinguished institution."
resulted in most members of the university's Board of Trustees resigning and new members being appointed by Governor Pat Quinn
. The controversy erupted when Chicago Tribune
reported on Friday, May 29, 2009 that several students had been admitted to the University based upon connections or recommendations by members of the Board of Trustees, politicians, and members of the administration of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
. The controversy centered on the University's Urbana-Champaign campus, headed by Chancellor Richard Herman, who was heavily implicated in the improprieties along with the University's Board of Directors. According to the article, some students were being admitted despite having sub-par qualifications. Drawing on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the Tribune said that, "The records chronicle a shadow admissions system in which some students won spots at the state's most prestigious public university over the protests of admissions officers, while others had their rejections reversed during an unadvertised appeal process." The investigation revealed that approximately 800 students over five years landed on the so-called "clout list" and, though not all were unworthy, the admission rate of these students was eight percentage points higher than the school average.
In response to the articles, White quickly launched an overhaul of the admissions process. As the University faculty senate prepared to vote on whether to call for White's removal, he appeared before the group and told them, "I stood behind every admissions denial, no matter who the advocates or how persistent they were." Nevertheless, the faculty senate passed a resolution on September 14 calling for his removal, along with that of the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the campus that was at the center of the admissions controversy.
On September 23, 2009, he announced his resignation as president, effective December 31, 2009. In his resignation letter, White said he wanted to give the reconstituted Board of Trustees the freedom to choose new leadership. Saying he was sensitive to the financial sacrifices being made by faculty and staff due to difficult economic times, White timed his resignation to free the University of its obligation to pay him a $475,000 retention bonus that would have been due in February.
Although the Admissions Review Commission stopped short of calling for White's removal, the Commission's chairman, Judge Abner J. Mikva
said that the situation had become impossible for White. In public session at his final Board of Trustees meeting on November 12, 2009, White shared a letter he received from Judge Mikva dated September 24, 2009. Judge Mikva wrote: "I was sad to learn that you are resigning as President of the University. Everything that came out during the investigation by the University of Illinois Admissions Review Commission that I headed indicated that you always had the best interests of the University as the basis for your actions. You are a person of great integrity and worthy of great respect." The Chicago Tribune quoted the Board of Trustees' new chairman, Christopher Kennedy, as saying, "He (White) is a class act, and I think his decision today will contribute to his reputation."
, the National Merit Honor Scholarship Program and the Argonne National Laboratory
.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. He is Dean Emeritus of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
where he also served as Interim President and Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Leadership in Management Education.
Education
White graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
School of Foreign Service in 1969. He then earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
and a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in business administration from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.
Career Summary
White began his faculty career at Michigan in 1975. In the private-sector, he served six years (1981–1987) as an officer of Cummins Inc. in Columbus, IndianaColumbus, Indiana
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 44,061 at the 2010 census, and the current mayor is Fred Armstrong. Located approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the east fork of the White River, it is the state's 20th largest...
, first as vice president for management development and then as vice president for personnel and public affairs. He worked for one year at Fred Alger Management Co., an asset management firm devastated by 9/11.
White has written, taught and spoken extensively on leadership, management, human capital and higher education reform. He is the author of The Nature of Leadership (New York: Amacom, 2007) http://www.thenatureofleadership.com/. He was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award from the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations in 2007, the Leadership Award from the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation in 2005 and a Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honorary) from Wabash College in 2003. White is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma
Beta Gamma Sigma
Beta Gamma Sigma or ΒΓΣ is an honor society for business students and scholars. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, it has over 650,000 members, selected from over 500 chapters in AACSB-accredited business schools...
.
Ross School of Business Deanship
White served from 1990-2001 as dean of the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. During his deanship, the School's MBA, BBABBA
BBA may refer to:*Bachelor of Business Administration, degree*Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO against child labour in India*Backyard Brawlers Association, a wrestling promotion based primarily out of Rockville Centre, NY*Balanced Budget Act, U.S...
, and executive education
Executive Education
Executive Education refers to academic programs at leading graduate-level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These programs are non-credit and non-degree granting...
programs were highly ranked. The School's endowment rose from $30 million to more than $250 million. Endowed Chairs increased from nine to thirty-nine.
White led a major MBA curriculum overhaul, which aimed to intensify the development of students' professional and practical skills. The reforms re-defined the school's image and fueled a rise in its reputation, including being named one of the two "most innovative" business school's in the nation, according to BusinessWeek magazine's surveys of corporate executives. The core innovation, called MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project), puts students into "live cases" inside companies for seven weeks. White likened it to a medical school residency. In addition, White's curriculum reform included cutting the 14-week semesters in half and adding executive education
Executive Education
Executive Education refers to academic programs at leading graduate-level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These programs are non-credit and non-degree granting...
-style skills development seminars. Other initiatives, such as research on how to supplement the GMAT with a test of "practical intelligence," helped cement the school's reputation for concerning itself as much with the real-world performance of its graduates as their intellectual development.
Among the other highlights of White's curriculum reform was the introduction of an intensive two-day community service and corporate citizenship boot camp as the kickoff of the MBA program—a first among business schools.
Under White, Michigan's African-American enrollment was the highest among the top-ranked business schools. Enrollment of under-represented minorities hovered around 14-15 percent. The School was found to be "the best business school for blacks" by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. He also moved to aggressively globalize the School. Most notably, he founded the William Davidson Institute to position Michigan as a leader on economies transitioning from communism to free markets.
White was an early mover on distance learning, initially creating partnerships with major companies to deliver management training to their employees. In January, 2000, White's team announced a partnership with FT Knowledge to provide open-enrollment e-learning classes.(FT Knowledge, at the time, was a division of Pearson PLC
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
, owner of the Financial Times and other major media properties.)
White built on a reputation in entrepreneurship grounded in the Michigan's long-running Growth Capital Symposium, which had started in 1981. White's team created additional opportunities for students to get venture capital and entrepreneurship experience by launching a student-run venture capital fund, called the Wolverine Venture Fund. Founded in 1997, its first investments were reported in the New York Times in 1999 and by 2004 at least one of those investments had turned into an IPO. In 1999, real estate mogul and University of Michigan Law School graduate Sam Zell joined with Ann Lurie, the widow of Zell's business partner, to provide $10 million to found the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and quickly began offering a wide array of courses, heavily oriented toward action learning.
In his second term as dean, White proclaimed that increasing female enrollment in business schools would be a top priority of his administration. This led to a major School initiative, a study of the reasons for low female enrollment at a dozen top business schools, and, ultimately a series of changes at the School. This work also ultimately led to the founding of a major new national advocacy organization, the Forte Foundation.
Under White, several of the School's other major new programs were created. In addition to the William Davidson Institute and the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, White also raised funds for and oversaw the creation of The Erb Institute for Sustainable Global Enterprise and The Joel D. Tauber Institute for Global Operations. His administration launched Michigan's first Executive MBA program and built Sam Wyly Hall, a new home for the School's highly ranked executive education programs.
White served as interim president of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 2002. In January 2005 the Board of Regents recognized him as Dean Emeritus of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Professor Emeritus of Business Administration.
University of Illinois Presidency
White was named the sixteenth president of the University of Illinois in 2004, succeeding retiring president James J. StukelJames J. Stukel
James J. Stukel served as the 15th President of the University of Illinois.-Early life:James Stukel was born on March 30, 1937 in Joliet, Illinois to Philip and Julia Stukel. James and his sole sibling, a sister 13 years older than he was, had a modest upbringing. His father, a pulp mill worker,...
. As president, White oversaw the three campuses in the University of Illinois system—Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. (In the University of Illinois system, each campus is headed by a chancellor. Each chancellor reports to the president.)
White took office on January 31, 2005. He was inaugurated on September 22, 2005. In fiscal year 2010, the University of Illinois budget was $4.6 billion. In his inaugural address, White proposed a new "compact" among five parties - the state, tuition payers and their families, donors, faculty members with research grants and contracts, and university leaders - all doing their parts to provide the resources needed to ensure what he termed "excellence and access." In his first year, White initiated a strategic planning
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
process for the University, its three campuses and their colleges and departments. On June 1, 2007, White announced the $2.25 billion Brilliant Futures fundraising campaign. By August 31, 2009, the campaign had achieved 76% of its goal with 72% of the campaign period elapsed.
White championed the establishment of the University of Illinois Global Campus Partnership, an initiative to make University of Illinois programs and degrees available online to qualified students. Following an extensive shared governance process with faculty on the three campuses, Global Campus launched in January 2008 with a bachelor’s degree-completion program for registered nurses and a master’s degree and two graduate certificate programs in education with concentrations in e-learning, and 15 more degree and certificate programs in development. On White's recommendation to the Board of Trustees, the Global Campus Partnership was terminated in 2009 due to an inadequate number of programs and students. Responsibility for on-line education was assigned to the University's campuses and colleges.
In February 2007 the University of Illinois Board of Trustees announced an end to the Urbana-Champaign campus tradition of Chief Illiniwek
Chief Illiniwek
Chief Illiniwek was the mascot and the official symbol of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign associated with the University's intercollegiate athletic programs from 1926 to February 21, 2007. The mascot was portrayed by a student dressed in Sioux regalia to honor the Illiniwek, the...
. White supported for the board's decision saying, "While I understand many people have strong feelings about this 80-year-old tradition, for the good of our student-athletes and our university it is time to come together and move on to the next chapter in the history of this distinguished institution."
Clout Scandal
A controversy over admissions practices ended White's presidency. The University of Illinois clout scandalUniversity of Illinois clout scandal
The University of Illinois clout scandal resulted from a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune which reported that some applicants to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "received special consideration" for acceptance between 2005 and 2009, despite having sub-par qualifications. ...
resulted in most members of the university's Board of Trustees resigning and new members being appointed by Governor Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
. The controversy erupted when Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
reported on Friday, May 29, 2009 that several students had been admitted to the University based upon connections or recommendations by members of the Board of Trustees, politicians, and members of the administration of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich
Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago...
. The controversy centered on the University's Urbana-Champaign campus, headed by Chancellor Richard Herman, who was heavily implicated in the improprieties along with the University's Board of Directors. According to the article, some students were being admitted despite having sub-par qualifications. Drawing on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the Tribune said that, "The records chronicle a shadow admissions system in which some students won spots at the state's most prestigious public university over the protests of admissions officers, while others had their rejections reversed during an unadvertised appeal process." The investigation revealed that approximately 800 students over five years landed on the so-called "clout list" and, though not all were unworthy, the admission rate of these students was eight percentage points higher than the school average.
In response to the articles, White quickly launched an overhaul of the admissions process. As the University faculty senate prepared to vote on whether to call for White's removal, he appeared before the group and told them, "I stood behind every admissions denial, no matter who the advocates or how persistent they were." Nevertheless, the faculty senate passed a resolution on September 14 calling for his removal, along with that of the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the campus that was at the center of the admissions controversy.
On September 23, 2009, he announced his resignation as president, effective December 31, 2009. In his resignation letter, White said he wanted to give the reconstituted Board of Trustees the freedom to choose new leadership. Saying he was sensitive to the financial sacrifices being made by faculty and staff due to difficult economic times, White timed his resignation to free the University of its obligation to pay him a $475,000 retention bonus that would have been due in February.
Although the Admissions Review Commission stopped short of calling for White's removal, the Commission's chairman, Judge Abner J. Mikva
Abner J. Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva is a Democratic former U.S. Representative, federal judge and law professor from Chicago.-Biography:Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mikva attended the University of Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1951...
said that the situation had become impossible for White. In public session at his final Board of Trustees meeting on November 12, 2009, White shared a letter he received from Judge Mikva dated September 24, 2009. Judge Mikva wrote: "I was sad to learn that you are resigning as President of the University. Everything that came out during the investigation by the University of Illinois Admissions Review Commission that I headed indicated that you always had the best interests of the University as the basis for your actions. You are a person of great integrity and worthy of great respect." The Chicago Tribune quoted the Board of Trustees' new chairman, Christopher Kennedy, as saying, "He (White) is a class act, and I think his decision today will contribute to his reputation."
President Emeritus
On January 21, 2010, the Board of Trustees appointed White President Emeritus of the University of Illinois. White also continued to assist the University's "Brilliant Futures" fundraising campaign. More than $1.71 billion of the campaign's $2.25 billion goal had been raised under White's leadership at the time of his resignation. White also retained his faculty position at the University and remains in that post.Honors
While serving as president, White was honored with the Leadership Award (December 2005) from the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Excellence in Leadership Award (January 2007) from the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations. He served as a board member of the American Council on EducationAmerican Council on Education
The American Council on Education is a United States organization, established in 1918, comprising over 1,800 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher education-related associations, organizations, and corporations....
, the National Merit Honor Scholarship Program and the Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
.