The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice.
To accomplish this, the School
The MIT Sloan School grew out of a curriculum in engineering administration—Course 15—that was first offered to MIT undergraduates in 1914. A program leading to a master's degree in management was established in 1925. The world's first university-based executive education program, the Sloan Fellows Program, had its beginnings at MIT in 1931 under the principal sponsorship of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., the 1895 MIT graduate in electrical engineering who rose to the top of the General Motors Corporation. Sloan endowed the pioneering program in 1938. In 1952, a further grant from the Sloan Foundation made possible the creation of the MIT School of Industrial Management—charged with the education of "the ideal manager." The School was renamed in honor of Mr. Sloan in 1964.
MIT Sloan's array of top-ranked undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs are well known for drawing on the creative and collaborative approaches common to engineering, behavioral science, economics, and management science to give managers a competitive edge. In our diverse education and research programs, we work with industry to develop the basic knowledge, insights, tools, and techniques that are shaping the future of the practice of management.
Among MIT Sloan's key strengths are its exceptionally close ties with other world-class departments at MIT, especially in fields crucial to business, including economics, engineering, and science. One manifestation of this interdisciplinary approach is Leaders for Manufacturing, an educational and research collaboration with the School of Engineering and industry partners that is transforming the practice of manufacturing and manufacturing education. Other examples include the medical innovations course, conducted in partnership with MIT Sloan, the School of Engineering, and doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the new Biomedical Enterprises program.
With a focus on the future of management, MIT Sloan has been aggressive in developing leading edge research programs that have an impact on the emerging practice of business. The School has been a leader in developing the concepts of financial engineering that underlie today's financial markets, for example. It also conducts pioneering research in the management of technology and offers the nation's leading master's program for executives in this important area. Recently, MIT Sloan launched an exciting Executive Education program, Leading Innovative Enterprise: Strategies for Growth in the Life Sciences.
Reflecting a world characterized by increasing economic globalization, MIT Sloan is itself an international community. Approximately one-third of the MBA class and close to half of all executive education participants come from outside the United States, and diverse research/educational collaborations have been developed with Europe, Mexico, and Asia. In addition, the School has a strong network of alumni in more than 100 countries.
As one of the world's preeminent management schools, MIT Sloan strives to prepare its students to be innovative leaders in a rapidly changing world. In an increasingly competitive environment, MIT Sloan must continually listen to the marketplace, explore new directions, and use this knowledge to develop new products, services, and processes quickly and efficiently. To maintain its leadership, MIT Sloan continues to drive change and innovation in a number of areas:
Entrepreneurship. The MIT Entrepreneurship Center, housed at MIT Sloan, aims to inspire, train, and coach new generations of entrepreneurs to create successful high-tech ventures. The center's educational programs, especially New Enterprises, Entrepreneurship Lab, and Entrepreneurship Lab courses, are designed to give students the experience, skills, and network they need to turn their ideas into opportunities for new ventures and then to make those ventures successful. The center continues to work with leading practitioners and build its entrepreneurship faculty, who also conduct research on the dynamic process of high-tech venture development.
Global Initiatives. A top priority for MIT Sloan is to widen the international reach of its educational and research initiatives. MIT Sloan has international MBA programs in collaboration with China's Sun Yat-sen, Fudan, Tsinghua, Yunnan, and Lingnan universities. MIT Sloan also hosts Chinese university faculty to help them absorb and apply MIT Sloan's approach to management education. The School also works with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, the Epoch Foundation in Taiwan, the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, and Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores in Mexico.
MIT Sloan's interdisciplinary research centers include:
Center for Computational Research in Economics and Management Science
Center for Coordination Science
Center for Digital Business
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Institute for Work and Employment Research
Laboratory for Financial Engineering
Lean Aerospace Initiative
MIT Entrepreneurship Center
Operations Research Center
Productivity from Information Technology Initiative
Program on the Pharmaceutical Industry
System Dynamics Group
Information about each of these is available in the Interdisciplinary Research and Study section in Part 1.
MIT Sloan is also home to other research centers and programs, such as the MIT Leadership Center, the MIT Workplace Center, and those described below.
The Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) was established in 1974 and has a strong record of accomplishment of practice-based research on the management and use of information technology (IT). The center's mission is to perform practical empirical research on how firms generate business value from IT. An international mix of almost 40 sponsoring organizations, representing a broad range of industries, assist in defining and executing this research. Faculty and staff associated with the center have conducted pioneering research in such areas as decision support systems, critical success factors, database systems, strategic IS planning, management of the IT function, and the use of information by management, including executive support systems. CISR develops concepts models and provides insights into the role of IT in enabling new business strategies, management processes, and organizational structures. Recent and current research topics include IT governance, IT infrastructure, IT architecture, IT portfolios, IT outsourcing, and IT-related risk. CISR disseminates this research via electronic briefings, published articles, working papers, an annual summer conference, research workshops, and executive education short courses.
For more information about the center, contact Chris Foglia, 617-253-6657, cisr@mit.edu, or visit http://mitsloan.mit.edu/cisr/.
The Information Technology Group engages students of computer science, sociology, economics, psychology, engineering, organizational science, and other disciplines in understanding how information technology continues to transform the way people work, communicate, and learn.
For more information about the Information Technologies Group, contact sloan-it-www@mit.edu, or visit http://web.mit.edu/sloan-it/www/.
MIT Sloan produces publications that enjoy robust readerships within the MIT community, across the country, and around the world. MIT Sloan Management Review is a quarterly subscription-based journal for professional managers. More information about the magazine is presented on the web at http://mitsloan.mit.edu/smr/.
MIT Sloan is the newly designed alumni magazine. Seeking to better connect alumni to the School and to each other, the magazine contains news features, faculty articles, student and alumni profiles, and class notes.
In addition, MIT Sloan maintains a dynamic website that provides access to a rich and detailed range of news and information about the School, its activities, and its resources. The website is available at http://mitsloan.mit.edu/.
Steven D. Eppinger, ScD
General Motors Professor of Management Science
Interim Dean
S. P. Kothari, PhD
Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting
Interim Deputy Dean
JoAnne Yates, PhD
Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Communication
Interim Deputy Dean
Donna M. Behmer, MEd
Senior Associate Dean, Finance and Administration
Alan F. White, SM
Senior Associate Dean