| The University of Virginia Darden School of Business | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1954 |
| Type | Public |
| Dean | Robert F. Bruner |
| Location | Charlottesville, Virginia, USA |
| Website | http://www.darden.virginia.edu/ |
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs. The unique Darden experience combines the case study method, the highest-ranked faculty whose research advances global managerial practice and business education, and a tight-knit learning environment to develop principled and complete leaders who are ready to make an impact. The School was founded in 1954 and is named after Colgate Whitehead Darden, Jr., a former Democratic congressman, governor of Virginia, and president of the University of Virginia.
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Darden is unique because of the combination of three key elements:
These elements create an environment that develops Darden students into principled and complete leaders who are ready for anything after graduation.
Designed for students who seek to strengthen their leadership, business and communication skills, Darden’s two-year MBA program — ranked #1 in student satisfaction by Bloomberg Businessweek[1] — combines core and elective courses in Charlottesville, Virginia with opportunities to study abroad. The program is known for its case study method, top-ranked faculty, commitment to ethics, outstanding entrepreneurship opportunities and focus on sustainability.
The required curriculum in the First Year is designed to provide students with an integrated perspective on general management. Beginning in the final term of the First Year, the curriculum is made up entirely of electives to allow students to develop more depth in chosen areas of interest. Students may choose two from among the following optional concentrations:
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Darden offers Global Business Experiences (GBEs) electives — one- to two-week courses that enable students to explore international business issues firsthand in a country other than their own — in ten countries. In the Second Year, students can also spend time abroad in one of 18 exchange programs around the world.
Darden is one of the few top MBA programs to integrate career strategy and planning into its curriculum. All students are also assigned both a functionally-aligned career consultant and a Second Year student career coach whom they meet with regularly throughout the recruiting process. As alumni, Darden provides lifelong quality career assistance, free of charge.
Taught by Darden’s top-ranked faculty, the MBA for Executives program allows experienced professionals to earn the same degree as the Full-Time MBA students, without interrupting their careers. Each MBA for Executives class is composed of experienced managers from a broad spectrum of industries and functions. The 21-month program combines:
Similar to the MBA for Executives program, the Global MBA for Executives program is designed for experienced managers who seek to advance their careers by earning an MBA while working full time. The program focuses on preparing students to thrive in globally distributed firms, across markets, across cultures and in emerging regions. The 21-month program combines:
Darden Executive Education serves as a critical resource for businesses around the world, conveying the relevant concepts and thinking necessary to formulate excellence in leadership and management. The inaugural Executive Education program was offered in 1955. Darden Executive Education offers both open-enrollment and custom programs, as well as consortia, corporate university design and development, and industry specific partnerships. Open-enrollment program focus areas include strategy, leadership and change, finance, sales and marketing, and general and advanced management. Year-after-year these programs are ranked in the top five of the Financial Times annual survey[2].
Darden’s doctoral program allows students to obtain a Ph.D. degree in management, specializing in either ethics, entrepreneurship, or leadership and organizational behavior. The program prepares individuals for careers in research and teaching at major universities and corporations.
| School rankings (overall) | |
|---|---|
| U.S. MBA | |
| Bloomberg BusinessWeek[3] | 11 |
| Forbes[4] | 9 |
| U.S. News & World Report[5] | 13 |
| Worldwide MBA | |
| América Economía[6] | 26 |
| Economist[7] | 4 |
| Financial Times[8] | 41 |
Darden is regularly ranked as being among the Top 15 business schools in the U.S. and Top 25 in the world. Its current rankings (updated November 2011) are as follows:
Our Research Centers extend Darden's influence in critical areas advancing both thought leadership and the application of new ideas.
The Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) advances rigorous academic research on corporate sustainability issues by providing data, tools and networking opportunities to scholars. ARCS held its second annual research conference at Harvard Business School in May 2010. ARCS also co-sponsors with the University of Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business an annual PhD Sustainability Academy, which immerses young scholars in a multidisciplinary dialogue with leading sustainability faculty. In 2010, ARCS conducted a National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop on Data Needs for Accelerating Progress on Corporate Sustainability. Founded in 2009, ARCS is housed at the Darden School of Business. The Faculty Director is Darden Professor Michael Lenox and the Managing Director is Darden’s Manager of Sustainability Programs Erika Herz.
The Batten Institute at the Darden School of Business creates value and transforms society through entrepreneurship and innovation. The Institute’s academic research center advances knowledge that addresses real-world challenges and shapes Darden’s curriculum, and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership offers one of the world’s top entrepreneurship programs. The Batten Institute was established with gifts now totaling over $100 million from UVA alumnus Frank Batten, Sr., a media pioneer, visionary, and founder of The Weather Channel.
The Behavioral Research at Darden (BRAD) Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory supporting behavioral research at Darden. Researchers affiliated with BRAD study organizational behavior, marketing, business ethics, judgment and decision-making, behavioral operations and entrepreneurship.
Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, housed at the Darden School, is an association of chief executive officers. Its mission is to enhance ethical behavior of business leaders in the conduct of day-to-day business decision making.
The Center for Global Initiatives (CGI) gets students and executives ready for global opportunities by developing and implementing educational programs and research projects to enhance understanding of international issues. CGI also aims to increase global awareness of Darden and of the University of Virginia by promoting interaction between Darden and the rest of the world and currently has partnership agreements with over 20 international business schools in more than 15 countries. Overseas faculty and business leaders are brought to the university and the state to share their experiences, knowledge and perspectives, and in any given week Darden may have a distinguished global speaker, an international food festival, faculty members consulting abroad or the dean hosting a guest from outside the United States.
UVA Darden–Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education merges best practices from business and education administration to provide senior leadership of school organizations and their business and community partners with a new leadership perspective.
The Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, one of the world’s leading sources of thinking about ethics and business, conducts research, publishes books and other resource materials and sponsors the Ruffin Lecture Series.
The Society for Effectual Action (SEA) is a group of academic researchers, instructors, and entrepreneurs gathered for a single purpose: to fundamentally change the way entrepreneurship is taught and learned around the world. Co-founded by Professor Saras Sarasvathy and Darden alumni Chip Ransler and Ian Ayers, with support from the Batten Institute, SEA enables researchers and instructors to disseminate and discuss contributed papers, articles, teaching materials and techniques. Serving as a central hub for effectuation research, SEA invites the community to extend the principles presented in Sarasvathy’s book, Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise (2008), to new areas and practical applications.
The Tayloe Murphy Center forms alliances with communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia that are facing challenging economic conditions. In addition, the Tayloe Murphy Center conducts path-breaking and leadership-focused research projects that inform pressing policy and business issues central to the challenge of economic development and social progress.
Darden's list of prominent alumni (in order of graduation) includes: