Spotlight On: Benjamin Ayers, Dean, Terry College of Business – University of Georgia
August 2024 — Focus: is joined by Benjamin Ayers, dean of Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, to discuss how the school intersects top faculty, innovative curriculum, and strong engagement with business communities to provide a nationally ranked education for students. “We can develop leaders who can lead in business and the community,” he says.
What have been your key takeaways from the past year?
This past academic year was one of the best in our history in terms of national and international rankings and student outcomes. We were ranked number one among public undergraduate business schools by the Niche College Rankings. Financial Times had us number one globally for the value of our full-time MBA program. As a land grant university in Georgia, it’s important that we provide an outstanding education at a great value. Our executive and full-time MBA programs ranked among the top ten public business school programs in the country. We also launched an online MBA program, which has been a tremendous success to date with exceptional students in the program and high demand. In the online MBA program, we’re serving students from all across the United States and all across Georgia and providing an outstanding experience and education for these students. Our graduate placement rates continue to be high, with our MBA class of 2023 reaching 97% at three months after graduation. In the fall of 2024, we will enroll our largest class of MBA and undergraduate students in our history.
What is the strategic direction of Terry College?
The focal points of our strategic plan include leadership and innovation and how students navigate a rapidly evolving business landscape. Regarding our leadership emphasis, we believe it’s important to develop values-based, impact-driven leaders who lead with integrity. Business analytics is also a key component of our undergraduate and graduate programs. We live in a data driven society, and it’s so important for students to have the skills to collect, store, and analyze data to “connect the dots” to make informed business decisions. With the continued acceleration of artificial intelligence, we are also preparing our students to effectively utilize the tools of AI as well as to understand its limits. We prioritize business sustainability and how it can promote economic growth. We also continue to grow our international presence through a number of international consulting and study abroad opportunities. We believe these areas of focus will have a long-lasting impact on our graduates.
How does technology impact your programs and curriculum?
We are addressing the increasing impact that AI is having on businesses in a number of ways. For students in our management information systems program, we have classes on machine learning and artificial intelligence because they will be entering a workforce in which they will help companies strategically implement AI to improve effectiveness and decision making. As users of AI across all business disciplines, we want our graduates to understand how this tool is impacting the professions they will enter, how AI can be used to increase effectiveness and efficiency, and to understand the advantages and limits of AI. Our faculty are using AI in the curriculum to foster critical thinking, enhance communication skills, and understand AI’s disruption and impact on the skill set required for graduates. We are preparing our students to succeed in a world where AI will significantly impact business processes and professions.
How does Terry College of Business embrace innovation in practice and instruction?
With our focus on innovation, the mindset we cultivate for our students is to understand that we live in a world of high innovation, and that it’s important to embrace innovation and view it as a creator of opportunity that can drive significant benefits to business and society. Understanding the historical context of innovation and how it has impacted the labor force over time will help them identify potential opportunities and related areas of disruption and risk. We have classes highlighting different types of innovation, which give students a framework for understanding innovation in the present and future. This focus will allow our students to be on the front end of innovation, with a skillset that leverages technology and sets them apart in their respective fields.
How can Terry College drive economic development and social change?
Each year we host our economic outlook across the state. This series provides thousands of leaders with data to help them make better decisions over the next year. We also have a prominent executive education program based in Atlanta that is engaging with major companies across the Southeast on custom programs. There is often a focus on strategic planning, change management, technology, and innovation. Companies are also more focused on being better corporate citizens, and our programs can provide effective strategies and opportunities to accelerate the development of employee talent and make a positive impact on their communities.
As a business school, we also engage in a number of service-learning projects with local businesses and not-for-profit organizations. Our MBA program has helped a number of companies obtain B-Corp certification, which has been a great way for our students to get consulting experience while doing good for the community. Many of our service-learning projects are centered in the Athens community and rural Georgia through the Archway Partnership. Our students gain so much from these experiences while also fostering economic growth and community service across the state of Georgia.
What is your outlook over the next five years?
Affordability, access, and accountability are three important areas of focus in higher education broadly. At Terry, we are proud that we are a highly ranked value for the money. It reflects our commitment to both undergraduate and graduate students to offer an outstanding education while maintaining affordability and access to students from across the state of Georgia and beyond. We continue to increase need-based and merit-based scholarships to reduce out-of-pocket costs and help our students focus on their educational pursuits. As a yellow-ribbon school for the military, we have also worked hard to significantly increase the financial support for student veterans. Accountability is really important in terms of making sure that when students come to the school they are getting a great educational experience and the highest career outcomes. In the United States, due to demographic changes, the number of high school graduates will decline over the next few years. But we are blessed with fantastic students and want to make sure their education at the University of Georgia opens doors for them in their chosen professions. We are proud that this year will have our largest graduate enrollment in the school’s history. We have been able to achieve that by focusing on student experience, outcomes, and affordability.
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