By Alfea Donato
Internships and international exchanges for every program is just one of many hopes newly appointed business school dean Steven Murphy has for Ryerson.
As of August, Murphy began his term as dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management for the next five years, as well as a professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. A former Carleton student, professor and associate dean, Murphy has worked as an educator, consultant and researcher around the world, teaching business classes in China and the Middle East.
Although he’s new on campus, Murphy’s already impressed with student achievements. Calling entrepreneurs the engine of any economy, Murphy said he’s been “immediately blown away” by Ryerson students in the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), where he’s seen students pitching to venture capitalists at the same level as seasoned professionals.
“The typical, buttoned down IBM ([International Business Machines] graduate of the past is not the graduate of the future,” Murphy said. “We have to be ready to accommodate that.”
Murphy isn’t new to breaking conventions. In the nineties, Silicon Valley’s firms underwent a digital revolution known as the dot-com bubble and Murphy was among the first to witness its game-changing effects.
They were beginning to challenge norms on dress, work hours…it just didn’t matter to them,” Murphy said. “What mattered to them was the intellectual ideas. It was magical to see.”
In Carleton, Murphy channeled that innovation into his dissertation. He discussed mental health in the workplace long before mainstream taboo was lifted.
Murphy plans to focus on the human side of business at Ryerson. Besides increased foreign placements and internships, Murphy says the standard way of thinking a degree is a set amount of courses is limited and all deans are looking at different ways to quantify education.
While Murphy says measuring education is limited, he sees Ryerson’s future as anything but.
“For me Ryerson became a fantastic opportunity because there’s an undeniable buzz and excitement in the air that you want to tap into,” said Murphy. “Where this faculty could go is basically limitless.”
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“The typical, buttoned down IBM ([International Business Machines] graduate of the past is not the graduate of the future,” Murphy said.
This and the dot-com bubble statement brings me back to the good ol’ days when Dilbert was funny and everyone was talking about retiring on their Nortel stock. If the dot-com boom is an example of “breaking-conventions” and “magical ideas”, then can we call the ensuing crash a “magical-unmitigated disaster?” With the rise of Facebook, Reddit and Pinterest, painting the 2000’s with a finer brush would be a better idea.