At the midpoint of his first year as Dean of the Sy Syms School of Business, Dr. Charles Snow sat down with The Commentator to reflect upon his efforts in enhancing and broadening the curriculum of the business school thus far. Earlier in the year, former Syms Dean Dr. Harold Nierenberg had provided an outline of the school's needs, stating that "the main goal at this stage is to enhance the quality of the school." To that end, Snow has commenced the process of improving the school, ushering in an age where it will stand as a vibrant, innovative institution. As he himself reported to The Commentator,

"On the quality side, I am conducting a review of all courses that are offered. The review consists of a couple of components. One is seeing what material is being taught and looking where there is overlap between courses and finding where there are things omitted from a course. Two is that I am occasionally going into classrooms and seeing what the faculty member does to engage students and what expectations have been setup. More of those visits will be taking place going forward. This is to get a sense of the instructional quality that we have.

"Our math requirement is being reviewed as well and some changes might be made there. We are also looking at our computer courses (MIS) and reviewing the tracts we offer; however, all courses are under review.

"Additionally, I would like to see more teachers use technology in the classroom whether it be the web, PowerPoint presentations, or video. Technology is a tool and it should be utilized. That is something we will be looking at as we revamp a number of our courses.

"On the scope issue, we have recently added the franchising course and the financial history course. We will obviously follow up to see how those are doing. Last semester we almost offered a course on Sports management. The write up was approved but unfortunately the course was canceled at last minute. Ever semester we will try to add an additional course. We have an agenda which is to increase the entrepreneurial and ethics course offerings.

"Furthermore when I was in Israel, I met with some people there and I am hoping to bring in more Israeli based courses. I spoke to an individual who would teach a course on the Israeli banking institutions. One of the things I am looking at is to have this course taught via satellite. We currently have the technology and we are trying to work out the logistics for the course; however, I am not certain that I am comfortable with this type of arrangement."

As reported earlier in the year, exam security, which was not a major issue in the past, has emerged as a primary concern since cheating scandals rocked the business school last spring. With a dozen exams reported stolen before test time, exam security became the number one issue in combating cheating in SSSB. Snow had stated that he would "make proper arrangements to ensure that the methods and avenues that were rumored to have been exploited last year would not be open in the future." In addressing developments in this area, he related,

"We looked at four aspects of improving the overall integrity of exams. We had issues of mesorah, production of the exams, storage of the exams, and proctoring. The game plan was to try to make strides in all four areas. We think we made tremendous progress but we don't feel we are there yet.

"We are taking the issue of mesorah very seriously. Word is going around to the staff that mesorah will not be tolerated. Every exam that is given to the department, I personally check against exams of previous years. We are constantly reiterating to our faculty that they are not to use old exams lock stock and barrel.

"Furthermore, production of the exams was done offsite as was storage of exams so we wouldn't have an issue of people breaking in and stealing any tests.

"There were also additional proctors this year and the sessions were much better than previously; but, we did have three incidents which I am not comfortable with. Clearly, however, there were fewer incidents that in the past.

"We need the students to understand from an attitudinal standpoint that cheating is genava. It is stealing and is no different than taking something from another individual. There is no place for it in a behavior fashion for a Jew. This needs to be inculcated into the students mind."

Due to the poor economic environment, the Office of Career Placement and Services is plagued with an especially burdensome job this year. This final topic is most crucial to graduating seniors and those applying for summer internships. Snow thus addressed recent developments at the placement office as well:

"We are approaching things from a summer internship point of view and we are also approaching it from a full time job point of view. We feel that it is important for us to have contact with key people. Four weeks ago I had lunch with someone from Credit Suisse, one of the bulge bracket investment banks and they were very receptive to our school. I also met with the managing director at Muriel Siebert and she indicated that she might have a summer position available for one of our students.

"I have met with the people of OPCS, which we do on a periodic basis. I stressed to the staff that searching on the web for jobs is not the route that I want to pursue but rather I want us to meet with people. I have business contacts that I can call upon and I have also asked the faculty for their business contacts.

"I want to see initiative on the part of the faculty. I want them to go down to these places and see what they can come up with. Looking on the web will not get our students jobs; we need to go out to them. We need to physically see these people and they need to physically see us.

"We are also looking into the issue of how to improve communication. Some of our events are not publicized as well as they should be. We intend to better publicize events by sending e-mails, dispersing more signs throughout each campus, as well as announcing events in each class. Steps have been taken to improve OPCS; however, it is not an overnight process.

"Longer term I would hope to begin meeting students in OPCS in the early part of their junior year because it is important to work with students on their interview skills and how they present themselves to employers. Effecting changes in these areas cannot be done overnight and the earlier we meet with students the more successful we will be.

"Additionally, in the future I would love to see if we could open relationships with Israeli businesses so we can place someone in Israel upon graduation."