From the Desk of Dean Sarker

As I complete my first full calendar year as Dean of the Pamplin College of Business, I find it a perfect time to reflect on our collective achievements and share an outline of what lies ahead in the first half of 2025.

Key Events and Initiatives in 2024

Organizational Progress

• January 2024: Results of the Organizational Review by Segal shared with the College.
• March 2024: New Pamplin organizational structure formulated and announced.

Strategic Development

• February 2024: AACSB Reaccreditation confirmed.
• April–December 2024: Strategic Roadmap creation process undertaken. 
• December 2024: Task Force for Sponsored Research created.

AI and Technology

• November 2023–February 2024: AI Task Force formed and submitted its report; initiatives such as Pamplin TLC launched in response.
• August–December 2024: Foundational work on Pamplin+ completed.

Recognition and Community

• April 2024: Pamplin Awards held, introducing the Dean’s Fellow category to recognize faculty and staff performance.
• May 2024: Class of 2024 graduated.
• August 2024: New members joined Pamplin faculty and staff. 

Transformation and Innovation

• September 2024: Pamplin’s Office of Transformation launched.
• October 2024: Changes implemented in P&T committee structure.
• December 2024: Pamplin NCR transitioned to the Innovation Campus.

Advancement Successes

• Exceeded yearly advancement goals.
• Led the University on Giving Day.
• Hosted or attended numerous events nationwide, including Boundless Impact campaigns, Hokies on Wall Street, and the inaugural Hokies in Silicon Valley. 

Looking Ahead to 2025

Strategic and Operational Goals

• February 2025: Completion of the Strategic Roadmap.
• March–June 2025: Development of KPIs for action items from the roadmap.
• Launch of new digital dashboards for improved transparency.

Research and Academic Progress

• June 2025: Revised research metrics and journal list finalized for implementation in the 2025–2026 academic year. 
• January 2025: New graduate programs in development.

Infrastructure and Policy Enhancements

• February 2025: Official launch of the Innovation Campus.
• September 2025: Groundbreaking of the new business building.
• Revised processes for summer funding, P&T, and NTT faculty promotions.

I am deeply grateful for the dedication of our faculty, staff, and students. Your hard work and commitment have brought external recognition and elevated Pamplin’s visibility. The sense of community and pursuit of excellence within Pamplin is truly inspiring.

To my faculty and staff colleagues: thank you for your guidance, dedication, and unwavering support. Your efforts are the foundation of Pamplin’s success.  

May we continue to grow, innovate, and elevate Pamplin as a leader in business education. Let’s work together to build our Next-Gen Pamplin with responsibility and collaboration.

I wish you all a restful and joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year in advance!

Work-Ready AI Talent: Panel Discussion at the Atlas of AI Conference

How will AI change our workforce? What jobs will arise and fall? These are among the questions explored at the recent Atlas of AI Summit by a panel moderated by Dean Saonee Sarker. On the panel were: Christina McClung, Senior Vice President, HR, Capital One; Ed Bowen, Head of AI Center of Excellence, Deloitte; Anne Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community Colleges; Eui-Hong (Sam) Han, Head of Data and AI, Washington Post. 

What follows is an edited version of the discussion.

Saonee Sarker: Since everyone in industry will be impacted by AI in some way, developing the next generation of talent that works with AI is critical. Specifically, with everyone needing AI talent right now, what does the market look like to you? 

Ed Bowen: The demand for AI talent far outstrips supply right now. At Deloitte, our clients are 99% of the Fortune 500. It's a huge organization, and we have huge demands on us for this kind of work. We bring hundreds of students a year into our company and have an amazing track record of success. But we also recognize that things are moving so fast, and so we must fill that gap…People are also retooling in the middle of their career. Maybe they were computer scientists or software engineers, and we're helping them get grounded in AI machine learning…

Another part of it is understanding what types of talent we need. Not everybody has to be a Ph.D AI researcher. Generative AI has been a blessing in that it's made the implementation, delivery, and design of AI solutions much more accessible to people who do not have traditional software engineering skills…

Christina McClung: At Capital One, it's important to remember that we hire hundreds and hundreds of engineers per year.  Yes, we're looking for technical skills, of course, but I think it's more about the holistic person. In five, ten years from now, it's going to be a whole new landscape of what we're looking for on the skill side…

So, for us, the holistic person also has to be able to have creative problem solving, being able to think about how to break down a problem and solve it in the right way at the right time and have good judgment… 

Also, I think one of the big things Capital One is looking for mission-oriented, culture-driven leaders of the future that are truly going to be able to think about what's next and not be so siloed in what might be happening right now, but have that mindset that is super important to growing…

SS: So, you're talking about some of the macro skills and competencies in terms of who is ready to embrace that AI. I want to shift a bit more to a micro question. Now, let's say that the individual is coming into (the Washington Post) and now has to work side by side with AI. What skills do you look for or you think would be helpful for them to really collaborate with AI? 

Eui-Hong (Same) Han: I think we need people who can work between technology and humanity. Collaboration, communication, and all these soft skills are critical to making technology come to life. Based on the experience I had with the Washington Post, I came to realize that emotional intelligence is critical in bringing AI to a news media organization…

This industry faced existential threats as new technology emerged. A lot of smaller local newspapers failed to survive. And then there were a lot of layoffs of journalists. When implementing AI, you want to talk to (journalists) with empathy, understanding their fear, their concern, the anxiety, in order to bring the team together… 

Some journalists love data mining and (its applicability to) large research projects. The automation aspect lets them write the articles and spend time on their storytelling.  AI is not going to replace their work. It enables them to focus on creative work. That's what they are signed up for. It’s not substitution but augmentation… 

SS: Christina, you work in a company that's filled with technologies. So, in the world of AI, apart from the technical aspects, what are your thoughts on empowering the next generation of technologists? 

CM: If I were to look at all the skills that a professional in the tech industry should possess, the biggest one is learning agility, the desire to learn. The tech business is going to shift…I'm excited about who's going to change the world next. You never know who's around the corner. I love that Margaret Mead quote, which is like, never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world because that's all that ever has… 

SS:  So, it’s the durable skills, the creative thinking, problem solving, and communication that is so critical because you might be able to have an AI tool that can do what can be automated. 

Anne Kress: That’s true,  we have folks who are working every single day to do –honestly -- very mundane and morale-busting activities that could be offloaded to AI. 

But one of the things I want to point out is that 95 percent of employers across the Commonwealth of Virginia are small to medium-sized businesses that do not have the capacity to reskill, upskill, or skill their existing workforce to work within the current changing environment. And that's a place where community college could come in. We began working with artificial intelligence probably five years ago when we started a project with the US Marine Corps around machine learning. From that, we've built a certificate in machine learning and data analytics. From that, we then built a certificate in data analytics and artificial intelligence. We've set up a community of practice in artificial intelligence to train our existing workforce…

There's data right now that this region, the DMV region, is second only to Silicon Valley for the number of job postings that have some AI skill set as a component. If we're not coming together to help our students and employees succeed in this environment, and if we're not coming together in a very meaningful, collaborative way to help our tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises upskill their own workforce, then the AI potential is really lost.

From the Desk of Associate Dean of Transformation, Janice Branch Hall

Colleagues, I hope you are well and having a great start to the fall semester.  At last week’s townhall meeting, Dean Sarker announced the evolution of Pamplin’s DEIB operations with the formation of the Office of Transformation. I am writing to provide further context about this exciting new chapter.  

Over the last five years during my time serving Pamplin, I have observed several cultural shifts - from leadership transitions including the arrival of our new dean, to external factors such as growing enrollments, new facilities, and evolving people trends. These shifts have informed the direction of our work and, whether we feel ready or not, we find ourselves in unprecedented times. However, I believe this is a moment for, alignment, that positions us to strengthen our 3R philosophy – Resources, Reputation, Responsibility – while working toward our vision of Next-Gen Pamplin.

A recurring theme that ties our philosophy and vision together is – Responsibility. To achieve our 3Rs and Next-Gen Pamplin, Dean Sarker has inspired our #OnePamplin value, a guiding principle that will inform our responsibility to manage both our individual and collective actions, behaviors, and interactions with one another in the work ahead. This is not about simply managing change; change management is a temporary solution to the deeper cultural issues that could hinder our progress. If we reduce our work and our interactions to past encounters or if we lack the humility and drive to step outside our comfort zones, we run the risk of failing to uphold our commitment to stewardship, and the world-class we seek. 

Given the size, scope, and depth of Next-Gen Pamplin, we must expand our perspectives beyond the past and the present to intentionally and strategically co-create our culture of the future. This is the heart of transformation - a movement to inspire people excellence. 

In conjunction with our strategic planning efforts, the Office of Transformation will be engaging with you in the months ahead to collaboratively define #OnePamplin and shape the people strategies that will foster this shared culture. Your involvement will give you a sense of ownership in constructing the future we envision. At the same time, we will continue to partner with you in the pursuit of inclusive excellence to further integrate data-driven DEIB practices that expand access to opportunities and affirm the diverse perspectives and lived experiences of Pamplin community members. 

Each of you is a valued and essential part of this journey. The future of Pamplin students and our global stakeholders need you! Committing to #OnePamplin is not a fleeting dream, rather, it is a call to action. Together we aim to realize the incredible possibilities that emerge when we move forward with shared conviction. 

Warm regards, 
Janice Branch Hall 
Associate Dean of Transformation 

I hope you all had a good July and are enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer before the start of the new academic year.  

July was quieter for me following a hectic June filled with conferences and research workshops. Each event was valuable but, today I want to share key takeaways from one of them, namely, the Responsible Research in Business Management’s (RRBM) annual summit held at Cambridge University, UK.  

I have been closely associated with RRBM serving as a member of the organization’s working board as well as the summit’s program committee. RRBM brings together deans, researchers, doctoral students, journal editors, and even organizations such as AACSB, EFMD, and FT. It is a privilege to work closely with such visionary and thoughtful leaders especially as part of the board. While there was a myriad of topics discussed, panels conducted, and brainstorming sessions organized, two stood out to me. 

Responsibility in Research - How can we encourage research on responsibility-related topics, conduct responsible research, and ensure that responsibility becomes core to our research mission and excellence.  

I took away several ideas from fellow academics. For example: 

• Including ethics, responsibility, and sustainability as a metric for ranking and recognition,  

• Asking external letter writers (during promotion and tenure cases) to comment on “responsibility” surrounding an individual’s research,  

• Introducing  “data colatas” (or 3 volunteer scholars who act as vigilantes and examine a published paper to assess its authenticity, replicability, etc.).

As you all know, responsibility continues to be an important node of my 3R framework. As we continue to integrate responsibility into our College and establish our 5-year vision, I hope that the many dimensions of responsibility that are being practiced and proposed within academia will inspire us to do our best with respect to this important area.

Impact of Research - Universities, accreditation bodies, and journals are now grappling with the definition of impactful research, how to encourage it, assess it, and reward it.

A range of different ideas are beginning to be implemented or proposed. 

• Requiring impact statements in manuscript submissions to journals 

• Discussing “impact beyond academia” in annual activity reports,  

• Giving credit for practice-oriented studies and pedagogical innovation.

Since joining Pamplin I have recognized the multi-dimensionality of impact and seek ways to operationalize them within the College. It was reassuring to see the same efforts taking shape within academia, and I hope we can arrive at a more structured set of actions in the coming months. 

Stay tuned for more on the above topics.  

Enjoy the few remaining weeks of summer and I look forward to seeing you all at our College townhall and picnic on August 29.  

Go Hokies! 

The month of May went by in a flash with end-of-the-semester activities, and most importantly, Commencement. It was great seeing many of you at the Pamplin awards ceremony as well as at the Commencement ceremonies. For our College and University, Commencement is one of the most significant events celebrating the hard work of our students, faculty, and staff as they embark on their next chapters, projects, or initiatives. A huge thanks to all those who worked tirelessly both in Blacksburg and in the D.C. Metro Area to make Pamplin’s Commencement ceremonies   memorable, especially a big shout-out to Lisha Henshaw, Michelle Seref, and Barbara Hoopes.

As soon as the frenzy of the academic year subsided, I traveled to meet with Hokies and partners on the West Coast and China.  We have a 3+1 program with Xidian University in the beautiful and ancient city of Xi’an, China where students complete three years of their undergraduate program in Xidian, focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, and their final year in Blacksburg. The first group of approximately 99 students will arrive on campus in 2025. 

Below are some highlights from this visit:

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: China’s business ecosystem emphasizes these areas. Not only is there demand for more structured education surrounding these topics, but we also visited multiple companies founded by Xidian alums who are successful entrepreneurs   of AI and sustainability start-ups.  These interactions affirmed many of the ideas surrounding next-gen Pamplin, where entrepreneurial mindset, digitalization, algorithmic thinking, and sustainability, will be central to its educational focus.

Collaboration and Exchange: There is a lot of interest in deeper collaboration between Chinese- and U.S.-based universities, including faculty and student exchanges. We received an invitation to visit with one of the leaders at the Ministry (equivalent to our Department of Labor) in Beijing who approved some grants to our joint program signaling future collaboration opportunities.

Ut Prosim: In the spirit of Ut Prosim, we got to spend half a day at a primary school in rural area near Xi’an teaching the students songs in English (led by Michelle Seref), craft work and spending time with them in their classrooms.

Hoke Spirit in China:. As part of the last leg of our journey, we hosted an alumni event in Shanghai. We were overwhelmed with the response with over 70 VT alums in attendance (about one-fifth from Pamplin). The venue was transformed into a mini-VT campus with pictures of Buruss hall and the Drillfield, and we heard from eight alums who shared their professional journey since leaving VT and the impact of their VT education on their growth and development. What a way to end the trip!

I want to thank my colleagues, Michelle Seref, Devi Gynawali, and Jennifer Clevenger for being amazing travel buddies and not shying away from any challenge including hiking the Great Wall with enthusiasm. Thanks also to our seven VT faculty members who are currently at Xidian teaching different courses to the students who will be here in the coming years. Also, gratitude to our partners at Xidian University, for their amazing hospitality and attention to every minute detail, and a special shout-out to Jennifer for making top notch arrangements for our visit.

I hope your summer is off to a great start and I look forward to seeing you all in person soon.