Anne Shible named assistant dean of Leave School of Business
By LAUREN DAKE
Santa Clara's prestigious Leavey School of Business recently appointed its first assistant dean, Jo-Anne Shibles. Shibles will be working with faculty and students to develop a relatively new program that includes fostering a stronger commitment to public service among business undergraduates.
Her responsibilities include designing and instituting a program that will allow undergraduates in the business school to incorporate their work and volunteer experiences into their curriculum.One of her main goals is to develop service learning opportunities within the business school."Service learning is having experiential activities or learning in the community that relates back to the curriculum in the classroom," Shibles said.
Dean of the Leavey School of Business Barry Posner is excited to finally have the ability to, spend more time and energy with the undergraduate students than in the past.
The goal of this innovative program is to allow the students to develop ongoing relationships with community members and at the same time provide service to others.
"We're trying to provide a more holistic education for our students," Posner said. "So they aren't just learning about business, but actually applying what they are learning. We also want our students to carry with them the attitude that they can make a difference."According to Shibles, by implementing this program students will graduate from the school of business with not only academic experiences, but experiences in service learning and leadership development.
The goal is for students to learn by teaching. Examples of possible opportunities are assisting various businesses with their taxes, tutoring economics or finance in local high schools or helping with leadership development in East San Jose High School.
Shibles brings enthusiasm and a multitude of qualifications to the new position. She has an extensive background in program design and implementation as well as leadership development. Her resume includes the development of a campus wide leadership program at San Jose State and California State Fullerton. She has also spent time working on the campuses of University of Southern California and Westbrook College.
"This job was appealing because it is a newly created position with opportunities to develop exciting new programs working with students, faculty, administrators and individuals from the community," Shibles said.
Posner adds that not only is the position of an assistant dean new to the business school, but the service learning program is unique to Santa Clara.
"It has never been done in this comprehensive or enthusiastic way," Posner said. "Other schools will look to us to set the example."
Business students seem to agree.
"I think it sounds like a step in the right direction," sophomore Brandon Ribar said. "Hopefully it will help us to interact with the community and we can see how useful our academic skills are."Posner and Shibles are both very optimistic about the new program, and hope to see it implemented and in full swing shortly.