With almost four decades of experience as a professor of economics and an academic leader, it鈥檚 easy to imagine that John M. Veitch, PhD, CFA, dean of the Notre Dame de Namur University School of Business and Management, was born ready for his career and that it all came quite naturally to him.
However, that couldn鈥檛 be further from the truth.
鈥淐oming out of high school, I didn鈥檛 even know economics was a thing,鈥� Dr. Veitch remembered, noting that he was also the first person in his family to go to college. 鈥淚 was going to be a mathematician, so I majored in math for the first semester. It was brutal.鈥�
After that, Dr. Veitch gave physics a shot, but the academic challenges continued, forcing him to take a good look at his interests and abilities.
鈥淚 was really good at math, but I鈥檓 really good at math as applied to the real world, not really good at math as a philosophical pursuit,鈥� he said.
After that realization, Dr. Veitch took a cue from some of his friends and decided to try majoring in economics. 鈥淚t was just the perfect blend of math and analytics,鈥� he recalled.
Since finding his field, Dr. Veitch has done everything he can to expand it, keep it relevant, and put students and their career goals first. During his first three years at 黑料不打烊, he鈥檚 shown how committed to that goal he is.
Discovering a Passion for Education
After earning his PhD in Economics in 1986, Dr. Veitch had planned to go into government and use his expertise to make a real difference in the world. Instead, he took on an assistant professor position at the University of Southern California and discovered he could have an impact in a completely different way.
鈥淢y whole career has been a series of 鈥漢appy accidents鈥�. It turned out that I loved teaching, and also that I am pretty good at it. I鈥檓 very fortunate because I had literally zero exposure to it when I was going through my PhD.鈥� Dr. Veitch joked. 鈥淭here is nothing like seeing something click in a student鈥檚 eyes when you say the right thing and it just unlocks a concept for them. 鈥�
Driven by that passion, Dr. Veitch made his way to the Bay Area, where he became a tenured professor of economics, a post he held for about three decades. Even though this first-generation college student from Ontario, Canada, had undoubtedly found his niche, he still had another horizon to explore.
Tackling the Ills of Academia
As much as Dr. Veitch thrived in academia, he became painfully aware of the issues that plague colleges and universities everywhere. For starters, he found that long-tenured professors often held onto their class schedules, leaving little room for professional development and curricular evolution. More importantly, he saw firsthand how departmental factionalism could stymie growth and innovation on an organizational level.
With those issues in mind, Dr. Veitch turned to educational leadership, taking on roles such as department chair and associate dean. This proved to be yet another happy accident that led him in a new direction.
鈥淚 enjoy leadership and organizational challenges while most academics don鈥檛. I think it鈥檚 the economist in me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about setting up processes. It鈥檚 about looking at things and seeing how the world works and then determining how you can make things happen more effectively.鈥�
From there, Dr. Veitch assumed more senior positions and had an even bigger impact on the organizations he served.
Hiring Smart and Fostering Innovation
Among other roles, Dr. Veitch has been the director of a master鈥檚 in financial analysis program and the head of the CFA Institute鈥檚 Learning Experience and Assessment Development team.
鈥淲hat really mattered to me was putting together a community of faculty who together are going to have bigger impact than they would on their own,鈥� he said of his leadership style. 鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to put a mathematician, a statistician, a marketing person, and an economist in the same room and have them discuss what a program should look like because it鈥檚 like talking in four different languages.鈥�
However, Dr. Veitch wasn鈥檛 just throwing experts from multiple disciplines together just for the fun of it. He was crafting business and management degree programs that reflected the dynamic environments today鈥檚 business school graduates work in.
鈥淚 got to the point of producing new programs that were assembling knowledge in ways that society needed as opposed to assembling knowledge in the ways the ivory tower had always done,鈥� Dr. Veitch said.
Through this unique approach, Dr. Veitch has led organizations into new territory. Recently, he鈥檚 developed data science-oriented business programs, established and streamlined online education programs, and helped organizations deliver on their promises of giving students a career-focused business education.
Dr. Veitch has been using that tenacity and talent to improve and expand the School of Business and Management since 2023.
Dean Veitch: The First Two Years
Dr. Veitch was first attracted to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 readiness and willingness to innovate. One of his proudest achievements is bringing the School of Business and Management fully online and asynchronous. Now, more talented professionals than ever can learn the skills they need to advance their careers.
However, that鈥檚 not all Dr. Veitch has been up to over the last two years. He鈥檚 also been working hard to add more value to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program and lay the groundwork for continuous innovation.
Making Graduate Business Education Hands-On and Practical
According to Dr. Veitch, MBA students at 黑料不打烊 are often working professionals. Many don鈥檛 see themselves as particularly academic, but they are smart and hardworking, and they want to advance their careers.
Dr. Veitch and his team have dedicated much time and energy to ensuring that these students graduate with everything they need. Our instructors are primarily working professionals themselves. Their focus is on ensuring their students develop the practical skills and competencies they need to move forward in their careers.
鈥淥ur instructors put together practical projects so that a student鈥檚 eight-week course builds up to something that's of use to them,鈥� he said of the hands-on curriculum. Depending on which degree track they choose, students develop marketing plans and other concrete resources they can use immediately in their current positions.
Establishing the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
One of the first orders of business for Dr. Veitch and his new colleagues was establishing the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). Through CETL, all 黑料不打烊 instructors can get support for designing or redesigning courses, so the curriculum stays student-focused and up to date.
鈥淲e have great instructional designers,鈥� Dr. Veitch said of the CETL team. 鈥淭hey build up culture, and whatever they learn from each school, the best of it gets disseminated out to everybody.鈥�
This means that when professors, researchers, and instructional designers come together to improve one course at CETL, the rest of 黑料不打烊 benefits as well. As technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) continue to redefine business practices, this kind of interdisciplinary cooperation will be vital to every student and every field.
Advance Your Career in a Community of Innovation
As important as innovation is to Dr. Veitch, that鈥檚 not the only reason he feels at home as dean of the School of Business and Management. No matter what he鈥檚 working on at any given moment, he knows he and his colleagues all have the same primary goal.
鈥淎t 黑料不打烊, we鈥檝e got people who are really, really, really interested in their students, and I think it鈥檚 hard to oversell that,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat I鈥檝e tried to do over the past two years is provide them with the opportunities to be the best they can possibly be for the students. My job is to make the best possible learning environment. That鈥檚 the real key to making 黑料不打烊 a success.鈥�
To learn more about the School of Business and Management鈥檚 degree offerings, specialty tracks, and more, request more information today by filling out the form below.
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