Purdue University announced last week the creation of a new school of business.
The move will rebrand the school’s current Krannert School of Management, which officials say will help the school prepare students for more technology-driven industries - or for industries that may develop in the coming decades.
The dean of the new program, David Hummels, said the school is trying to prepare dynamic students who will be able to fill - and create - jobs across shifting industries.
“I don’t know what industries are going to matter 30 years from now,” he said. “The question is, can we produce students who are going to define what that looks like?”
As part of the change, the university will expand both the number of students and faculty and the physical facilities on campus.
Hummels said the shift between the words “management” and “business” for the school reflects changes in the kinds of industries - and jobs - that are out there.
“The Krannert Graduate School of Industrial Administration was formed in 1962, and you look at the companies who were at the top of the Fortune 500 that year – it was steel, oil, plastics, car companies, and a few industrial conglomerates,” he said. “You look at the companies that are at the top of the Fortune 500 today, and none of them even existed in 1962. We need to prepare students who are going to create or lead industries that don't even exist yet. That’s not a role for a caretaker - that’s a role for someone who is much more dynamic and entrepreneurial.”
Purdue’s School of Management has seen rapid growth alongside the rest of the university.
Enrollment in the school has grown from 2,400 to roughly 3,100 in the last few years. Hummels said the goal is to expand to 4,000 students in the next three to four years.
The university is slating its first round of expansions as part of the rebranding for the fall of 2023.
