Dean Joe Thomas sat down this week with Cornell Chronicle writer Anne Ju to discuss some of his ideas and goals as he takes over leadership of the Johnson School.

The field of management education is dynamic and competitive. Can you give me an update on the Johnson School's position within this environment?

The Johnson School is a world-class school that has accomplished great things. We have outstanding centers of research, learning and practice, including the Parker Center for Investment Research, Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Entrepreneurship @ Johnson, and the emerging Business of Science and Technology initiative. In the past few years we have hired over 20 first-class faculty who demonstrate an incredible breadth of experience and knowledge. Our current student body represents our strongest classes to date, and we see record applications in all four MBA programs as well as the PhD program. Finally, we are more connected than ever to our alumni. I just returned from an around-the-world trip and had the opportunity to connect with many alumni. They are as passionate about the Johnson School as I am.

As you assume the deanship, where do you see the school heading in the next few years?

Our school is outstanding, but we need to do more. We will continue to hire new faculty and to develop our centers. We are committed to increasing our diversity for both faculty and our student body. We plan to increase the size of our EMBA programs, deepen our relationships with all of our alumni and continue to raise awareness about the excellent teaching and research that is happening at the Johnson School. In addition to these important initiatives, we will increase our efforts in global business education. Finally, given the growth of our programs, we will also be looking at facilities and ensuring we have the appropriate space for our faculty, staff and students to thrive.

The Johnson School has outstanding faculty, staff, students and alumni who are committed to seeing us build, earn and sustain a worldwide reputation as a top-ten school of management. I am committed to this goal and to working with my colleagues to achieve it.

Will the Campaign for Cornell affect the Johnson School, and in what ways?

Absolutely. Business schools are extremely competitive, and many of our peers have launched multimillion-dollar campaigns. Through the support of our alumni and friends, our campaign will provide the support for attracting and retaining the best faculty and students, as well as ensure we provide leading programs and outstanding educational experiences. Our campaign goals focus on faculty chairs, scholarships, as well as support for new initiatives such as global programming. This support is critical to the future of the Johnson School.

What are the challenges the Johnson School faces in continuing to recruit top-flight and diverse faculty, and what specifically do you plan to do in this area?

We have been successful in hiring over the last few years, but the market for the best faculty is very competitive. All of the top schools want outstanding researchers and teachers. The faculty we've hired in the last 10 years have generated research that is being noticed in many areas, such as asset management, economics, sustainability, gender and diversity issues in management, brand management and marketing analysis. They are filling key roles for us right now, and we expect them to continue to do that.

We plan to continue to be aggressive in faculty hiring. We are very serious about recruiting more women and underrepresented minorities. We also want the right mix of academics and practitioners to help educate our students. We're an academic institution, but we're training people for a practical world. That combination requires a mix of skills and abilities. It also includes people from different parts of the world, and we want a faculty to be diverse in that way as well.

About 35 percent of the Johnson School's graduates are participants in the Executive MBA programs. What can you say about the importance of these programs?

These programs do several things. First, the market for MBA education is changing, and we are positioned to provide management education to all future leaders. Our two EMBA programs provide an opportunity to educate experienced managers who continue to work while earning their degree. The Cornell-Queen's model of team-based videoconferencing also offers the flexibility of bringing a Cornell MBA to students in their home cities. Second, the excellent students in our EMBA programs bring senior-level experience to business discussions in the classroom. Their experiences and insights are helpful to our faculty and make the discussions robust. Third, the relatively small size of the resident programs allows us to maintain an intense and collaborative community, for both our resident students and for our EMBA students. While we are committed to maintaining the size of our Ithaca-based residential programs, having off-campus programs permits us to expand our overall enrollment. A larger size allows us to hire more faculty, which allows us to teach a greater variety of courses in all programs, and ensures that we generate the research that is so important to our institution.

You have been a faculty member at the school for a great number of years, and interim dean for almost one year. How do you see the school changing now that you are dean?

The Johnson School is constantly evolving. In just the past year we have instituted several successful searches for important staff and faculty positions to help move our initiatives forward, and we have implanted a number of new courses, especially in the second year curriculum. I am excited to be assuming the position of dean, because it gives me the opportunity to lead this school in new and exciting ways. The Johnson School is built on an amazing foundation. We have leading faculty, talented staff, exceptional students, dedicated alumni, and committed corporate partners. In the last year I have invited the entire graduating class to my home, and I have met with over 1,000 alumni around the world. These discussions have been rewarding and informative and have helped me gain deeper insight into developing our strategy for the future. I anticipate the next few years to be just as exciting with many more changes, while retaining the core values and culture that make the Johnson School unique.