Joel Moses, Institute Professor, MIT

Professor Moses gave the Thursday keynote for our SDM business trip. He is one of only a handful of Institute Professors at MIT. Here is a description of what it means to be an Institute Professor:

"There are only 15 Institute Professors, and they are regarded as the very best among an already impressive crowd. The highest honor awarded to MIT faculty, appointment as an Institute Professor is at once an acknowledgment of extraordinary leadership, accomplishment, and service and an invitation to follow intellectual pursuits without the hindrances of departmental responsibilities. Institute Professors report directly to the provost, rather than to a department head, and they have no obligation to teach, which opens the door to projects and political appointments that would otherwise not be feasible." (read more)

Professor Moses was involved in the initial creation of the SDM program. He didn't have much in the way of a prepared talk, he just answered questions.

Professor Moses bio

Notes:

Talked about the founding of the SDM program

Recent Visiting Committee that evaluated MIT programs said that SDM was the "best program" and the "Sloan of yester year"

Q: Why aren't other institutions implementing programs like SDM? A: Primarily because engineering and business schools aren't that close

Q: What was the feedback from industry when you started SDM? A: Speed up the process of training an engineer to run a large organization

Q: Do you think we have enough classes on finance? A: We don't teach you everything you need to know. We teach you a process for how to learn.

Recommends a book by a MIT Political Science professor: How We Compete

They didn't want to have a second degree for SDM to be a MBA because of the stigma around MBAs

Everyone talks about courses, courses, courses, we are teaching people how to learn