Powerful brands influence customer preference, strengthen the bottom line, and can even boost market valuation. For business schools, a strong brand can make the difference between increasing the number of top students or facing falling quality and numbers, misspent marketing money and a wavering reputation. Yet for many schools and corporations, the brand remains an uncultivated business asset. Branding is a business process -- one that is planned, strategically-focused and integrated throughout the organization. Branding establishes the direction, leadership, clarity of purpose, inspiration and energy for a company.

Worldwide, the proliferation of small businesses and their increasing importance in the economy mean that the management and growth of such enterprises are ever-more critical in national and regional development. At the same time, changes in work patterns and the frequent opportunities for innovation offered by accelerating technological development make entrepreneurship within organizations - 'intrapreneurship' - a core challenge for large companies. We will discuss entrepreneurship courses, developing entrepreneurial centers, global orientation of entrepreneurial ventures and partnership programs that will teach young entrepreneurs how to balance their innovative talents with the need to manage their business and control their growth.

The hospitality industry has experienced vast growth and currently ranks as the world's largest revenue industry and largest employer. Today, the industry is more than hotel and restaurant enterprises. It now includes an array of companies that specialize in airlines, sports arenas and entertainment/amusement centers, senior living communities, car rentals, casinos, club management, real estate development, finance companies, conference/convention planning, catering, large chain restaurants, general brand management and franchise management, accounting, law, human resources and management training, information technology, travel agencies, and more. Well take a look at some schools that are delivering the education and interacting with industry leaders to ensure that the fast-paced and ever-changing opportunities of the hospitality industry are provided to students and review the hospitality industry in the Virgin Islands.

The need for advanced education is becoming increasingly more crucial to successfully maintaining our place in the technologically-advanced economy. Now, more than ever, individuals are obtaining graduate degrees in order to gain more expertise in their field of study. Currently, nearly 2 million students attend one of over 1,800 graduate school programs in our country. And this number is on the rise. Graduate education produces immeasurable benefits for the country. Graduate programs in the United States are respected and emulated worldwide. Our nation's unique system of combining graduate education with research strengthens the American education system and serves as the backbone for our nation's leadership in science and technology. This session will explore the vital role graduate programs play in fostering innovation and encouraging in-depth study.

The Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (Ford PAS), developed in partnership with Education Development Center, links classroom learning with the challenges students will face in college and in the workplace.. These links are forged through community-wide, cooperative efforts and innovative partnerships that join local high schools, colleges and universities, and businesses. This session will examine how higher education institutions can benefit from Ford PAS by developing collaborative relationships with high school educators and business professionals, as well as by sharing their expertise with young people and helping to expand the pool of highly qualified future students.

The gift pyramid of donors is the foundation of any organized fundraising program. The strategic goal of any fundraiser is to maximize the number of persons in the donor base and to move donors from the base of the pyramid to a point as high as their capacity and interest will take them. Serendipity and unexpected large gifts play a part in fundraising; but strategic planning, careful management, and good stewardship are the essential elements of building a good fundraising program over time. This session will explain how to create annual fund gift clubs and walk through the fundraising process from special event to follow-up solicitation telephone calls.

Education has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Many colleges and universities have advanced significantly when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment through increased computer usage by students, installing classroom Internet access, utilizing Networked Learning Environments and providing online courses. As we continue to make IT investments that will assist us in preparing our students to succeed in the workforce, we will take a look at which investments will have the greatest impact and which technologies best align with the strategy and mission of our institutions.

Accreditation is a process of external quality review used by higher education to examine colleges, universities and higher education programs for quality assurance and quality improvement. This session will explain the process used by accreditation organizations to analyze programs for quality assurance and quality improvement, and how this process works. The speaker will also discuss how to maintain accreditation once you receive it.

Even the most dedicated faculty often discover that their students haven't learned what they are trying to teach - and that much of what students do learn is quickly forgotten after the final exam. Traditional testing methods have shown limited measures of student learning, and are often inconsistent with the increasing emphasis placed on the ability of students to think analytically, understand and communicate at both detailed and "big picture" levels, and to acquire life-long leadership skills. Innovative assessment methods emphasize deeper levels of learning and give instructors valuable feedback during a course. This session will examine methods to facilitate the continuous quality improvement of curricula and instruction through assessment of student outcomes.

Virtually all of business, and thus much of what it means to be an effective business leader, will increasingly be influenced by international and global forces moving forward. To keep up with the current changes we must foster the knowledge and practice of global strategic corporate leadership through cutting-edge research, high-quality education, constructive public outreach, and catalytic/networking activities. It is vital for business schools to develop leaders who will achieve high performance in the global world of business. This session will facilitate requisite understanding of the external environment of international business that includes the interacting variables, issues, flows, forces, factors and institutions bearing upon the effective strategic design, conduct and performance of business done across borders.

Strategic planning is a management tool. As with any management tool, it is used for one purpose only: to help an organization do a better job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. This session will discuss how develop a strategic plan based upon fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what your school, college, or department is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future.

As a strategic management tool, corporate social responsibility is a growing area of focus in today's business world. There are many lessons to learn about the business application of CSR, as more companies take a closer look at managing social, ethical and stakeholder issues. Students entering the business world should be familiar with such terms such as "corporate citizenship" and "corporate public policy," and should understand the roles these disciplines play in business. The speaker will explore the latest trends in this area while providing recent case studies.