Motivation: Management encompasses the science and art of how businesses and organizations accomplish goals using available resources efficiently, effectively, and sustainably. Now is the time to create innovative management programs based on quantitative research in organizations, innovation, science, and technology, with a focus on sustainable processes and practices at all levels. For instance, the rise of global service-based business models have transformed the way the world works, enabled by new information and communications technologies, specialization of businesses and professions, global regulations, and increased use of external services. National priorities aim toward economic improvement, driven by scientific understanding and systematic innovation.[1] But the US is lagging behind. It is time to focus deep scientific and engineering attention on service innovation in services, technology, and sustainability, among other areas.[2] UC Merced is uniquely positioned to create such new and novel management programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and to lead in research and practice in areas of management relevant to the Central Valley, California, the US, and beyond.

Opportunity: Modern businesses require employees with diverse and deep skill-sets. Many of these skill-sets are founded on cross-functional knowledge, including business analytics (computer science, mathematics, geography, economics, cognitive science, and management), decision-analysis (cognitive science, management), logistics (science, mathematics, geography, engineering, and management), resource management (environmental science, engineering, and management), and services (engineering, cognitive science, and management). UC Merced has substantial depth in these areas, including environment and natural resources, applied math and computation, technology and engineering, and cognitive and information sciences. In particular, all existing campus ORUs, (CITRIS, SNRI, HSRI, ERI), the new cross-UC California Center for Service Science, the Blum Center at UC Merced, proposed Center for Theory and Computation, proposed Center for Human Adaptive Systems and Environments, proposed Center for the Environment and Sustainability, proposed Hard Rock Reserves Institute, proposed new focus areas of Cognitive and Information Sciences in data science and human-technology interaction, proposed new programs in Applied Philosophy, and proposed School of Management and Economics are all aligned with our vision. Moreover, the campus has experience delivering innovative and interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and management programs. By weaving these diverse specialties together, we can create research-based management programs that will educate the business leaders of tomorrow, focusing on value-creation, innovation, and sustainability.  We can achieve this by building on our strengths and focusing on real-world problems relevant to the university, region, and state.[3]

Research Priorities: The San Joaquin Valley is directly faced with many of the grand challenges seen in our society in general: air quality, clean water, access to clean energy, access to good healthcare, and socio-economic disparities fueled by the lack of jobs. It is increasingly clear that the solutions to these challenges are found at the intersection of traditional academic fields. As such, the research priorities should be set at these intersections to collectively bring about solutions to the challenges of our area and the State. Examples include how technology can be used to manage solutions to these challenges, as illustrated in these sample research questions: How can data analytics enable better management of natural resources?  How can management of technology promote better access to healthcare?  How can entrepreneurial activities promote job growth locally?  How can better understanding of services yield better management of public services and public resources?

Proposal: We propose to create a program in Management of Innovation, Sustainability, and Technology (MIST). By 2020, a core group of 15-20 ladder-rank faculty will work with faculty from across the campus to deliver the research and educational missions collaboratively and cooperatively, possibly as part of a new School of Management and Economics. For MIST, we will build from existing faculty and campus strengths, which include services, logistics, analytics, cognition, health, the environment, and technology, in four broad strategic areas of research and education:

• Analytics, including Spatial Analytics, Health Services, and Smart Infrastructure
• Networks for Value Creation, including Network Security, and Logistics and Supply Chains
• Technology Management, including Services, Innovation, and Leadership
• Resource Management, including Protected Lands, Renewable Energy, and Sustainable Land Use

Our approach is built around five goals:

1. Establish a graduate group to develop educational, research, and outreach programs.  This group will develop programs in management of innovation, sustainability, and technology with a core group of faculty drawn from multiple schools. The School of Engineering will serve as the initial home for this new graduate group.
2. Develop a modular one-year professional Master of Science program that provides a unique educational experience that can be delivered in several formats (e.g., intensive residency sessions, online sessions, on-campus classes, and others). This key educational program, a one-year Masters of Science in Management (MSM) with tracks in innovation, sustainability, and technology, can generate revenue to help support a corresponding undergraduate program and a research-driven Ph.D. program. Offering a one-year graduate degree in management makes sense given recent data showing that applications to full-time, two-year M.B.A. programs are down over the past four years while interest in specialized one-year master's programs is up over the same period.[4] We expect this kind of program will create graduates with far more marketable skills than a four-year degree alone. An integral part of the MSM program is the development of proficiency-oriented online instruction modules that can be used to ensure knowledge of pre-requisite materials, and can also be used to fulfill courses in the program for students who may not have regular access to the campus.  MIST will aim to secure grant funding, and create relationships with other UC campuses and possibly external partners to develop online instructional capabilities at UC Merced.
3. Develop a modular and innovative undergraduate program in management with emphases in innovation, sustainability, and technology.  This program will align directly with the MSM program.  It will incorporate core management classes, such as accounting, finance, and marketing, leveraging existing courses from the Management and Business Economics program as appropriate.  Undergraduate minor programs in core areas of innovation, sustainability, and technology would be effective additions for majors in relevant areas of science and engineering.  Online education aligned with the MSM program will developed at the undergraduate level, along with unique cross-campus programs to take better advantage resources across the system (one ILTI proposal is already underway for an online, hybrid service-project-management class delivered jointly by UC Merced and UC San Diego).
4. Develop a modular Ph.D. that delivers a distinctive educational experience, and integrates in a flexible manner with existing graduate programs on campus, and take ownership of the campus' effort towards offering an undergraduate minor in Leadership, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.
5. Develop partnerships, outreach, and development programs to sustain MIST’s research activities. For example, Programs in Parks and Protected Lands, including the internationally renowned National Parks Institute and the California State Parks Institute (which will be funded by outside sources starting January, 2014), will be effectively housed in MIST, with connections to SNRI and Environmental Systems. Similarly, Entrepreneurship and Leadership Programs currently run through administrative offices on campus will be led appropriately through the educational and academic mission of MIST, and expanded to include executive and part-time programs. In addition, MIST will work with UC Merced’s new California Center for Service Science to develop both cross-campus and UC-wide educational programs in service, particularly related to innovation and technology.

Overall, our goal is create a separate and distinct group that will be built up in a cross-disciplinary and cross-functional manner, yet which is aligned with related campus initiatives around environmental systems, computation and analytics, business economics, cognitive science, and more.

Timeline: In the short term, we will create a graduate group through the School of Engineering with membership open to UC Merced faculty, students, and staff with an interest in areas related to MIST.

By January 1, 2014, we willdevelop a specific strategic plan for achieving the goals of MIST, including developing educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and running a high-profile speaker series that brings business and thought leaders to campus to increase UC Merced’s visibility in areas related to MIST to engage world-class scientists and practitioners with students and faculty. 

By July 1, 2014, we will propose a cross-school graduate group for MIST. As described, the graduate programs will focus initially on the MSM and a Ph.D. program.  We will also establish an external advisory board of internationally recognized academics and national and local business leaders to help guide planning.   We expect the first cohort of MSM and PhD students to be admitted Fall 2015.

By July 1 2015, we will propose a cross-school undergraduate program in management that emphasizes innovation, sustainability, and technology, with BS degrees offered in these three tracks. We will necessarily depend on existing courses drawn from across campus in areas such as accounting and finance, environmental systems, and technology innovation. Minor programs in the three tracks will also be created.  In addition, we will aim to create an executive education program following the same general line.  Supported by outside agencies and organizations, we aim to hold the first MIST-sponsored National Parks Institute executive program in Spring of 2015.  We expect the first cohort of other programs to be admitted to in Fall 2016.

Hiring: In 2013-14, one strategic search in Natural Resource Management of Parks and Protected Areas, is being led by management and environmental systems faculty and the School of Engineering. In 2014-15, we propose to search for two ladder-rank faculty who work in management analytics, including supply chain, healthcare, business intelligence, decision analytics, services, and sustainability.

In 2015-16, we propose to search for three ladder-rank faculty, focusing hiring on analytics through alignment with UC Merced’s strategic priorities, and in collaboration with graduate groups and research institutes across the sciences, engineering and social sciences. Synergies can be found in applied mathematics (asset pricing, operations, network theory), environmental science and engineering (sensor networks, network theory), computer science (optimization, theory), cognitive science (decision making), and economics (markets, econometrics). To grow to steady-state by 2020, we propose to search for two-to-three ladder-rank faculty each year for the following four years in these same broad areas.

Students: At steady-state in 2020, we expect the masters programs to have about 100 enrolled, the executive program to have 60 enrolled, the PhD program to have 10 enrolled, and the undergraduate program to have 50 enrolled. Thus, MIST will support UC Merced’s 2020 Project goals of increasing substantially the proportion of graduate-student enrollment over time.

Lecturers and Staff: To support the proposed masters and undergraduate programs, MIST will rely on faculty from across the campus, including for instance Economics, Environment Systems, Applied Math, Cognitive and Information Sciences, and more. However, it is possible additional lecturers dedicated to MIST will be required as well. In addition, several staff will be required over to support day-to-day operations of the educational programs, including for instance, advisors and a program coordinator.

Diversity: UC Merced is among the most diverse of the UC campuses. MIST will continue to support diversity by establishing a diverse student body and a diverse faculty. For instance, by aligning the initial MSM degree with the existing undergraduate population, we will naturally encourage student diversity. In addition, MIST will continue to encourage and monitor recruitment of women and underrepresented faculty at all levels, benchmarking efforts on diversity against the campus and relevant fields.

Metrics: MIST can be evaluated along educational and research metrics. For education, key metrics include number of applications, students enrolled, and post-graduation placement. It may be possible to compare the success of students in the fifth-year MSM program with the success comparable UC Merced students who graduate with a 4-year BS (e.g., in terms of starting salary). For research, key metrics include quality of publications and extramural grant funding. It may be possible to measure the cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary research impact by measuring the number of collaborations across traditional disciplines and considering the quality of work published outside traditional management fields.

Example Curriculum: A modular one-year Master of Science in Management can provide a unique educational experience that can ultimately be delivered in several formats (e.g., intensive residency sessions, online sessions, on-campus classes, and others), and with specialized tracks in innovation, sustainability, and technology. The curriculum incorporates a number of basic management courses (the Fundamentals, taken in two Summer sessions: leadership, communication, accounting, and finance), with core courses that combine innovation in technology with practical management concepts (the Core, taken in Fall: economics, decision making, innovation, and entrepreneurship) and focused courses that delve deeper into sustainability and strategy (the Specialization, taken in Spring: operations management, services and sustainability, and global strategy), finally integrating all areas together in a semester-long project course (the Integration, taken in Spring: capstone). 

Space Needs: With the projected growth of MIST and management programs in SSHA, open space to house faculty in the Management Suite in SSM will be filled within 2 years. At steady-state in 2020, MIST will need space for approximately 15 faculty, 5 lecturers, and 4 staff members. In addition, 3-4 modern classrooms with video-conferencing capability, and 10-15 smaller project rooms will be required to meet the educational needs of the undergraduate and masters students; and shared office and laboratory space will be required to house PhD students. Thus, we estimate that by 2020, MIST will require approximately 7,000 asf for academic and administrative offices, 10,000 asf for instructional and student services, and 5,000 for student and lab workspace, totaling 23,000 asf (or 33,000 gross square feet).

School of Management and Economics. The MIST group will collaborate with colleagues in Economics in the short-term and the long-term to align efforts toward eventual creation of a new School of Management and Economics. Over the next few years, we will collaborate to plan and deliver the refocused undergraduate Management program, as well as new masters-level programs. By 2020, we expect to bring MIST, Economics, and related programs together into a new, separate school.

Participants and Supporters: Roger Bales, Paul Brown, Yihsu Chen, Martha Conklin, Rick Dale, Robin DeLugan, Dan Hirleman, Rob Innes, Chris Kello, Teenie Matlock, Roummel Marcia, Juan Meza, Stergios Roussos, Kurt Schnier, Peter Vanderschraaf, Josh Viers, Tony Westerling, Alex Whalley

Business Plan: A sketch of our business plan through 2020 is shown in the attached table, including current and proposed faculty investments (“MIST-Financials”).  Through use of professional degree fees and executive education fees, we expect MIST to operate as a set of self-supporting programs over time.