Faculty Voices: Jeffrey Loewenstein, Associate Dean of Graduate Education, Gies College of Business, Illinois

Jeffrey Loewenstein is Associate Dean of Graduate Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Gies College of Business.

Arriving at Illinois in 2011, Loewenstein has taught in b-schools across the US including Kellogg School of Management, Columbia Business School and The University of Texas at Austin.

As Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Gies, Loewenstein has lots of positive words about his place of work.

What attracted you to the role?

My teaching and research benefit from integrating insights across fields, which Illinois has been doing better and longer than anywhere else. I’m honored to be stepping into the Associate Dean of Graduate Education role. The opportunity to work with colleagues across the college to continue advancing our innovative portfolio of programs to meet the needs of our diverse student body was too good to pass up.

How do you describe the school to people who’ve never stepped foot on campus?

Illinois has a long history of innovative teaching and research. Since 1867, we’ve united students and alumni from almost every part of the globe. In 1913 we opened our first office to support students from China; held our first executive education program solely for female business leaders in 1963.

We’re a Big Ten university with over 1,000 student organizations, as well as 21 varsity sports teams, 40 club sports teams, 20 intramural organized sports, and nine state-of-the-art recreation centers with ice skating, water slides, climbing walls and more. Our campus is in the middle of the micro-urban community of Urbana-Champaign, offering thriving live music and theater, and wonderful shopping and dining too.

What do you love most about working at and representing the school?

This is such an exciting place to be. Midwestern culture tends to be friendly and humble, which means doors open, people care, and we can readily engage with our community. There’s a legacy of emphasizing values and being mindful of our larger purpose. We launched a new online MBA program that’s making advanced business education more accessible. As a result, we’re realizing new and better ways to teach and learn, and it’s made us rethink how we engage in all our courses. The future is so bright here; nothing captures this better than us recently becoming the Gies College of Business. Larry and Beth Gies’s gift illustrates the combination of purposeful leadership, societal impact, and extraordinary success that characterizes our legacy and trajectory.

How would you describe the school’s culture?

We’re a collaborative, innovative, and entrepreneurial place. We’re launching new degree programs, participating in a new medical school focused on innovation, in a new design center, and we’re bringing together an incredibly diverse array of student venture teams. 

What do you believe is the unique approach your school takes in shaping future business leaders?

Our current approach rests on providing rigorous fundamentals, flexibility to pursue distinct career interests, and in-depth action learning to bring the two together. We have student teams working with live clients right away and through much of the program to ensure integration and application.

What are your favorite things to do in the local area?

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts hosts about 350 performances a year. I can’t keep up with the music performances and visiting speakers. You might catch me at the farmer’s market on Saturday morning too. With that and all the restaurants, we eat well in this town! Plenty of people are sports fans and support our Fighting Illini or play golf at one of the courses in the area. There’s also the Illinois Marathon, Ebertfest , as well as the Pygmalion and Folk & Roots music festivals. I guess my favorite thing is the variety and accessibility of everything here.

What advice would you have for someone considering applying to your school?

I’ve always advised prospective students to think about what’s important to them and then identify schools that fit their needs and goals. The return on investment of our programs is high, so if we’re a good fit for you, and you meet our rigorous admission standards, then you’re likely to say, like many before you, that coming to Illinois was one of the best decisions you’ve ever made and these were among the best years of your life.

Where do you see the school in five years?

We will continue on our long journey to a more thriving, and more integrated community learning from and helping one another. We will continue to leverage technology to increase the flexibility, efficiency, social connection, and opportunity for innovation in our programs. And we are almost certain to have new programs and substantial changes in existing programs, because the proposals I’m seeing take shape are so exciting and compelling with our program leadership being insightful and energized, and our college leadership team so forward-looking.