Positioned for the Future - Hummels leaves a legacy of success

“Say ‘yes.’ Opportunity sometimes falls into your lap, whether you’re ready for it or not. You can’t be afraid to say yes and seize it.”

That’s what David Hummels said when he was named dean in 2015 after serving nine months as interim dean. Now, as his tenure as Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business comes to a close on June 30, he’s pleased he decided to take on the new challenge.

“I would absolutely do it again,” Hummels says. “It’s been an extraordinary opportunity to meet amazing people and work on challenges and opportunities you never see as a faculty member. Being a dean requires you to think broadly about our people and our programs and how they can thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape. I have loved working in that larger context and I feel like I’ve grown enormously having been in this role.”

While Hummels has experienced personal growth, his efforts have positioned the reimagined Daniels School for future success in alignment with its foundational pillars.

For instance, during his tenure, undergraduate enrollment has increased from 2,500 to more than 3,100, with 3,400 expected in fall 2023, and undergraduate applications have risen 86% since 2014. There also has been a corresponding rise in quality—average SAT scores rose by 30 points and the four-year graduation rate has climbed from 50% to nearly 80%.

Through creation of the Summer Business Academy, which allows non-business majors to earn a business or economics minor through online courses in the summer session, more than 700 students each year earn minors that will enhance their earning potential.

With the addition of several new programs, including many in the online space, master’s program enrollment has doubled. Working professionals have more options than ever as they try to advance in their careers, and the new programs have been a factor in more than doubling the school’s budget during Hummels’ tenure, from $40 million to $85 million.

The budget numbers have been buttressed by a huge uptick in fundraising. Since he took office in 2014, Hummels and his development team have raised more than $287 million, including a school-record $114 million in the last year. “Our friends and alumni have been nothing short of spectacular in their support of our efforts. I’m hoping to push that number over $300 million before I’m done,” Hummels says.

The total includes six new faculty chairs, 164 new endowments for undergraduate and graduate student support, and the two largest gifts in school history--$50 million for the Bruce W. White Undergraduate Institute and $20 million for the Dean V. White Real Estate Finance Program.

With the addition of outstanding new faculty, research and teaching excellence are on the rise. The number of articles published by faculty rose 66% from 2015 to 2021, and citations to those articles, a critical measure of their impact in the academic and business world, rose 128%. In many key research metrics, Daniels faculty now rank in the 95^th percentile when compared to business schools in the elite grouping of AAU research universities. This fall, Daniels will boast seven faculty named to the Poets & Quants annual listing of “Top 50 Undergraduate Professors.”

Just as important, the school has worked hard to develop the next cohort of faculty who will provide critical intellectual and administrative leadership in the years to come. “When I took over, we had many faculty leaders who had provided excellent service dating back to the 1970s,” Hummels says. “As they stepped away, an energetic new group has emerged, and I am excited to see where their ideas take us.”

Two new degrees have been launched as flagships of the Daniels School. Offered in partnership with the College of Engineering, Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) was started in 2021 and has drawn more than twice the anticipated number of students. By taking core courses in engineering and the Daniels School, along with innovation labs where students work to solve “wicked problems” using both knowledge domains, IBE students are prepared to lead at the intersection of business and technology.

Business Analytics and Information Management (BAIM) extends the school’s top-ranked master’s program, launched in 2016, to an undergraduate degree and PhD program. The school is positioned to define the field of business analytics, teaching students to master the skills of gathering big data and using it to make informed decisions.

As the school expands undergraduate enrollment to 4,000, about 40% of the population will be comprised of IBE and BAIM students.

The student experience has morphed from passive to active. Through the 2018 creation of the Marshall and Susan Larsen Leaders Academy (LLA), high-achieving students receive the tools to translate their academic experiences, ranging from coursework to case competitions to study abroad opportunities, into real-world leadership skills.

LLA students can participate in immersive experiences at Gettysburg, NASA, Yosemite National Park, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, allowing them to make difficult decisions under pressure. When they finish, they have a compelling story to tell recruiters about their time at Purdue and the Daniels School.

Students can choose from more study abroad options and case competitions than ever before. A partnership with Purdue Athletics offers a class for students, and particularly student-athletes, giving them the opportunity to learn to optimize their personal brand and image. They learn social and digital media strategies, financial literacy and philanthropy, and tools to cultivate, maximize and monetize their personal brands.

It’s all part of an effort Hummels has overseen to maximize the student experience.

“We wanted to provide opportunities that students can look back on and say, ‘That changed my life,’” Hummels says. “We also wanted to create an environment where our faculty and staff could do their best work, and where they were proud and enthusiastic about what they could accomplish.”

Hummels will take a year-long sabbatical, during which he’ll travel to work with research colleagues across the world. He’s also planning on fulfilling two lifelong dreams: writing a novel and biking from Los Angeles to Boston. In fall 2024, he’ll return full-time to the faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Economics, researching and teaching in international economics and the economics of innovation.

He’s particularly enthusiastic about a research program focused on the future of higher education, and the prospect of designing a better system that will address workforce challenges of the next century and be scalable in order to lift billions of people out of poverty. Alumni may contribute to the ground-breaking project here.

“I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish in the past nine years, and I look forward to working at the Daniels School for many years to come,” Hummels says. “I believe we’re well-positioned to be a leader in business education and I’m excited about being part of that future.”

By Tim Newton