The new school year is around the corner and there is a lot of energy and excitement in the air. We have 11 new faculty joining the college this fall which brings our overall number of new faculty hires to 36 in the past four years. We are searching for another 16 new faculty in the coming year. The new faculty are bringing fresh ideas, academic reputations and terrific teaching abilities to the college. As just one example, two new faculty members in marketing – Alok Kumar and Mieke Eilert – have six publications in the elite journals between them in the last three years and are making a big impact in the classroom as well.

This year we will see another double digit percentage increase in our freshmen class, and we are drawing students from out of state and out of the country at a faster rate than any college on campus. Today 30 percent of our student body is from outside the state of Nebraska. Just as we are hiring high quality new faculty, the students we are recruiting are as truly outstanding. Our CBA Honors Academy has now recruited its second class of high achieving students and we will welcome them all very soon. I’m looking forward to returning to the classroom myself as I will be teaching the Introduction to Management class for the Honors Academy.

Our growth in both students and faculty demonstrates the need for our new building which is scheduled for groundbreaking this coming winter. We are over two-thirds of the way to our financial commitments for constructing the $84 million dollar, 240,000-square-foot facility. Very soon the dream of giving business students the best possible environment to succeed in their future careers will become a reality. The shared vision and support from our alumni, business partners and friends are making our dream a reality and will enlarge our visibility and stature as a college. I am so grateful to all those who have made a financial commitment to the building and am eager to complete the fundraising for the important project.

To kick off the new school year and Nebraska's fourth year in the Big Ten, we are excited to host the second annual Back to School Bash being held Friday, August 22 from 3-6 p.m. on the west side of CBA. We will welcome our new students and their parents to campus the Friday before school begins and also celebrate the college’s many successes with our current students, alumni and partners. There will be food, drinks, socializing and live music at the Bash. To RSVP for the free event, visit us at cba.unl.edu/bash.

I am so proud of what we have started at CBA here in Nebraska. We are continuing the good work and as always, whether you are one of our students, alumni or friends, we encourage you to share your “Start Something” experiences with us. You will find examples of how people at CBA have started something in this edition of Inside CBA. So tell us your Start Something story at cba.unl.edu/startsomething. All the best, Donde Published: August 12, 2014