USC Marshall has earned its reputation as a school focused on international business. With more than 10 international travel programs, Marshall offers every student at all levels (undergraduates, MBAs, and master’s degree) the opportunity for a hands-on international business experience.

COVID lockdowns put a temporary hold on these programs of course. However, now that large portions of the world are reopened, Marshall was able to reschedule some international trips, and it made sure to include those students who didn’t get to go abroad in their freshman years due to COVID.

Students in this group could choose between Rome, Madrid, and London.

The group traveling to London for an eight-day learning experience May 13-21 included 27 students, Associate Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics Scott Abrams, and staff member Sowon Kang.

But along with a packed schedule of company visits and cultural events, this group of students got an extra bonus—a meeting with Marshall Dean Geoff Garrett, who was also in London meeting alumni and parents.

Meeting the Dean in London

Students landed in Heathrow Saturday, May 14, and, as if to set the proper tone, immediately got to watch a football match (soccer) between West Ham United vs. Manchester City. (It was a tie, but Manchester ultimately won the series).

“The idea that freshman have no international opportunities is a myth that Marshall easily disproves. There are multiple classes that give students the opportunity to have hands-on international working experience, and there are variety of summer internships and trips abroad available."—Isabella Maldia WBB '25

From then on it was down to business, paying company visits to Citigroup and PwC, fintech startup Primary Bid, and ABN AMRO, a Dutch bank based in Amsterdam. They also had time for plenty of culture, including a visit to Cambridge University and the experience of “punting” on a flat boat along the river—a favorite pastime of Cambridge students. They met restaurant entrepreneurs the Gladwin Brothers, who explained the UK’s “Farm-to-Fork” movement. On their final day they took the Beefeater Distillery Tour, where they learned how gin is made, followed by a final company visit to Canary Wharf, where students met and spoke with the CEO.

Dean Garrett was in London the same week meeting alumni and made time to meet the students personally.

“I asked him for his thoughts on Brexit, and he responded with a very thorough explanation, displaying his obvious passion about it,” said Isabella Maldia, a rising sophomore in the World Bachelor in Business (WBB) program. “It was a great opportunity to be in conversation with him on some of these topics.”

Back in the World

Max Fujii, a second semester junior studying who is currently doing a summer internship at Spire Energy in his hometown of St. Louis, said the trip was the first opportunity for him to go abroad with Marshall, as his original LiNC trip got canceled due to pandemic lockdowns.

“I was set to go to Sydney, Australia with Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics Julia Plotts, but that got canceled,” he said. “When I saw this opportunity for students, I was really happy and applied right away.” He said he chose London because it’s the finance center of Europe, and because there was no language barrier. The company visits with PwC and Citi were particularly interesting to him because it illustrated differences in the way these firms do business in the States and in the UK. “Everyone we spoke to was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly,” he said.

Maldia ’25, who has traveled extensively prior to coming to Marshall, said that the international opportunities were among the largest reasons she chose to attend USC Marshall.

“The idea that freshman have no international opportunities is a myth that Marshall easily disproves,” she said. “There are multiple classes that give students the opportunity to have hands-on international working experience, and there are variety of summer internships and trips abroad available. Taking GSI (Global Social Impact), and subsequently getting to participate in ExCel, was one if the best, and easiest, decisions I have made at USC so far.”

In a notable first, 15 business school deans from across the country convened on the USC campus to discuss a range of issues impacting the industry, including how to teach new concepts of stakeholder capitalism and inclusivity to a new generation of business leaders, leveraging new master’s degrees, and the role of rankings in evaluating contemporary comprehensive business schools.

Like Marshall, many other colleges and universities have evolved into what are known as comprehensive business schools, offering undergraduate business majors as well as MBAs and other graduate business degrees.

Leaders came at the invitation of USC Marshall's Dean Geoff Garrett, who has taken the lead in questioning business-as-usual conventions and is driving the conversation about what a business school should look like in the 21st century.

“I felt it was time for a real discussion about what a business education looks like in 2022 and beyond,” he said. “We are educating the next generation of worldwide business leaders—what skills and tools will they require? What can we uniquely provide as comprehensive business schools that will amplify the value of business education?"

Eleven deans, two incoming deans and one vice dean arrived in Los Angeles Monday, May 23 for two days of discussions on issues affecting each of them.

Participants included:

• Ann Harrison, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
• Raghu Sundaram, New York University Stern School of Business
• Francine Lafontaine (interim), University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
• Andrew Karolyi, Cornell University, SC Johnson College of Business
• Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Carnegie Mellon, Tepper School of Business
• Douglas Shackelford, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School
• Paul Almeida, Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business
• Frank Hodge, University of Washington – Michael G. Foster School of Business
• Idalene F. Kesner, Indiana University – Kelley School of Business
• Gareth James, incoming dean (July 1), Emory University – Goizueta Business School
• Sri Zaheer, University of Minnesota – Curtis L. Carlson School of Management
• Ohad Kadan, Arizona State University – W. P. Carey School of Business
• Jeffrey Brown, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – Gies College of Business
• Matthew Slaughter, Dartmouth College – Tuck School of Business
• Geoffrey Garrett, USC, Marshall School of Business

On the agenda were topics of particular interest to Dean Garrett and with wide application to his business school colleagues in attendance, including:

• The Future of Business School Rankings
• What Does Stakeholder Capitalism Mean for Business Education?
• What’s Next for Undergraduate Business Education
• Increasing the Impact of Faculty Research
• Capturing the Value of Specialized Masters Programs
• From Exec Ed to Lifelong Learning

Garrett has spoken out about the need for more “holistic” business school rankings, which would take into account the “totality” of a business school, incorporating its undergraduate offerings and other programming beyond just its full-time MBA program.

“Over the past decade, institutions have intentionally evolved to meet the needs of today’s students,” he said. “The full-time MBA remains the centerpiece of many schools, but comprehensive business schools like Marshall also offer top-tier students a business education that can be achieved online or in-person, part-time or full-time, as an undergrad, as a current business owner or as a working parent. There are countless ways that a business education can be applied in the real world, and many business schools see the value in ensuring our programs reflect this. Now, we are at an inflection point—business schools have evolved, should that change how we are evaluated?”

Welcome to USC Marshall’s Wellness Hub—a central location to find resources, articles, research and other information related to maintaining mental and physical well-being for the Marshall Community.

The Marshall School believes wellness plays an important role in a premier business education. Our own faculty's research has shown time and again that ignoring self-care in the pursuit of excellence will eventually lead to burn-out. We hope these resources will help you avoid that result, and thrive in your pursuits instead.

We look forward to helping you maintain wellness throughout the year by adding new features and research to this page. Please check back for regular updates.

Wellness Resources@USC