Kellogg, Chicago and the World Stage
July 29, 2010

The best business schools typically benefit from proximity to a dynamic urban center. While I loved working in New York City for the last nine years, it is great to be back in Chicago, where I lived and worked for nearly two decades during the first part of my career. The lakefront, the Museum Campus and Millennium Park—it’s all so vibrant and lively.

Kellogg benefits from this vitality and the strong mix of service and manufacturing companies that make up the midwestern business environment. It provides a great platform for educating well-rounded managers.

I had a great visit to Kellogg’s Chicago downtown campus last week—situated perfectly between the lake and Michigan Avenue. It’s certainly one of the school’s greatest assets—beautiful classrooms with stained glass windows, student lounges with lake views, and a dedicated and talented team led by Vennie Lyons, who has been at Kellogg for more than 35 years. Needless to say, the downtown campus looks much different today than it did when I taught at Wieboldt Hall as a graduate student more than 20 years ago!

I had some terrific discussions with the team about the student community and new initiatives that we might undertake. Looking ahead, I can’t wait to spend time with our students in Chicago. There's something quite special about engaging in discussions about leadership and ethics with students who are on the ground every day—applying their classroom learnings real-time at their jobs.

I welcome your comments, feedback and ideas at sallyblount@kellogg.northwestern.edu

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