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The GW School of Business, housed in Duques Hall, could require students to take a minor outside the college. Hatchet File Photo by Jordan Emont | Assistant Photo Editor

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Mary Sette.

The GW School of Business is mulling a requirement for undergraduates to minor outside the college, in line with the school’s recent plans for a more liberal arts-based curriculum.

Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, the associate dean for undergraduate programs, said the plan for a required minor is still tentative, but added that feedback has been “positive” from faculty, students and alumni.

The business school would be the first at GW to mandate that students take a minor, which usually comprises about 18 credits.

The requirement would need the greenlight from the school’s faculty. Plans for a new curriculum has been pushed back twice over the past year, and Bajeux-Besnainou has said she does not have a target date for a vote or implementation.

“The specific details cannot be discussed yet,” she said in an email. “The only thing I can say is that we are looking at a lighter business core to provide the bandwidth for a more in-depth liberal arts education.”

The reform would be part of Dean Doug Guthrie’s agenda to focus the school on ethics and social responsibility in an era of Wall Street corruption.

While Bajeux-Besnainou said she hopes the required minor coupled with the school’s new liberal arts approach will give more “flexibility to our students,”  junior Sevara Mallyn is not so sure.

Mallyn, a junior double concentrating marketing and international business, said she thinks the business school already has enough requirements, and gives “very little leeway to make more demands of their students.”

“Students will have to think about what minor to take when they are not even sure what to major in,” said Mallyn.

Now, undergraduates take only one or two non-business electives each year and including courses on ethics, foreign language and science.

Bajeux-Besnainou has said the school would look to tweak that format to give students more academic breathing room.

Sophomore Matt Guarnaccia shared concerns over this possible new requirement.

“I think the business school should worry about how to increase their percentage of satisfied graduating students rather than potentially upsetting them further by making it a necessity to have a minor,” Guarnaccia said.

Bajeux-Besnainou said there would be some difficulties “if students have a hard time deciding on a particular minor, in which case the advising office will serve an important role.”

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Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012 5:46 p.m.

GW ‘lifer’ takes a top business school post

Philip Wirtz, a professor of decision sciences, will take over as vice dean for education and programs in the GW School of Business. Becky Crowder | Senior Staff Photographer

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Lauren Grady.

Philip Wirtz is a self-described GW “lifer,” earning his undergraduate degree and doctorate in psychology here before becoming a professor of decision sciences in the GW School of Business.

But now he’ll fill his first administrative post as one of the business school’s top officials to help ease the transition of a merry-go-round of staffing changes that’s marked the school in the last year.

When Dean Doug Guthrie asked him to take on the role of vice dean of education and programs, he said he did what he thought was best for the business school.

“It’s not a job I sought. But if this is where I can be the most helpful to the dean and my colleagues, I’m willing to do it,” Wirtz said.

Along with the former vice dean Murat Tarimcilar, two other top undergraduate administrators have left their positions in the business school since the summer, leaving it in a state of transition. Those departures came on the heels of turnover in the entire undergraduate advising staff.

Wirtz attributed the departures to the difficulty of managing such a diverse range of programs within the business school, like its upcoming online MBA offerings and shifting undergraduate program. While that diversity draws students to the school, he said, the management process is arduous.

“Murat did an absolutely fabulous job but I can’t imagine anybody doing this job for more than two years without getting completely burned out,” Wirtz said.

Wirtz, who is also a professor of psychology, said he’ll complement Guthrie in planning the business school’s future because of the two men’s different backgrounds.

Guthrie came to GW two years ago from New York University, after spending years studying and working in China – a stark contrast to Wirtz’s lifetime at the University.

His portfolio will be wide and he’ll help GW sharpen recent and upcoming initiatives like a master’s program in China, improving ethics-based learning and rolling out online programs.

“It’s an incremental process. It doesn’t get done all at once. We simply need to proceed each year in a way that moves us towards our long term objectives,” Wirtz said.

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The GW School of Business, housed in Duques Hall, raised tuition 4.4 percent for returning students this year, slightly higher than last year’s increase. Students say they were kept in the dark about the increase. Jordan Emont | Assistant Photo Editor

This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Aliya Karim.

Business school graduate students are disputing the $1,000 added to their tuition bills this fall, claiming the extra charge came without notice.

An additional $55 per-credit-hour fee was not included in a cost estimate handed out by the Global MBA Program last spring. The estimate, which brought tuition for the two-year program up to $123,085, pronounced the costs “subject to change,” but several students said they were unaware such a change had actually been made.

The Board of Trustees announced the tuition hike in February, but because the 4.4 percent increase is “within the range of the annual increase, [students] learn the rates through the university offices,” Dean Doug Guthrie said in an email.

The increase is also consistent with rates raised by many other business schools across the country. Last year, the business school raised tuition 3.5 percent for returning students.

Shashwat Gautam, a second-year MBA student who mortgages his home in India from the U.S., said he first found out about the increase when his tuition bill was emailed to students this month. He said the extra $1,100 he will owe the school this year will strain his already tight budget, because he applied for student loans using the previous tuition estimate.

“For middle class families from India and different parts of the world, it’s going to mean a lot,” said Gautam, the business school’s graduate representative for the Student Association. “We could’ve planned it better if we had an idea of it.”

Gautam, also the vice chair of SA’s academic affairs committee, said he is pushing the SA to lobby administrators to roll back the costs.

University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said tuition information is posted on both the University’s graduate enrollment and Colonial Central websites, but that details are not emailed to students because costs differ based on course load. “In addition, students applying for financial aid should be aware of tuition information well in advance,” she said in an email.

Associate Dean for MBA Programs Liesl Riddle sent an email to business graduate students addressing “tuition confusion and clarification” following The Hatchet’s inquiry into the school’s tuition bump.

She said in the email that the 4.4 percent increase falls within the standard practice of a 4 to 6 percent rise between a student’s first and second year, and maintained that the added tuition revenue would go toward expanding programming.

“Admissions sent you an estimated cost of attendance for the entire program when you enrolled and noted that second year tuition was an estimate that would likely change. In addition, the university posts the new rates in late spring for your review,” Riddle wrote.

Allan Simonds, a second-year MBA student, called the email “defensive and condescending,” and said it still did not clarify how the school would use the extra tuition money. “The email really pits the administration against the student body,” Simonds said.

The 4.4 percent increase is “not out of sync with general increases that we’re seeing in North America,” said Dan LeClair, the chief operating officer of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. He said schools might increase tuition for course and curriculum improvement, global expansions, student engagement in the classroom and improved reputations.

Guthrie said in an email that the MBA tuition remained far below neighboring Georgetown University and University of Maryland, and a small increase in tuition would help pay for more student aid and programs, but did not specify which.

“If we want to have programs and student services that compare to those schools, we need also to have the resources that make us competitive,” Guthrie said.

Incoming MBA students will also face a 8.7 percent higher tuition than last year’s students, the steepest climb in an across-the-board tuition increase for graduate programs. New doctoral students in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Education and Human Development and masters students in the Elliott School of International Affairs will see an 8.5 percent increase in tuition.

In addition to the extra tuition revenue, the business school is also receiving $9.4 million in cash from GW through 2014 – the largest investment in the history of the school.

Business school administrators have been busy both in D.C. and China in the past year, linking MBA students in planning the District’s economic development plan and opening up master’s programs in Suzhou. The business school also added four online graduate programs this summer.

“I do think and hope the extra money will go to benefit students and the school, and especially to increase our rankings,” Neha Shah, a second-year MBA student, said. “I also don’t realistically expect that I will personally get to enjoy these benefits in my last year as a student.”

The business school’s graduate program fell five spots to No. 57 in the U.S. News and World Report ranking in March.

Business students have soured on administrators’ communication effectiveness in the past. In Bloomberg Businessweek’s survey of undergraduate business students, many at GW cited issues of communication for administrators as one of the school’s problems.

“There are bright spots, but they have a long way to go,” Simonds said. “They should begin with better communication, more transparency and less squandering of money.”

- Cory Weinberg contributed to this report.

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Duques Hall, School of Business

Two top undergraduate officials in the GW School of Business, housed in Duques Hall, announced their departures from the University last week. Hatchet File Photo

Updated July 21, 2012 at 2:52 p.m.

Three of the GW School of Business’ top undergraduate administrators announced this week they are leaving the University – the exclamation point on a year of high turnover that has business students scratching their heads.

Joelle Carter, director for undergraduate programs, and Larry Fillian, director of undergraduate advising and assessment, will step down this summer, while the business school is knee-deep in reshuffling its undergraduate curriculum and advising. Murat Tarimcilar, the vice dean for programs and education, will leave his deanship and continue teaching starting Jan. 1, 2013.

Their departures punctuate a year of personnel changes in the business school’s main undergraduate arms – the office of undergraduate programs and the advising center.

Almost the entire advising staff turned over last summer after the school adjusted advising roles to include teaching.

Former executive coordinator for undergraduate programs, Betsy Smith, left in January to work for LivingSocial. Four months later, undergraduate adviser Jason Sparks left for a career at Blackboard. The school announced replacements for both slots last week.

Carter and Fillian informed business students of their exits by email on July 12 and July 16, respectively. Tarimcilar sent an email to colleagues July 17, saying he has “questioned” whether he fits into Dean Doug Guthrie’s team.

“At this point, he needs a leadership team that supports his philosophy, vision and plans with unwavering conviction,” he said in an email obtained by The Hatchet. “In recent months, I have questioned whether I fit that role and have concluded that I owed him the opportunity to build his team — hence, my resignation.”

Some students said frustration is mounting with the departures of the school’s top undergraduate staff members.

Andrew Litavis, a senior business major, praised the relationships Carter forged with students, but added, “The high turnover [in the advising center] has hindered students from being able to foster these long-term relationships that make the decentralized advising model so effective.”

“The trend of leadership and administration departing from the business school is alarming and should be taken extremely seriously by both GWSB and the entire university. Leadership isn’t bred in a culture of high turnover,” he said.

One junior business major, who asked to remain anonymous because he often works with administrators, called Carter’s departure “the icing on the cake” to a year of exits by staff members who work closely with students.

Carter will head to Western Kentucky University, where she will take on an administrative position. While leading the office of undergraduate programs for two years, Carter expanded the school’s first-year development program and launched living communities for business students.

“Words can not express how honored and privileged I feel to have had the opportunity to work with so many intelligent and incredible students,” she told business students in a July 12 email. She did not respond to a request for further comment.

Fillian, who oversaw the advising center’s transition to developmental advising and worked at GW for six years, told students in an email Tuesday that he was leaving the school. He said in an email to The Hatchet that he is leaving GW for “personal and professional reasons,” and did not respond to a request to elaborate on where he will be working next.

“My departure does not, in any way, reflect the wonderful experience that I have had working here,” he told The Hatchet. “I am working with my colleagues to ensure a smooth transition for students.

Tarimcilar said it is common for leadership to have diverging opinions in complex academic organizations, but “the focus should never be about the individuals.”

“It should always be about the future of the school, which has been and will always be of utmost importance to me,” he said. “I believe, at this point, the school will be better served if I contribute as a faculty member rather than as a vice dean.”

He said it is difficult to see any members of the community exit, and that the school will “gather up and move on” after the inevitable “hiccup” such shifts prompt.

Guthrie, entering his third year as the business school’s dean, said Carter and Fillian were valuable employees and hoped this would be the only year marked by high turnover.

“I hope it’s an anomaly. Both Larry and Joelle have been here a long time and we hope to find replacements for them who will be here for a long time going forward. You want to find stability in the organization,” Guthrie said. He did not immediately return a request for comment regarding Tarimcilar’s announcement.

He added that he not spoken to Carter or Fillian about why they are leaving, but said the school has “the system and structure in place allows for these kinds of transitions to happen.”

The dean’s office’s has also seen a revolving door of undergraduate chiefs this year. Business ethics professor Tim Fort took on an interim role as associate dean for undergraduate programs this year after former associate dean Ken Singleton went on sabbatical last summer.

In April, finance professor Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou took on the permanent position as associate dean for undergraduate programs. Bajeaux-Besnainou said she was out of the country and unavailable to comment on Carter’s and Fillian’s departures.

The school’s undergraduate programs took a hit in the Bloomberg Businessweek annual rankings in March. The school fell seven spots to No. 66 – its worst standing since the rankings began seven years ago – and scored low marks in student satisfaction.

Geoff Gloeckler, a staff editor at Businessweek who compiles the business school rankings, told The Hatchet in March that student said in surveys that they were dissatisfied with communication with administrators.

- Chloe Sorvino and Priya Anand contributed to this report

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Provost Steve Lerman discussed the vision, approach and major themes used by the University to develop its strategic plan at a town hall Tuesday in the Marvin Center. Ashley Lucas | Contributing Photo Editor

Ideas like creating a GW think tank and merging the University’s schools into one undergraduate college are getting serious attention from the groups laying out this fall’s strategic plan, administrators said at a town hall Tuesday.

More than 200 people – few of them students – attended the event in the Marvin Center, as Provost Steven Lerman and the leaders of the strategic plan’s four working groups presented plans to prepare GW for transformations in the world and in higher education.

The groups have met up more than 30 times since March to discuss the plan’s four themes of globalization, policy and governance, innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration, and citizenship. Each includes about 15 faculty and staff members and two students.

The group focusing on interdisciplinary work has jumped at the idea to create one undergraduate college for students, following the models of Harvard University and the University of Chicago. Uniting undergraduate programs under one college would help students tackle more fields of study instead of staying in one discipline, said the group’s leader, Brian Richmond.

“We need to change the way we think about education,” Richmond, who is also chair of the anthropology department, said. “This would remove barriers that do exist.”

The University could also look toward restructuring undergraduate curriculum to focus on issues like poverty and obesity, or creating more specific minors in subjects like sustainability.

The strategic plan, a signature piece of University President Steven Knapp’s agenda, will look to define GW’s next 10 years. Lerman said the working groups hope to prepare the strategic plan for October’s Faculty Assembly and Board of Trustees meeting.

Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Planning Forrest Maltzman, who presented plans for the group on policy and governance, said a GW think tank could help expand the University’s research footprint.

He said hiring more tenure-track faculty in policy areas like race relations and sustainability would help strengthen ties between students and policy makers. These relationships would lead to better internships for students, which he said “are not always very meaningful opportunities” because they require mail sorting instead of practical experiences.

“When we turn on the news, we see GW professors and commenting on it but we don’t necessarily see us as the people making it. We want to be seen as the ones making it,” Maltzman said.

GW School of Business Dean Doug Guthrie pitched the University’s international plans, which include broad goals like building “deep relationships” in China, India, Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa.

He said the group discussed doubling the number of international students at GW and continued talks about creating an undergraduate degree program that could span three continents, which Guthrie and Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peg Barratt will try to launch by fall 2013.

Terri Reed, vice provost for diversity and inclusion, also discussed her groups’ efforts to spearhead changes to how the University develops “model citizens.”

She said creating a first-year undergraduate course on leadership and generating opportunities for a gap semester or year for students to participate in service projects were all on the table for the strategic plan.

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Duques Hall, School of Business

The School of Business, housed in Duques Hall, fell seven slots in Bloomberg Businessweek's rankings of undergraduate programs. Hatchet File photo. Hatchet file photo

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Kelly Quinn.

The GW School of Business’s undergraduate program slipped seven spots to No. 66 in the annual ranking released Tuesday by Bloomberg Businessweek.

The rankings, which are weighed on nine measures including student satisfaction, job placement and academic quality, showed the school losing the most ground in surveys from corporate recruiters.

“I’m obviously concerned. Businessweek is a tough one because it’s quantitative, so small numbers make huge fluctuations. I don’t want to overreact to this though,” said Murat Tarimcilar, the business school’s vice dean of programs and education.

The school maintained a top-20 nod among schools who fed undergraduate students into top master’s programs.

This school’s ranking was its lowest in the seven years Businessweek has judged undergraduate programs. Tarimcilar added that the volatility of the rankings was frustrating, with the school starting at No. 41 in 2006 and fluctuating from year to year.

He said business school administrators would go to New York City to meet with Businessweek editors and examine more detailed data gathered from student and recruiter surveys.

Geoff Gloeckler, a staff editor at Businessweek who compiles the business school rankings, said the business school’s low student satisfaction, which sat at No. 96 this year, has been its undoing.

Students noted in surveys that communication with administrators fell short of expectations, Gloeckler said. This hurt the school, he said, “especially when you see these other schools where students are lauding how great the communication is.”

Students were also dissatisfied with the school’s academic advising, Gloeckler said.

Murat Tarimcilar, the business school's vice dean for programs and education, said administrators would examine the ranking's survey data, which hurt the school's standing. Hatchet File Photo

The drop comes as business school administrators are planning an undergraduate curriculum overhaul, which business school Dean Doug Guthrie has said will favor ethics and social responsibility.

When he took over as dean two years ago, Guthrie said he said raising the school’s ranking was a top priority.

“[The Businessweek ranking] is a great justification to go through with this curriculum overhaul and strategic planning. I’m interested in an incentive for the faculty to look at the curriculum and program as a whole and question everything we do,” Tarimcilar said. “It’s not an alarming thing, but it’s something that tells us there’s some room where we can improve.”

Gloeckler said the curriculum revamp, especially one that stresses ethics, would likely prove beneficial to the University in the long run.

The business school also faced drops in graduate program rankings from U.S. News & World Report and The Financial Times this year. The Aspen Institute, which promotes social consciousness in business, ranked the business school graduate programs No. 11 in the world last year in promoting ethics and responsibility.

Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business earned the Bloomberg Businessweek’s top spot for the third year.

“There’s no denying that rankings play a role in students decisions. As shallow as rankings are, and it shows in terms of fluctuations with small data variations, it’s a reality of life,” Tarimcilar said. “We all have to live it.”

- Cory Weinberg contributed to this report

 

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Walter Isaacson, author of "Steve Jobs," will visit GW Monday. Photo courtesy of Jefferson St. Charles

The author of the best-selling biography on Steve Jobs will speak about the late Apple co-founder’s life Monday at Jack Morton Auditorium.

Walter Isaacson, the president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Aspen Institute, will deliver the keynote address at the GW-hosted Aspen Undergraduate Business Education Consortium.

“Steve Jobs,” which was released last October and weaves the tale of Apple’s roots around the work of its co-founder, was Amazon.com’s best-selling book of 2011. Isaacson has also penned biographies on Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger and Benjamin Franklin. Isaacson also served as chairman and CEO of CNN.

The conference will bring 30 of the nation’s top undergraduate business schools together to discuss the integration of values and society into the field. The University’s master of business administration program was ranked No. 9 in the country last year in The Aspen Institute’s alternative rankings that stressed social, environmental and ethical learning.

The GW School of Business’ undergraduate curriculum has undergone review this year for a potential overhaul, which dean Doug Guthrie said will enhance students’ understanding of society and interdisciplinary work.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite to students, faculty, staff and alumni for Isaacson’s talk.

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D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray outlined his vision for the city's "new economy" in his State of the District speech at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Tuesday evening. Elise Apelian | Hatchet Staff Photographer

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Spencer Fogel.

D.C. could rival technology hub Silicon Valley in fostering talent and growing businesses with help from the city’s universities, Mayor Vincent Gray said in his State of the District address Tuesday evening.

In front of a packed audience at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Gray outlined three priorities to craft “the city of our dreams” – a growing and diversified “new economy,” preparing District residents for new jobs and improving the quality of life in the city.

He also briefly touched on his perennial plea for the District to become the 51st state “before the Moon does.”

The “new economy” would be less reliant on the federal government and real estate development which he said are ad hoc and reactive.

“Instead, our comprehensive plan for creating a new economy must result in a diversified, more resilient and more balanced approach to economic growth,” he said.

He singled out the technology sector as an industry that could spur D.C.’s economy, pointing to successful companies like LivingSocial that started in the District.

GW is already facilitating the effort to put the city’s “new economy” in motion, Gray told The Hatchet. He said his administration has plans to travel with GW School of Business Dean Doug Guthrie to China to help the city build relationships with international businesses.

Gray also spoke of GW as an institution that could boost D.C.’s competitive edge, adding that it also stimulates the city’s economy.

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Ben Bernanke

The chairman of the Federal Reserve will give four guest lectures to students through a School of Business course this semester, the Federal Reserve and GW announced today.

The class, dubbed “The Federal Reserve and Its Role in Today’s Economy” and taught by professor Tim Fort, will be open to undergraduate students with a basic understanding of the Federal Reserve. It will begin March 20.

Chairman Ben Bernanke will attend the March 20, 22, 27 and 29 classes.

“Chairman Bernanke’s distinguished career and tenure at the Federal Reserve place him in a unique position to provide GWSB students with an unmatched understanding of the Federal Reserve’s role in today’s economy,” business school dean Doug Guthrie said.

Bernanke first took over as Federal Reserve chairman in February 2006, and began his second term in 2010.

Interested students must apply for the 1.5 credit course. GW will announce the process at a later date. The course will also be streamed online.

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This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Cory Weinberg.

The deans of the GW School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science cast different outlooks on the country’s status within the global economy in a presentation to alumni Saturday, while pledging to find more ways in which their schools can work together.

David Dolling, in his fourth year as dean of SEAS, offered an optimistic perspective on the state of engineering and innovation in the United States, railing against headlines and rankings that claim the country’s scientific demise.

“Most people seem to think engineering is over in the U.S., and China is eating our lunch, and that we should become a nation of hairdressers,” Dolling said to the audience of about 50 alumni. “We have a knack for beating ourselves over the head with two-by-fours.”

Instead, Dolling said, the country’s supremacy in creating high-tech products like MRI machines drives the future of innovation.

“The school of engineering is focusing on this. We have to produce products that no one else makes, that are expensive and command a premium price,” Dolling said. “We’re going to play our role in a new economy that’s driven by sophisticated technological products.”

He also trumpeted the University’s commitment to SEAS, made apparent by the upcoming $275-million Science and Engineering Hall – the most expensive building in GW history – which will be completed by 2014.

“It’s an investment. Let’s hope it’s not a gamble,” Dolling said.

Doug Guthrie, in his second year as dean of the business school, talked about the “doom and gloom” of the U.S. economy, which he said is hampered by a lack of vocational training for factory jobs and “industrial policy that is not in step with globalization.”

Guthrie, who is a scholar on China and economic sociology, said politicians have failed to pave a way for government to strengthen energy and trade policy.

The solution, he said, is encouraging business leaders to think about the ways in which their companies interact with society, stressing ethics and sustainability.

“At GW, we think a lot about these kinds of issues. We’re trying to frame business leaders to think about the complexities of the global economy,” Guthrie said. “I also have a very specific agenda about building a business school that’s connected to society.”

While the two deans had different opinions on the country’s future, Arlington Butler, who graduated from the business school in 1990, said the discussion was substantive.

“That’s exactly what you should have, not only in the discourse of the University, but outside the University. You should be able to have divergent views that have a constructive commonality,” Butler said.

The two deans also saw ways in which their schools could work together, starting with entrepreneurship.

“There’s no reason why the next Microsoft shouldn’t come from GW,” Dolling said. “The school of engineering historically hasn’t had entrepreneurship in curriculum, but we need to get our students and faculty to be innovative.”

“I’d like for us to converge a lot more. In the past there wasn’t so much overlap between the two schools and we’re really not quite there yet,” Guthrie said.

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