Dean Rich Lyons, Forever an International Ambassador
Dean Rich Lyons is in the last months of his tenure at Berkeley Haas, and last week we were honored to have him address the Full-Time MBA IBD class for the last time. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of international course offerings at Berkeley Haas, as well as an active ambassador for the IBD program.
Dean Lyons had this to share with IBD: “I was hired here on the faculty in 1993, in a very different slot. I don’t think it had ever happened before and I don’t think it’s happened since. They allocated an ”international” slot and my field is international finance and business. So when I got here, it is safe to say that the only course that we would refer to as experiential learning, today, was IBD. It was an important part of the global footprint of the business school even way back then…It is really the kernel of a starting point to our whole experiential learning curriculum.”
Dean Lyons expressed that his own international experiences were transformative, and formed the basis for why he pursued a Ph.D. in international economics. He commended our IBD students for their hard work to date and deemed them “worthy ambassadors” of the Berkeley Haas brand. With an eye to the future, Dean Lyons asked current IBD students to think about their work with IBD clients as a path to more opportunities for the next generation of IBD students. He told us that “when you say Berkeley in Sao Paulo or Shanghai, or wherever you are going, it just has incredible resonance and you’re part of that resonance.” He encouraged our IBD students to revel in the 150 years of Berkeley tradition, and to “keep the global star rising” at Berkeley Haas.
In conclusion, he reminded us all to “do good work.”
Dean Lyons has been doing exceptional work for years on behalf of many departments at Berkeley Haas and UC Berkeley. The faculty, staff, alumni, and students at IBD are grateful to him for keeping the IBD program top of mind when he travels internationally. Dean Lyons has always been considered an extension of our own team, as well as our best advocate at home and abroad. As a small token of our appreciation, the IBD team presented Dean Lyons with an award that fits the profile of the IBD program as well as the Dean’s love of all things international: a commemorative globe. We hope that after Dean Lyons returns from his much-deserved sabbatical, he will continue to be an advocate for the IBD program and other course opportunities that offer MBAs transformative international experiences.
