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>>Well Dean while we have this opportunity, let's get some wisdom from you.
You know that when you were selected as the Dean that it was a very competitive selection.
We had a lot of very qualified people who wanted to be Dean of the McCombs school.
The Dean was a unanimous choice of the selection committee.
You're leaving a very safe harbor at USC.
What was it about Texas that intrigued you to make that move back to have
to face the fact that you're an OU graduate.
[laughter]
>>Dean: I like walking into the lion's den I think is the deal.
I'm an economist by training and so I recognize the vitality and the future
of the economy of Texas relative to California.
It's become obvious in the last few months that Texas is just a better place I think to grow
and prosper and do things that are interesting to a business school Dean.
The University of Texas is a fabulous place.
The Sciences, the Engineering, the Architecture, the Liberal Arts, the policy through the LBJ
and Law Schools are amongst the worlds best and they make great partners for a business school
that are trying to train students to operate in an interdisciplinary world.
My family and I were smitten with Austin.
We lived in Southern California, when we first visited Austin and we thought,
hey this feels like Southern California.
It's hilly, it's a little wet and there are trees and people drive to restaurants
in boats [laughter] and we thought that was pretty neat.
So I came because of the challenge, because of the commitment I know that people in Texas have
to excellence and being the best, being winners and I want to be part of something like that.
>>Well we're glad you made that choice and I will tell you that there is a difference
at the school and we're glad that you're there.
Touch just a little on the interdisciplinary thing and why this is, it sounds good
but why it's so difficult to make it work.
>>Dean: The reason why it's difficult to make it work is because there's
so much knowledge required to address society's problems, problems you alluded to in healthcare,
problems in satisfying society's energy needs, they require a lot of scientific
and engineering knowledge but we all know that at the end
of the day these all require business models that are commercializable and sustainable.
They make profits.
They allow people to invest and it's not always easy to find scientists and engineers
and business people who can speak the same language and make those things work.
And I think that the job of a modern business school is to train those kind of people.
It's a challenge, it's not an insurmountable challenge.
I will tell you we're getting students that come to McCombs school
of business looking to acquire those skills.
They want to learn finance and marketing and accounting but they want to take the classes
in engineering school and they want to understand the basic science
and the basic architecture associated with addressing, for example, society's energy needs.
So the challenges are there but the need and the opportunity are also there as well
so it's a fun problem to work on.
>>Dean Gilligan, thanks for coming down and spending time with us.
I know it's not easy with your schedule right now so we appreciate that.
Red, thanks for your time and insight and vision.
You all can see it's pretty easy to get up and come to work with this guy everyday.
Ashley, thanks for having the idea.
I think it was great.
Those of you who are out of town, we hope that you take the same model back to your town.
Find somebody in your town that is willing to be interviewed.
Dean will get on the road.
>>Absolutely [laughter]
>>He's given us a commitment for that.
I can tell you that I believe getting involved with the University
of Texas is not only an obligation as an alum but also a great privilege.
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