President Wallerstein Attends Israel’s College of Management Graduation

Celebrates First Graduating Cohort in Dual Degree Business Program

July 12, 2018

To commemorate a milestone in Baruch College’s globalization efforts, President Mitchel B. Wallerstein, PhD, and a delegation of leaders went to Tel Aviv, Israel, in June to celebrate the graduation of the inaugural class of a dual degree business program that Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business launched with Israel’s College of Management (COLLMAN) in 2016.

The Baruch delegation included H. Fenwick Huss, PhD, Willem Kooyker Dean of The Zicklin School of Business; Myung-Soo Lee, PhD, vice provost for global initiatives; Qing Hu, PhD, senior associate dean for academic affairs and innovation; and Stuart Schulman, PhD, professor of management and entrepreneurship.

The 14 students in the program earn both an MS in entrepreneurship from Baruch, and an MBA in entrepreneurship from COLLMAN. In his remarks to the entire COLLMAN graduating class, President Wallerstein noted that Baruch and COLLMAN were natural partners for a program of this nature. “Our business schools share the distinction of being the largest in our respective nations. Our schools are also both deeply innovative in nature,” Wallerstein stated.

The program features a semester in Israel where students study alongside international classmates, and a three-week intensive in New York City during which students take entrepreneurship courses at Zicklin and visit leading New York City start-ups, entrepreneurship complexes, and the NASDAQ. The program also includes seminars and online courses offered by COLLMAN and Zicklin faculty, visiting entrepreneurs, and professionals. Each student also has the opportunity to intern at a promising Israeli start-up.

The COLLMAN partnership is one of Baruch’s numerous efforts to develop global programs and broaden the College’s international portfolio. Currently, Baruch has similar dual-degree programs with universities in China and Italy and other countries such as Brazil and India are being explored.

“As the world becomes increasingly globalized, we want to build on our intrinsic diversity,” says President Wallerstein. “Our student population represents more than 160 nationalities and 104 languages—so our graduates may be more international and inclusive, and better prepared for the world that awaits them.”

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