“Feeder school” is one epithet that does not adequately describe the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, said the school’s Interim Dean Sunil Chopra. And with a struggling job market, the school’s reputation as one of the best business schools in the country is proving to be one of the greatest assets for recent graduates.This fall, Chopra replaced Dipak Jain, who served as dean of Kellogg for eight years. Jain will return to the faculty after a year-long leave of absence, according to an announcement he made in the spring. Though the school must now find a new dean, continue to raise funds – including a capital campaign for a new building – and place students in one of the most difficult job markets in recent memory, Chopra said the breadth of relationships the school built under Jain has given it a competitive edge.”Structurally, Kellogg is designed for times like this,” Chopra said. Members of last year’s graduating class received job offers from more than 260 companies, which, Chopra said, is not bested by any of Kellogg’s peer institutions.The reality is a few firms could easily hire all of Kellogg’s graduating students, he said, but in trying economic times, hiring business school graduates en masse is not possible in a constrained job market. Schools that have relied heavily upon only a handful of businesses for their graduates’ employment are at a loss, he said.As Chopra confronts the task of preparing students for post-graduation and building upon Kellogg’s relationships in the working world, a 12-member search committee appointed over the summer by University Provost Daniel Linzer is in “full swing” in its efforts to find the next dean, Chopra said.”It has a very broad function and represents faculty from every department,” said Kellogg Prof. Janice Eberly, chair of the search committee. “There’s alumni, there’s students, as well as deans from two other schools in the University.” The committee is partnered with outside search firm Korn/Ferry International, and it is working to select a handful of finalist candidates by the middle of Winter Quarter to present to senior members of the University’s administration, Eberly said. The announcement of Kellogg’s new dean will be made by the end of this academic year.The search committee’s main focus thus far has been outreach, she said.”We’ve sent e-mails soliciting priorities for the dean as well as nominations of people to the entire Kellogg community,” she said. “This means alumni all over the world, students, faculty and staff.”Eberly added the e-mail responses already number in the hundreds.Bryan Law, search committee member and Kellogg Student Association president, has worked to get feedback from his peers on their priorities for a new dean. Kellogg has held forums with its executive MBA students and will be holding another session on Thursday for full-time students, Law said.”These forums are to get a sense of what’s most important to Kellogg students in terms of a potential candidate,” he said. “What are their highest priorities for Kellogg? What the major opportunities and challenges facing Kellogg over the next five to 10 years will be that they want the (new) dean to be capable of handling?”Law added that continuing the “strong culture” that distinguishes Kellogg is a high priority for students. It is this strong culture to which Chopra attributes the “good will” of the school’s alumni community, especially among its donors. Kellogg has actually seen an increase in gifts, even during this difficult economic time, Chopra said.”Just look at what some of our top peers like Harvard and Stanford are going through,” he said. “Continuing to raise money at a much higher level than in the past is absolutely critical for Kellogg.”Another competitive advantage for Kellogg is its “experiential-learning opportunities,” said Chopra and Law. Chopra described these opportunities as “mini internships” within Kellogg through which students can work on different business ventures in a variety of firms.Law worked with the Kellogg non-profit consulting group Neighborhood Business Initiative last year and is now on the auxiliary board of the university he helped to start up in Angola. He said he is confident in the variety of opportunities Kellogg has offered him, from leadership to networking, and this is a tradition his fellow students want to see continue under the next dean.”Kellogg is well known for being a collaborative environment that encourages openness and inclusion,” Law said. “It is important that the new dean continues to ensure the academic excellence and rigor of Kellogg and foster an environment of student leadership that is important to the school.”[email protected]