Excellence in Teaching

The cornerstone of the entire Berkeley MBA program is its distinguished faculty members and the high quality of their courses. At Haas, good teaching is a high priority.

The best proof of this is from Berkeley MBA students themselves, who are asked to evaluate the teaching of their professors every semester. Over the past several years, about two-thirds of the Haas School faculty members have regularly earned the coveted "Club 6" status in their student evaluations—that is, their average ratings are 6 or higher on a 7-point scale.

Diverse Teaching Methods

In the Berkeley MBA classroom, faculty members emphasize both theory and practice by using a variety of teaching methods. Case studies, seminars, simulations, guest speakers, and group projects all facilitate the learning process. Classroom learning is enhanced by numerous opportunities to apply the lessons to real-world situations. For example, some courses in marketing and entrepreneurship place teams of MBA and graduate engineering students together at Silicon Valley firms for hands-on consulting projects.

Haas professors regularly integrate their research findings into new course offerings and reassess the MBA curriculum to ensure its relevance in presenting current management issues. In their courses, Berkeley MBA students benefit by being among the first to learn of faculty discoveries and by studying firsthand with the inventors of new theories and principles for management practice.

 

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Opened in 2009, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at the Haas School of Business promotes teaching excellence at all levels and excellence in student learning inside and outside the classroom. The mission of the CTE is to make training, coaching, and other resources available to both professional and research faculty. Designed to leverage the wisdom and insights of veteran instructors and promote good teaching values and behaviors, CTE resources cover a full and continuous spectrum of activities and services, from new-faculty orientation practices to individual coaching sessions.

 

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First Person
Johan Walden
Assistant Professor
Johan Walden

Haas Finance Group

Winner, 2009 Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching