Sandra P. Epstein, author of Business at Berkeley: The History of the Haas School of Business (2016), will give a seminar focused on the history of the Business School and its relationship to the campus and to university business education. Not until the end of the nineteenth century and the ascension of more entrepreneurial university presidents, was attention directed toward forging stronger relationships with the business communities of the State and also to elevating the study of commerce to the scholarly levels of the campus community. The Haas School of Business’ upward trajectory from a “College of Commerce” to its top-ranked position today owes as much to its place as it does to its people and culture. Its affiliation with the Berkeley campus has ensured rigorous academic scholarship and research as well as placed it in the forefront of innovative developments in business, technology, and society.
Providing access to leading business education and research is a hallmark of its public mission. Never compromising its responsibility to prepare students for participation in the complex world of economic activity, the Business School nonetheless created an environment that emphasized social change, high ethical standards and public service. It broadened the definition of business activity to include topics such as migrant labor and corporate political activity. It integrated the values of a progressive state and an eminent university to create a brand of economic education that truly promoted the worlds of public values and private enterprise.
Join the conversation, as celebrated author, Sandra P. Epstein discusses the history of the Haas School of Business and the triumph of the Berkeley model.
Biography
Sandra P. Epstein, Ph.D. is the author of Business at Berkeley: The History of the Haas School of Business (Institute of Governmental Studies Press, Berkeley 2016). This new volume was preceded by her study of the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, and published as Law at Berkeley: the History of Boalt Hall (Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 1997).
Dr. Epstein has had a diverse professional career, combining her interest in higher education with professional employment in both the profit and non-profit sectors. She has served as a Public Affairs Officer in the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and an Administrative Analyst in the Office of the President, University of California Systemwide. She later served as administrator of the Jewish Home in San Francisco with responsibility for the internal operation of the 430-bed skilled nursing facility. Dr Epstein is the recipient of numerous honors and served in several advisory board positions in the health care field. In 1994, she was selected as the “Outstanding Professional in the Jewish Community by the Jewish Federation of San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, and Solano Counties.
Dr. Epstein graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received her masters and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, with specialization in Higher Education, Policy, Planning, and Administration. Her association with the Haas School of Business goes back more than fifty years.