A Business Degree with a Bigger Purpose
Chancellor Gary S. May connects career ambition with service and impact
For prospective business students considering where to pursue a graduate degree, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May pointed to a distinction that extends beyond rankings: students’ desire to use their success to help others.
During a visit to the Graduate School of Management’s Gallagher Hall, May discussed the university’s service culture, opportunities to connect business with research and the leadership qualities he hopes graduate students develop. He also reflected on MBA alumnus Karl Engelbach’s longstanding connection to UC Davis.
His answers offered a perspective on business education that connects professional ambition with responsibility to organizations, communities and society.
Success With a Larger Purpose
Asked what prospective business students should know about UC Davis that they might not learn from rankings or a program website, May emphasized students’ inclination toward service.
He described students who consider how their accomplishments can benefit others, alongside their own professional advancement.
“UC Davis students are thinking about not just being successful themselves, but how their success can make things better for their enterprise, society or the planet.”
— Chancellor Gary S. May
May identified that service orientation as something special about UC Davis. His response framed the student experience around a question that reaches beyond career goals: What can graduates accomplish for others through their success?
Bringing New Ideas to Market
For business students, UC Davis’ strengths across agriculture, health and technology also present opportunities to work across disciplines, May said.
Research in those fields generates ideas that require business expertise to reach customers and communities. May pointed to the potential for collaboration between people developing discoveries and those who can help bring them to market.
“Agriculture, health and technology all require people who can take new ideas to the marketplace. The opportunities for collaboration are ripe.”
— Chancellor Gary S. May
May highlighted the business potential of UC Davis research, from agricultural innovations to biomedical devices. He cited the Graduate School of Management’s collaboration with the College of Engineering to bring biomedical devices to market as an example of how business expertise can help turn discoveries into practical applications.
His comments emphasized an opportunity for business education within a research university: helping connect scientific advances with practical applications.
Leading Through Listening
May’s vision for graduate education also includes developing leaders who listen carefully and approach others with empathy and humility.
He described those qualities as ones he tries to practice himself and considers important for the leaders UC Davis prepares.
“Good leaders are good listeners, empathetic and humble. Those are the qualities I try to practice and hope to develop in our students.”
— Chancellor Gary S. May
May contrasted that approach with leadership centered on being the smartest person in the room or projecting a forceful personality. He said the differences between those approaches become apparent when observing leaders’ success.
A Connection That Spans a Career
The conversation also turned to Engelbach, whose retirement prompted a question about whether a decades long connection to one university remains possible for today’s graduates.
May described Engelbach’s path through undergraduate study at UC Davis, work experience, a return for an MBA and employment at the UC Office of the President before returning to Davis.
“We do have a lot of examples of people that have been here for 20, 30, almost 40 years,” May said.
He acknowledged that younger generations may view career longevity differently. Engelbach’s path nevertheless illustrated how a university relationship can encompass multiple stages of education and employment, including opportunities to leave and return.
