Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Gregory B. Fairchild from the University of Virginia (UVA) Darden School of Business.
As an academic director of public policy and entrepreneurship at Darden, Gregory B. Fairchild (MBA ’92) is charged with promoting ways in which business leadership can connect to broader societal issues. Fairchild, who is the Isidore Horween Research Professor of Business Administration, also serves as the associate dean for Washington, DC–area initiatives and the dean and CEO of UVA Northern Virginia. He specializes in entrepreneurship, business strategies, and business ethics, and he researches ways to create value in underserved areas. Virginia Business magazine has included Fairchild in its “Top 25: People to Watch” feature, and both CNN/Fortune and Poets&Quants have named him one of the best business school professors in the world. Fairchild has received the UVA Public Service Award for Faculty for teaching business courses to prison inmates.
Fairchild has received a number of teaching excellence awards at Darden, including recognition as an outstanding faculty member. One graduate we interviewed called Fairchild’s classes “exhilarating” and noted that he reviews his students’ resumes and can tie someone’s background to the topic of the day. She added that he is “scarily good” at cold calls and “won’t let go until he has dug all of the facts out of you.”
For more information about Darden and 16 other top-ranked MBA schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
