Wharton dean to travel to South America over break

Over spring break, the dean of the Wharton School will be travelling to South America — but not for vacation.

During the break, Wharton Dean Thomas Robertson will visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, as part of his plan to meet with alumni and other influential people associated with Wharton.

Robertson will also visit a global modular course being taught in Rio de Janeiro and will lead a meeting in Buenos Aires for Executive Board for Latin America , which was established to represent Wharton’s interests in that area.

For Robertson, Brazil’s rapidly growing economy is one reason why the country has become a point of interest for Penn.

“Brazil is of enormous importance,” he said. “It has recently experienced an amazing transformation.”

With regard to Argentina, he said that the country has “tons of potential in terms of natural resources and the talent of its people to be a more significant player than it currently is.”

The global modular course, called “Managing in Emerging Economies: Energy and Infrastructure in Brazil,” will give 45 current Wharton undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-world situations. Local students in the region are also given the opportunity to enroll.

“The modular courses are a great way of projecting the presence of Wharton around the world,” said Wharton professor Mauro Guillén, who will be teaching this course with Felipe Monteiro.

Julie Bucy, a second-year Wharton MBA student who will be taking the course, is looking forward to the cultural aspect of the class.

“Marrying academics with a different culture and getting immersed in it is really exciting,” she said.

Bucy added that the “opportunity to really participate in some of the experiences that are going on in Brazil while we are there” is another benefit of taking a global modular course.

According to Guillén, the course will run for five days and will involve classroom lectures and company visits. Since students receive one course credit for taking the class, the course is fairly intensive, with students required to complete the same number of hours as an ordinary semester-long course. Classes take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

For Robertson, the global modular course highlights Wharton’s emphasis on diversity and global awareness.

“In class, you want a diverse set of students,” he said. “The theory we operate under is that learning is maximized by diversity in all its forms. We think that leads to better outcomes and better learning experiences.”

In addition to the alumni events and global modular course, Wharton will offer new courses in Brazil through its executive education programs to help companies gain leadership strategies and management techniques. However, Wharton does not have plans to establish additional campuses abroad.

“We jealously guard the Wharton brand, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t create points of presence in other countries,” Robertson said.

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