Leavey School of Business garners AACSB honor as champions of change in business education
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 1, 2021
Leavey School faculty Michele Samorani, Haibing Lu, and Michael Santoro's project, “Reducing Racial Disparities in Medical Appointment Scheduling”, was selected by AACSB (American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business) as one of 24 highlights of its 2021 Innovations That Inspire challenge. The goal of their project was to develop appointment-scheduling methodologies and software tools that maximize clinic efficiency while minimizing racial disparity.
Demonstrating that business schools are connected for better, AACSB's 2021 Innovations That Inspire initiative showcases business schools’ positive contributions to society—including efforts to address wide-ranging societal challenges such as food insecurity, pandemic leadership, climate change, and gender equity.
“It is an honor to be selected by AACSB among the 2021 Innovation that Inspires.”, says Dr. Samorani, lead author of the project, “The daily interactions of established scholars in data science, operations management, and ethics make Santa Clara University and the Leavey School of Business a fertile ground for this type of interdisciplinary projects. We hope to inspire more projects on algorithmic bias that not only study the problem, but also provide practical solutions that achieve both social justice and efficiency”.
The project was done in collaboration with Linda Goler Blount from the Black Women’s Health Imperative and Dr. Shannon Harris from Virginia Commonwealth University, and was carried out by a diverse and interdisciplinary research group, with collective expertise in operations management, information systems, and business ethics.
About Santa Clara University
Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Ranked among the top 15 percent of national universities by U.S. News & World Report, SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars as well as four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. For more information see www.scu.edu.
About Leavey School of Business
Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of the most dynamic business environments in the world, the Leavey School of Business combines academic excellence in the 450-year Jesuit tradition, with an energetic, innovative spirit that typifies the region. Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business offers one of the nation's best graduate business programs ranked No. 13 Executive MBA by U.S. News & World Report, No. 20 ranked Evening MBA by U.S. News & World Report, and No. 40 ranked Online MBA by U.S. News & World Report. Our Undergraduate Business programs rank in the Top 15% and No. 23 nationwide in best undergraduate teaching according to U.S. News & World Report.For more information, visit www.scu.edu/business.