Earlier this year, Barbara Kahn, dean of the University of Miami's school of Business Administration, found herself in the midst of some of the largest names in business -- heavyweights like Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric; Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's, and Muhtar Kent president of Coca-Cola.

It was a gathering nearly a year in the making, as Kahn spearheaded UM's effort to host its inaugural Global Business Forum in January.

As more than 700 business executives and professionals gathered at the tree-canopied Coral Gables campus, Kahn couldn't help but feel energized by the interchange of ideas.

``There was a real excitement then,'' Kahn said. ``People were talking after the meetings, you were able to walk around and have intellectual discussions. I think that's what a university should do, bring people together to have conversations about ideas.''

The summit was one of several new ideas and programs implemented by Kahn since assuming the role as the business school's dean in June 2007. She came from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, where she worked for 17 years, four of those years as a Vice Dean overseeing undergraduate programs.

Since taking the helm of the business school, Kahn has reinstated the school's Ph.D program, recruited professors from premier institutions like Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has seen the school's academic stock rise. It was recently ranked 43rd in the nation for MBA programs by Forbes Magazine, and listed as the No. 3 graduate program for Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine.

``I believe in the potential of the University of Miami to be a preeminent university and a preeminent business school,'' Kahn said of her decision to leave Wharton.

BUSINESS TIES

She has garnered support from Miami's business community -- forging relationships with business leaders by asking them to serve on advisory boards to help shape the school's curriculum.

``When I heard her vision for the university's business school and likening it to an aspiration of having the school be to healthcare management what Wharton is to finance and Harvard is to public law and policy I was beyond impressed,'' said Penny Schaffer, South Florida market president for Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Florida.

Schaffer serves as on an advisory committee helping shape the school's health administration program, and said Kahn's ``strong marketing background'' is helping lure more business leaders to the school.

Kahn is equally as excited about working with South Florida's diverse mix of business leaders.

``When I reach out to a UM alum, I never know who I'm going to meet,'' Kahn said. ``Everyone I've met is different. People talk about UM as having diversity, but it's not in the traditional way people think about having diversity. At Wharton 80 percent of the students went to Wall Street, it was very finance-oriented. Here they go everywhere. They're the type of person who is a more out-of-the-box thinker, and this community here encourages that.''

GLOBAL ALLIANCES

Situated in a community influenced heavily by Latin America and the Caribbean, the business school has started forging international partnerships to reflect South Florida's diverse business landscape.

In October the school launched an MBA program in Puerto Rico and has also partnered with seven universities in Argentina, Brazil, China, Peru and Spain to begin educational exchanges.

While the global recession has hampered fundraising efforts slightly, Kahn said enrollment in the 2,400-student business school remains on pace.

``More than anything it has influenced what we teach in the classroom,'' Kahn said. ``There's a lot of lessons, for example, in finance the lessons of the global economy have been introduced into the classroom.''

Eventually she hopes the business school will be touted as having one of the premier healthcare administration programs in the country. She notes the school already has one advantage to set the school apart -- UM President Donna Shalala served as secretary of health and human services for eight years under President Bill Clinton.

Despite juggling the duties of dean, Kahn continues to teach a master's level marketing course. She has long distinguished herself as an expert in the field of marketing as the writer of 50 articles in leading academic journals and co-writer of Grocery Revolution: The New Focus on the Consumer.

``I became a professor because I love research and teaching,'' Kahn said. ``In my role as dean, that has not changed.''

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