Jim Kitchen, a professor of the practice of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler, will be one of the passengers on the next Blue Origin space flight
It will last just 13 minutes, but it’s a trip Professor Jim Kitchen has been waiting for his entire life.
Kitchen, a professor of the practice of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, has been selected to be part of the six-person crew of Blue Origin’s next flight to space. It’s the 20th in the New Shepard program’s history and just the fourth with people on board for Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
His flight takes off March 23 at 8:30 a.m. CDT in West Texas. Blue Origin’s NS-20 flight will take Kitchen 65 miles up – 10 times higher than a plane – at 2,300 miles per hour and then 2,600 miles per hour on the way back down.
It will take him to a place he has long dreamed of.
MIT Sloan School of Management announces new Digital Product Management Certificate
Vivek Farias
MIT Sloan School of Management has announced the launch of a new Digital Product Management Certificate program, created in response to increasing demand from both students and employers. The certificate is available to students who are enrolled in MIT Sloan graduate degree programs.
Product managers play a number of important and complex roles, overseeing the processes of how a product is designed, engineered, marketed, and launched. Research from McKinsey & Company indicates that the role of product manager is growing and changing, with an increased focus on understanding the customer and using machine-learning tools designed to augment decision making. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of global technology leaders surveyed for the IEEE’s Impact of Technology in 2022 and Beyond survey say recruiting for open tech positions—requiring skills in technology, business and leadership—will be challenging.
“The field of product management has changed dramatically, largely because of the need to deliver value in software,” says Vivek Farias, Patrick J. McGovern (1959) professor at MIT Sloan and faculty lead of the new certificate program. “This is not just an engineering task, and often the types of problems solved with software can’t be defined right away. It’s an art to be able to manage a complex, iterative process and learn from the market—while not spending too much time or money. Good product managers are experts at that art.”
GMAC launches scholarship to increase diversity in European business education
The Graduate Management Admission Council has launched a new scholarship, the GMAT Talent and Opportunity Scholarship, for 10 European business school applicants, aimed at improving inclusion in graduate management education and reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.