I recently spoke to local Hispanic business leaders and challenged them to create opportunities for educating the Latino population, which lags behind all other ethnic groups.

Today, Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the U.S. at 47 million individuals and growing. More than half of Maryland’s 66,000 new residents last year were Hispanic. In Virginia, Hispanics represented a third of the state’s 113,000 new residents. Yet statewide, the high school dropout rate among Hispanics last year was 19.1 percent, compared with 11.3 percent for blacks and 5.6 percent for whites, according to the Virginia Department of Education for on-time graduation.

Washington, D.C. is the fourth largest economy in the United States, with the nation’s most educated workforce and the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. But Hispanics are falling through the cracks because of their limited education. The DC area is home to more than 1,000 international firms from 50 countries and it is growing. The Washington Business Journal reported that Hispanic business ownership has surged to 54% in the D.C. area.

Today firms are dedicated to recruiting an educated workforce from a diverse population that truly understands its customers, clients, members and employees to ensure its success. Educated Latinos are in high demand for corporations.

At the School of Management, 9% of the total enrollment is Hispanic. Among declared majors, the largest percentage of Hispanic students are majoring in management and accounting.

Nationally for college students, graduation rates run 15-20 percentage points lower for black and Hispanic students compared to whites. But Mason is among only 11 institutions nationwide with little or no disparity in graduation rates between black and Hispanic students and white students.  At Mason, 57 percent of whites graduate, compared with 59 percent of Hispanics and 63 percent of blacks.

The Hispanic population is growing and we have a great opportunity to take advantage of the resources available to us, and to impact the communities where we live. Our Hispanic students and entrepreneurs are lucky because you are starting your career in a time when opportunities abound for the Latino community. New funds are being collected for support programs. New enterprises are on the rise, and we live in an area where great resources are at our disposal.

Our region is growing each day. And we must all do our part in helping the economy and continue this growth. Another report cited that 14.7% of the total US population is now Hispanic with a market size of 43 million and a buying power of $750 billion. These are staggering statistics. We, as a group, have great power in making a strong impact on the economy. We can help bolster this recession.

And so I encourage you to start your own businesses and help become part of the solution for economic growth. Take on more risk and more initiative to create growth and jobs for the future. Use your individual experiences of diversity to build bridges to other cultures, and share your knowledge. Encourage education in the youth of our communities.

Remember there are also now many entrepreneurs or business leaders that are role models in the Latin community: Indra Nooyi (CEO, PepsiCo), Jacqueline Hernández (COO, Telemundo) or he’s the next Antonio Perez (CEO, Eastman Kodak) or Cesar Conde (President, Univision Networks).

And never forget what brought each of us to the US. What brought your parents or your grandparents? Was it for freedom or opportunities? The US is a nation of immigrants, made stronger by the differences we hold. And we should stand together and celebrate these differences and share our collective wisdom. We should remember that our Hispanic community is about building relationships and helping each other. Never forget to speak with pride for your heritage.

We have many partnerships with corporate sponsors and local business and alumni that benefit our students. Our corporate partners enhance student learning and are very important to the growth of our school. Business leaders’ participation in our boards, career management programs and class visits all enhance the educational development of our students.

International partnerships offer opportunities to learn abroad, partnerships with local business leaders help us to bring guest speakers to our classes to share their expertise with students and capstone judges to participate in student presentations. These leaders also offer mentoring programs to our students, and even internships and jobs.

Even partnerships within the schools at George Mason University have provided unique opportunities for students. For example, our Master’s in Real Estate Development and Master’s in Management of Secure Information Systems were developed from a partnership of three schools at Mason, the School of Management, School of Public Policy, and Volgenau School of Engineering.

And in the past few years, a partnership has allowed our students to have three separate opportunities to visit American business tycoon, Warren Buffett at his corporate offices in Omaha, Nebraska, where they engaged in discussions with him on the current global and national economies.

For those who are not yet our partners, we would love to include you in our journey. Every new partnership is a new opportunity for learning and success.

To our students, when you transition from students to alumni, remember to take pride in your alma mater. Return to campus and offer your time and support in our classrooms and with student activities, to help grow future generations of global business leaders.

We are indebted to our partners and their dedication to Mason and the School of Management.  So at this time, I’d like to extend my thanks to all of our partners for all you do in supporting the School of Management. Thank you.

In Europe, businesses tend to first see if an action is legal, and then decide if it is socially responsible. In the United States, businesses tend to first ask if their action is legal, and then they stop and assume what is legal is also acceptable. Our future business managers and leaders must ask, “Are my actions ethical? Are my actions socially responsible? Do my actions provide true shareholder value for the long term?”

At the School of Management, ethics are incorporated in all courses for all students in all disciplines. Our professors pose important ethical dilemmas to students, placing them in the shoes of a manager forced to make a difficult decision, in which the short-term bottom line and the long-term financial and social impacts must be considered, and having them discuss what their actions would be.

For many of our students, their first job will pose their first serious challenges in business ethics.  What would you do if you were a young analyst—at Enron? What is your responsibility if your first job is filling out SEC forms—for Bernie Madoff? We want our students to first think about these difficult situations in the classroom.

And think about Wall Street in recent years. In 20/20 hindsight, some argue there was very little that was illegal. Illegal? Perhaps not. Were there poor financial decisions and unreasonable risks? Certainly. But most importantly, were there bad decisions that violated some larger, global ethical responsibility?  You—and history—will be the judge.

Together, business leaders, business schools, and accrediting bodies, need to work to define ethics so that there is one agreed upon standard for all businesses and all business leaders. We cannot define ethics differently in different regions of the world.

And so we count on alumni, and business leaders to help us instill this good behavior in our students and young graduates and to share their professional expertise and experiences with them.

And as a dean of a business school, I will continue to challenge faculty and staff to:

• pose the tough questions to students
• present different points of view objectively, and without bias
• give practical challenges
• challenge our students to navigate their own course in search of answers, knowing that there is sometimes no single “right” solution

It is all of our responsibility to build a community that we are proud to pass on to future generations.

To change the business world, we must all take responsibility and instill responsibility in our students for their actions. So, come join us in this important endeavor!

Our faculty come from some of the best institutions such as, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Duke, Columbia, Stanford, Wharton, Thunderbird—and we are proud of their research accomplishments.

But for us it is all about the students. We are a student-centered school, and each decision we make is based on this ethos. All of our undergraduate classes are taught by professors providing intense and focused learning to enhance the classroom experience. We can’t predict what the students who are wandering our halls today will do tomorrow, but we hold their dreams in our hands, and we can give them the tools and skills they need to succeed at the highest level. And at Mason, we do.

Our students are the promise of the future, and as such we promise to do everything we can to ensure we provide them with a first class business education. At time of graduation, 70% of our students have full-time professional employment, and they are regularly placed with high quality organizations such as Booz Allen Hamilton, CSC, Grant Thornton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Freddie Mac, and Northrop Grumman, to name a few.

When you consider all that we have been able to accomplish in our first 34 years, imagine what we can accomplish in the next three decades. Simply stated, the School of Management is an outstanding place to study and work and I am proud to be at its helm, continuing to advance our initiatives forward. We are young, and quickly growing and making strides.

Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw once said, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.”

Leaders create a future without evidence and without authority. When John F. Kennedy declared that we would have a man on the moon in 10 years, there was plenty of evidence by scientists who have the authority, to say that it would never happen. But Kennedy, who had no authority as a scientist, made this declaration. And we were able to put a man on the moon within 10 years because we put ourselves at stake and committed to it.

I believe that leaders are in service of their vision and others. What I mean by this is that leaders have the humility to be guided by a vision, not by their own needs or wants, not by their likes or dislikes, not by their circumstances, not by their past. Everything that they do, say and choose to be is in service to that vision. Leaders see service as an honor. We should all remember that it is an honor and a privilege to be in service to others. To be chosen as a leader is perhaps one of the greatest honors that a human being can have.

So I invite all those reading to continue to be leaders in service to others and in service to your visions. Forge your own paths, follow your heart and pursue your passions. Continue to work hard. Remember, the people that evolve as leaders and heroes, are just ordinary people. Leaders are ordinary people who take extraordinary action to get extraordinary results.

A college education is meant to prepare the student for more than a job. It prepares the student for lifelong learning. It gives students the skills to learn how to teach themselves and the ability to see opportunities and challenges from many perspectives, not just the one way in which they grow accustomed. Education increases the students’ capacity to learn and shows their commitment to advancement and dedication to their chosen field. An education increases job prospects and earnings potential. It builds a support system through faculty, colleagues, and alumni—expanding their network. A college education will open doors that would not be open for you without an education.

Each person is a unique individual. No one thinks the way you think. No one sees a situation the way you see it. It is a unique way in which you will be able to make a difference in the world, and it is a unique way in which you will look at life. Life continually changes and presents different challenges and opportunities; an education allows you to shape and reshape your unique perspective in life to respond to these changes, not only now, but throughout your lifetime.

Although we all will face difficult times in our lives, education is something you earn that will always stay with you. A college education is a gateway to the world, but it is up to you to cross through and make the most of the opportunity  Thus, it takes commitment, it takes vision, and it takes risk.

Washington, D.C. has the nation’s most educated workforce and the region is ranked third in entrepreneurial activity. According to INC Magazine, we have the largest number of fastest-growing private companies in America.

Our region is growing each day, and with unemployment rates significantly below the national average, we offer our students more opportunities to join a global corporation or venture and more opportunities to have an impact on our global business futures. The opportunities don’t end here in Washington. Today the opportunities for our students are truly global, and our graduates are increasing work around the world.

We are also very fortunate to live in a place with such a strong entrepreneurial history to inspire us. In 1607, the first successful English settlement in North America was founded in Virginia. Did you know that one important purpose of Jamestown was to provide investors with some profits from gold mining? These people were entrepreneurs, braving the unknown in search of something greater.

And although the economy has been very tough in the past few years, history proves that during tough economic times, our nation emerges stronger because of our entrepreneurial spirit. Many great companies were founded during times of recession—General Electric was formed during the panic of 1873; the Great Depression saw the beginnings of United Technologies (1929), Hewlett Packard (1939), and Revlon (1932); Apple Computer was founded during the recession of the ’80s and Google during the downturn in the ’90s; and P&G, IBM and FedEx were started during major economic downturns too.

Now is the time for entrepreneurs to follow their passions and career aspirations.

Remember that each face that passes you in the street could belong to the next entrepreneur or business leader who changes the world for the better. Maybe she’s the next Meg Whitman, or he’s the next Warren Buffet or Steve Jobs.

I am often asked if there are any tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur. We know that there is no specific course of action that applies to all entrepreneurial endeavors, but here are a few lessons we have learned along the way.

Get excited. Research has shown that one of the major predictors of success for entrepreneurs is their level of excitement and passion for what they are doing. Successful entrepreneurs do have that “special spark” of interest and passion—and yes, sometimes obsession—with their companies. So be sure to “plan your destiny” and “pursue your passions.”

Take on a mentor. The number one predictor of success as an entrepreneur is experience. Those who have been through the process before—even if they had an earlier failure—are much more likely to succeed. Learn from others who have the experience and that includes our own faculty at the School of Management. Our faculty are not only experienced entrepreneurs themselves but they have experience mentoring others. They run annual events such as the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Dean’s Business Plan Competition, and Mason Entrepreneurship Research Conference. Our faculty also teach entrepreneurship labs and run the Next Step for Entrepreneurs program.

Don’t do this alone. We know that small teams of 3, 4 or 5 individuals are much more likely to succeed than the “Lone Ranger” entrepreneur. Our success truly depends upon our relationships.

Stick with it. Persistence is another trait of the successful entrepreneur. Many, in fact most, entrepreneurs have one or two or more failures behind them. Just one quick example: let’s go back to my mention of Steve Jobs and Apple Computers. We all know how wildly successful Apple is now, even surpassing Microsoft in market value as the largest computer firm. But do you remember the Apple “Lisa” machine and the “Newton” handheld device? And how many of you even knew about Steve Job’s venture called “Next”? Even for Steve Jobs, there were many failures on the road to global success.

We’ve all heard this quote from Thomas Edison before, but it certainly rings true. Remember that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

The theme of this year’s report is Innovation and Business Globalization: The New Business Standard, which came about from the following question I posed:

Is the innovation movement so pervasive that it is the new business standard or are we all just jumping on the bandwagon? How many of us are actually being innovative?

We are fully committed to global business education and innovation as evidenced with this publication by our academic offerings, the quality research of our faculty, and the professional pursuits of our graduates. You may be particularly interested in our new Centers of Excellence on page 4 and the unique faculty research outlined on page 6.

Take a few minutes to explore our 2012 Dean’s Report. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

At the George Mason University School of Management, our vision statement reads:

“We foster a culture of excellence—developing leaders who embrace responsibility and diversity in an increasingly interconnected world.”

We have 85 countries represented by our students and faculty and 63 native languages other than English are spoken. Almost half of our students are women, and 46% of our students are minorities.

Our required global residency programs for graduate students bring to life what textbooks and case studies only talk about. Students no longer just analyze a generic company in a generic location. Our graduate students travel abroad in small groups, experience the global company and its people firsthand, and gain a unique vantage point into the global business world. We make the world our classroom.

In addition to the global residency, our diverse campus community opens our students’ eyes. Our campus environment teaches students to embrace other cultures, to respect others’ viewpoints, and to learn to work within the boundaries of those cultures, both here in the United States and around the globe.

Jimmy Carter once said, “We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

The School of Management itself is a wonderful reflection of the global workplace. And we are constantly establishing or strengthening our partnerships with academic institutions in countries around the world, including: China, Columbia, Egypt, Germany, South Korea, Peru, Russia, Switzerland, and Turkey. This year, we began discussion or continued discussions on relationships with 74 institutions in 28 countries. These relationships bring us the opportunity to collaborate on research, faculty and student exchanges, and executive education programs, which is vital in today’s global economy.

Together we are a mosaic of knowledge and experiences that form a picture of respect for the cultures of the world.

Today’s threats happen in the cyber world.

The Department of Homeland Security recently announced an urgent need to hire 1,000 cyber experts to focus on incident response, risk and strategic analysis, vulnerability detection and assessment, intelligence and investigations, networks and systems engineering. The urgent nature of this appeal serves notice to CIO’s: staffing and strategic needs must be addressed urgently to face this rising threat. Of course, heightened security needs for the private sector rise in tandem with those of the public sector. Planning must be underway for international firms as well.

In fact, awareness must extend to all management levels of the global enterprise. In a recent flurry of reports, The Economist documents that corporations, too, have begun to perceive cyber-espionage as a severe risk. It is now common practice for CFOs to develop budgets which denote financial risks involved with a security intrusion. Even with breach insurance, a firm would need to handle costs to cover investigations and forensics, consulting services, notification of affected individuals, public relations, legal defense and identity monitoring, not to mention the cost of lost business and damage to a firm’s brand equity. Prevention becomes increasingly dependent on hiring processes.

For their part, CIOs must marshal their firms’ technical assets against an increasingly aggressive menace of hackers and spies. Top cybercrime threats now go beyond phishing scams and viruses to include sophisticated attacks that shut down network servers and cloud-based systems.

For entrepreneurs, addressing IT security needs at the enterprise level is one of the biggest growth areas in business. National Defense Technology Magazine stated that “A cyber security gold rush is under way…as additional bureaucracies are created by government to handle to the threat, and corporations scramble to meet the challenge.”

At the School of Management, we aim to fill the need for management level cyber experts through the development of a new graduate program, the MS in Management of Secure Information Systems, we are planning to launch this fall. To be successful in today’s global economy, we must manage cyber threats along with all other business risks that we are faced with.