Join the conversation: What does the California Dream mean to you? Please use our reader forum to comment on this issue.

Steven Currall still believes in the California Dream.

Currall, a native of Missouri, started last month as dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. He comes to the Sacramento region by way of the London Business School and Rice University in Houston. An expert in innovation and entrepreneurship, he was drawn here by Northern California's reputation as a hotbed for both.

When I interviewed him last week, Currall evidenced an outsider's perspective about problems that many longtime Californians see as the end of our state as we know it. To Currall, the state government's dysfunction and its inability to balance the budget, resolve conflicts over water or address problems in kindergarten-through-12th grade education are mere "speed bumps" that the private sector will get past with little trouble.

Although he is more concerned about tax and regulatory policies that might suppress innovation, even there he sees a glass half full: His vision for using the graduate school as an incubator for new green-technology companies depends in part on the government's plans for aggressive regulation of greenhouse gases to fight global warming.

Currall thinks his school can be for the Sacramento region what the Stanford Business School has been for the Silicon Valley: a source of management expertise that will help engineers and other entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful commercial enterprises, and in turn transform this region into a global leader in clean energy technology.

– Daniel Weintraub

Edited excerpts from an interview with Steven Currall.

What attracted you to California and the University of California, Davis?

Davis has got this amazing confluence of assets. The quality of the university, world-class university. The graduate school of management is relatively young, only 28 years old. But it's had a terrific rise in visibility and impact. And it's had a real strong commitment to quality. Quality of faculty. Quality of students. So I saw that as a great platform, a great foundation.

And also, it's an opportunity to grow the school. The school is relatively modest in size. But I like to consider myself an academic entrepreneur; I like to grow and build things in an academic setting.

And Davis just seemed like an ideal opportunity. A great foundation. Good momentum and trajectory, but still an opportunity for me to have some, for me to make a contribution.

You've talked about the California Dream. Haven't the current conditions tarnished that image?

I think the current conditions are just a small speed bump. I'm not troubled by them. I think the ethos here is so committed to innovation and being on the edge, and exploring new things, I think that is going to carry us through. I think we are going to innovate our way out of this, I hope. And the Graduate School of Management is going to contribute to that. One of our main strategic foci is innovation. We've got a great history of doing that.

We've got a center for entrepreneurship which is very successful. And it's consistent with my hopes and aspiration for the school, because I want the school to fulfill its scholarly and educational mission, but I think the school has a responsibility for promoting economic prosperity as well. Not only should we educate MBA students to lead and run existing corporations, but I think we have a role in actually starting companies and job creation. I'm hoping we can make a contribution there, as well.

What does the California Dream mean to you?

Californians are not encumbered by confusion about what matters and what doesn't matter. I think that my observation of Californians is that their priorities are on what one can achieve, what one has done, what one might someday do. My experience on the East Coast is different. It's much more retrospective, much more backward-looking, what family are you from or what school did you go to. I think California people don't care about that very much, and I find that appealing. It's much more of a meritocracy.