UCLA Anderson School of Management last month hosted 50 top students from historically black and Hispanic-serving colleges and universities as part of a program designed to expose prospective future business school students to the principles of business development, entrepreneurship and management. The University of California Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (UC SIEML) program rotates across six UC business schools, and participating students attend classes, workshops and networking events for two consecutive summers.
Beyond the benefits provided to the students, the program also helps participating business schools connect with undergraduates before they graduate and head off in other directions. . “Take a look of other graduate degree programs,” says Linda Baldwin, Anderson assistant dean of diversity and 2013 UC SIEML director. “They have a pipeline from their undergraduate departments,” she said. “With the MBA program, there’s typically a break. The students get scattered.”
The corporate sponsors of the program are looking to connect with promising future business school students as well, Baldwin notes. “For the employers, it’s a relatively easy way to see students they don’t traditionally find—top performing students with a 3.8 and above,” she said. “In all likelihood, these companies would not have seen them.”
Interested students enrolled at historically black colleges and universities or Hispanic-serving institutions can apply for the program in their freshman year of study. Applications are due in March, notifications are made in May, and students attend classes for two weeks each summer for two consecutive summers. Acceptance to the program includes an all-expense-paid fellowship, including airfare, full room and board at campus dormitories, transportation and other costs.
