Published: November 17, 2016
Jones Veterans in Business Association Aids MBA Transition
The Rice University—Jones Graduate School of Business (Rice Business) recently highlighted its Veterans in Business Association (VIBA)—a unique student club that works to increase the number of veterans in Rice Business’s MBA program and bring a national awareness to their efforts—as part of a feature article in Rice Magazine.
VIBA was founded in 2011 by former Navy SEAL James Battista, who served for a decade in the military. The student organization aimed to provide mentoring opportunities for students making the challenging transition from military life to academia.
The following year, Rice Business Dean Bill Glick, along with Rice trustees and others from the leadership team, began a scholarship that would help cover the cost of tuition, fees and living expenses for one veteran earning his or her MBA degree. This year, the recipient is Major William E. Lyles, a first-year MBA student at Rice Business who lost both of his legs after stepping on a buried improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan. And while the transition from military to civilian life has not been an easy one for Lyle—including four years of rehab at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio—he nonetheless finds some overlap in the skills used in the Army and in an MBA.
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