Black MBA - Summer 2008 - (Page 35)

as a reason for Howard’s inclusion on the list of schools with notable business programs. STUDENT ADVANTAGE The program – 21st Century Advantage Program (21 CAP) – evolved from another program that began in the late 1980s under the administration of former Howard president Franklin Jennifer. Jennifer considered himself a “diamond in the rough” who would have benefited from some sort of mentoring help, according to Carol Henley, who runs 21 CAP. Though, Jennifer was not accepted into Howard, he went on to become its president. Only one company participated in the original program, the Melville Corp., and it was designed only to give students the tools they needed to succeed and to keep them from dropping out. Eventually, the program came to be seen as something that would benefit all students, and in 1993 it became 21 CAP and was made a required course for all freshmen. Other corporations were brought in, each sponsoring a team of students. The year-long program forces freshmen to get into the game quickly. “Some of them haven’t been here three weeks and here they are presenting themselves as business partners to executives at various corporations,” Henley says. The parent companies sponsor training sessions, invite students to visit their offices, take them to dinner and, in other ways, imbue them with corporate culture. The teams must develop a product or service for the company, and then compete against one another, with winners chosen by business executives. This year, Ford Motor Company judged the competition and each member of the winning team won $100. Jordan Smith, who graduated from Howard’s undergraduate business program in May, chuckled when asked if the competition was like a campus version of The Apprentice, Donald Trump’s TV show. “I guess that’s a pretty fair description of it,” he says. Smith’s team was adopted by Eli Lilly and Company. When BusinessWeek ranks undergraduate business programs and publishes them every March. The top 10 for 2008 are below. 1. Pennsylvania (Wharton) 2. Virginia (McIntire) 3. Notre Dame (Mendoza) 4. Cornell 5. Emory 6. Michigan 7. Brigham Young 8. NYU 9. MIT 10. Texas (Note that BusinessWeek also ranks fulltime MBA programs every other year. This survey, however, only ranks the top 30 schools and deems others eligible for ranking. Howard was also the only historically Black college or university on this list.) Howard University’s School of Business overall has grown during the past ﬁve years. 2003 89 1277 1366 2004 105 1282 1387 2005 104 1313 1417 2006 127 1341 1468 2007 131 1371 300 600 900 Undergraduates 1200 Total 1500 0 MBA students BlackMBA • Summer 2008 35

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Black MBA - Summer 2008

Black MBA- Summer 2008 Contents Mailbag Up Front From the President & CEO Politics of Change Catalyst for Change: Results of our 2008 Political Poll Know Whose Shoulders You Stand On: The Legacy of H. Naylor Fitzhugh Howard University: Changing With the Times Straight Talk: CEO to CEO Creating Your Own Sandbox Dual Threats Avoiding the Faux Pa Invest in Your MBA Everything You Need to Know About...Estate Planning On Campus Plan Ahead The Big Show What's in a Name? On the Move Market Forecast Jeff Friday Keith Wyche Life Lessons On the Ground Real Biz A Golden Opportunity Entrepreneurial Institute Tech Tools Read for Success Stacey Tisdale Advertiser Index

Black MBA - Summer 2008

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