A student at the University of Pittsburgh’s College of Business Administration
Is Pittsburgh becoming more of a draw for today’s students?
Every other month, it seems Pittsburg is highlighted on some ranking as a place for innovation, a turnaround city or a place for families. It is just amazing. I like that Pittsburgh is traditionally a great place for philanthropists, so it make sense that social entrepreneurship is booming here It is where business and philanthropy meet to have an impact. For me, this is a great environment for us to involve students in showing them that what they learn inside the classroom can have a significant impact outside the classroom.
How do you think people perceive the University of Pittsburg’s College of Business Administration, and how has that changed in the past decade or so?
I think we’ve always had a strong reputation for the MBA program, but there hasn’t always been as strong a reputation for our undergraduate business program I know that is changing because we have been invited to talk to associate deans from other schools through our accrediting entity, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. We were invited last year to come and talk about what we were doing in terms of global business, and this year, we’ll talk to another group of association deans about our Outside of the Classroom Curriculum.
When other schools look at us, visit, and benchmark with us, that’s a strong indicator that we’ve gone from being a follower to having a leadership role. That is where undergraduate business education is moving and we’re in that group of business undergraduate programs that other schools are looking to.
Gender and diversity in the workplace is an area you’ve done a lot of research on in your career. Have you added any programs at the school that take advantage of your expertise in this area?
We have about 40% to 45% of the class is women, and we have really strong representation of women across majors and they do well when it comes to job placement. We have a very active Women and Business student organization and we have a women’s Alumnae Council for both gradate and undergraduate students at the school.
What we’ve done recently is facilitate some dialogue and mentoring circles between those groups. This is a way they can share information, network and mentor across all three levels. It’s a new initiative that started this year that is both leveraging the work I’ve done looking at leadership development for women, and my passion for mentoring. It is good to be involved in this program because I feel my research is coming to life within the business school.
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