ASU W. P. Carey: Making A Big Place Feel Small

ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business

ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business

The Carey School has a large number of first-generation college students, as well as economically disadvantaged students. How does the school help these students succeed while they’re in the business school?

In our four-year program, around 35% of the student body is first-generation college students, while another 40% to 45% are Pell Grant eligible. The college experience is literally transformative for them because they know their future and their families’ future depends on them making it through the program.

We are a state school, but there are very few state schools that are highly ranked like ours that have the demographics of their state represented as we do. We believe strongly in our vision at ASU that we define ourselves not by whom we exclude but whom we include and how they succeed. So for us, it is a real rallying cry for our staff and faculty that we have this amazing student body.

Now, of course, there are more challenges when you have first-generation students or someone from a Pell Grant family socio-economic background. They don’t always have the role models or the discipline or a lot of the things it takes to get through college, even though they have the intellect. What we try to do is create a very personal relationship with our students in helping them make sure they can succeed in classes. We reach out very early on and give them the support networks they need to make it through classes. We’re not trying to ensure that everyone gets a college degree, rather you have to earn it.

One of your big focus areas while dean has been improving the school’s relationships with recruiters and companies. Why has this been such a priority for you in the last three years?

Corporate relations are critical to the business school. A business school is only as good as its corporate partners. We have just over 300 unique companies that sit on some form of advisory board for us. They shape what we are doing for our curriculum and serve as guest speakers and executive mentors for the large mentoring program we have for undergraduates.

We also are really focused on hiring relationships and internships and placement of students. We have a corporate relationship function here like many business schools do. Part of my role as dean is coming in and bringing in new companies into the ASU and W.P. Carey orbit and shaping how they get associated with the school and hire students. I think it is essential because we want our students to have a cutting edge curriculum, hit the ground running with the skills our corporate partners want and get good jobs as a result.

What type of job market awaits W.P. Carey undergraduates in the Phoenix area after they graduate?

The job opportunities in Phoenix are good. Phoenix is not recovering as fast as other areas of the country in terms of the recession, but undergraduates have very good placement. About 76% of our graduating class have placement upon graduation, which when you think about the large number of students we have is really good. We have recruiters coming from all over the country for our students. One of the things recruiters say is that our students have an amazing work ethic, and to me that is a result of having so many first-generation college-goers and Pell Grant kids. They know they will shape their trajectory and their whole family’s trajectory, so they work hard, get a good job and when they get into their employment they really bust it.

DON’T MISS: P&Q’S ONE-ON-ONE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH AMY HILLMAN

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.