Georgetown McDonough Increases Scholarships For Veterans Graduate Programs
Starting in fall 2018, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business will increase its funding for veterans enrolled in graduate programs as part of the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program. The increase will provide students with $15,000 per year from Georgetown McDonough (up from $10,000 in previous years), resulting in a total of $30,000 annually thanks to a matching gift from the Department of Veterans.
Discussing the Georgetown scholarships and how it will help veterans at the university, Dean Paul Almeida talked about the burden it eases for those in their community. “By virtue of being in Washington DC, we share a home with many members of the military community seeking to transfer their valuable training and experiences into the business world,” he said. “We are proud to increase our Yellow Ribbon funding for these servicemen and women. Easing their financial access to our programs is one way we can thank them for their service.”
In addition to the increase in funding, which can be used to pay for tuition and fees, Georgetown McDonough also removed the cap on enrollment. Now, an unlimited number of eligible students can benefit from the funding when they attend one of Georgetown McDonough’s eligible graduate programs. Those programs include the following:
- Full-time and Evening MBA
- Executive MBA
- Global Executive MBA
- Executive Masters in Leadership
- A. in International Business and Policy
- S. in Finance
To qualify for the Yellow Ribbon program, veterans must be 100 percent eligible for post-9/11 benefits. They must also not be on active duty or have a spouse on active duty from whom they are receiving transferred benefits. Also, they must be enrolled in a graduate degree program and accumulate more tuition and fees over an academic year than indicated by the post-9/11 private tuition maximum.
To learn more about the Yellow Ribbon program at Georgetown McDonough and how the school is helping veterans, visit the website. You can also read the original press release about the increase in funding here.
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Georgetown Launches Implicit Bias Training Program for MBA Students
Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business puts a premium on the ethical and social dimensions of business, both in terms of its curriculum and its expectations of MBAs. The Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) student club seeks actively to uphold McDonough’s attitude toward social responsibility. In 2017, GWIB announced the launch of its implicit bias training program.
The pilot program, which was developed as a collaboration with the MBA Program Office, seeks to increase awareness of implicit bias in the workplace and to integrate training against it as part of the MBA student experience. It helps participants looks at how implicit bias unconsciously affects actions and decisions related to hiring and promotion practices, client services, and organizational culture.
The goal of the new program is to offer more comprehensive training than those typically offered by corporate implicit bias programs.
GWIB researched curricula, trainers, and other details for more nine months before inviting Bryant Marks, a seasoned implicit bias trainer and the lead trainer at the National Training and Education Institute, to facilitate the pilot. Marks also has experience as an associate professor of psychology at Morehouse College and as the former senior advisor to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
During its first semester the training program attracted 30 participants, including students, faculty, and administrators. Participants reported that the training was “relatable” and of the data Marks presented, “some were a revelation.”
According to Kerry Pace, associate dean of MBA programs, implicit bias training is absolutely vital for students. She elaborated in a press release that this type of training “better prepares students for successful careers as principled business leaders and continues to improve our amazing community. By spending time reflecting on and acknowledging our own biases, we are following our Jesuit heritage of women and men in service to others and to ourselves.”
To learn more about the new program as well as other social justice avenues to explore at Georgetown McDonough, read the original press release.
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Georgetown McDonough Entrepreneurs Win Big in Inaugural Pitch Contest
Last month, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business held its inaugural Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize “Bark Tank” Pitch Competition, named in honor of the school’s mascot, the bulldog. Put together by a team of expert entrepreneurs at the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative, the goal of the competition was to support students and alumni in their startup ventures. Overall, nearly a dozen teams and individuals competed for $100,000 in prize money.
In alignment with Georgetown’s Jesuit values, the pitch competition highlighted business ventures that focused on problems in the world around them. Ultimately, the prize money was intended to bring awareness to innovative technology and business ideas that address a social issue by doing good.
“It is wonderful to watch the community rally around ‘StartupNation,’” Ted Leonsis—the founder, majority owner, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment—said in a press release from the university. “It has been tremendous to watch these entrepreneurs exhibit passion to tackle these issues. Entrepreneurship allows Georgetown University to stand atop of what they are already doing, which is to develop the whole person. We have the opportunity to become an institution where people not only get an education but also have a higher calling.”
The ultimate winner of the “Bark Tank” pitch competition was Hatch, a startup launching soon in Washington DC, that seeks to provide co-working and child care solutions for working parents. Founded by J.P. Coakley (MBA ’18) and Kelsey Lents (MBA ’18), Hatch won $30,000 at the competition, which will enable it to open its first location.
The Leonsis Prize underscores the student experience at Georgetown University in how the student, faculty, and alumni communities continuously help each other through scholarship, mentorship, and networking,” said Lents. “This support has impressed and motivated us to launch our business. We are excited to have won the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize, which will be instrumental in helping us to secure the lease and letter of credit required to open the first location of Hatch.”
Other prize recipients included ClassPulse, a professional development tool that allows professors to collect student feedback in real time. Founded by Claudia Recchi (B ’17), ClassPulse won $25,000. The third-place prize went to Cusp 365, an app that helps college women live a more healthy life. Founded by Jaclyn DiGregorio (B ’17), it received $15,000. Another five ventures, Campus Sherpa, Edible Finance, Foublie, Galapagos Strategy, and Qoral Health, each won $5,000 in prize money.
Overall, the winners were chosen based on scores by a panel of judges including CEOs, founders, and chairmen from leading companies in the area.
To learn more, visit the website or watch the video from the contest below.
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Georgetown Jumps in Newest Financial Times Global MBA Ranking
Georgetown was one of the bigger winners after the Financial Times unveiled their newest Global MBA Rankings, with the McDonough School of Business earning 16th place in the U.S. and 30th in the world, up from 18th and 40th last year.
To create their rankings, FT evaluated each qualifying MBA program across a wide range of criteria. Much of the data is gathered from alumni and university surveys. According to McDonough, this year’s survey was completed by the class of 2014, which was the first cohort to complete the new school’s new MBA curriculum.
“As a school that prides itself on innovation and excellence, we are pleased to continue climbing in the Financial Times MBA ranking,” said Prashant Malaviya, senior associate dean for MBA programs. “At McDonough, we prepare our students to be principled, global-ready leaders, and we are happy to be recognized by a ranking that values international experiences, career success, and faculty scholarship.”
In addition to alumni data, FT takes the international character and diversity of the school into account for their list. McDonough’s 42-place jump in the International Experience Rank (4th in the U.S.) contributed to high marks in those criteria, as did the required Global Business Experience consulting project and the growing number of international career treks. The school’s faculty research rank is now 19th in the world, up 10 places from last year.
The Financial Times publishes seven rankings annually, relating to MBA, EMBA, Master in Finance, Master in Management programs and Online MBA programs, as well as non-degree executive education courses. They also issue a separate ranking of top European Business Schools. Check out FT’s interactive rankings tables to search for a school of interest, sort by selected criteria and filter by location.
Read more about this year’s FT rankings in our recent spotlight, courtesy of Clear Admit.
Georgetown McDonough Offers New FinTech Elective
Starting in spring 2018, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business will offer a new elective course focused on fintech and blockchain. Specifically, FINC 258 will go into depth about how these technologies are disrupting financial systems and impacting business. The course has been designed to help students develop an understanding of the evolution and history of fintech and blockchain technology while also introducing other elements of financial technology.
John Jacobs, Executive Director of the Center for Financial Markets and Policy, will teach the course alongside Perianne Boring, Founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce. The class curriculum will center around case studies on how companies are using technology to solve problems within financial services.
“The intersection of technology and financial services is one of the fastest-growing areas today,” Jacobs in a news release. “It could be as important as the Internet was,” he said. “There’s a whole host of opportunities. We hope to arm students with the ability to analyze those opportunities, whether they work for a startup or a big organization.” He noted that student interest helped drive creation of this new elective.
The class will also feature guest speakers who work for fintech companies or who have used fintech in companies in other industries. In the end, Jacobs hopes that it will give students a better understanding of how quickly technology moves and, specifically, how fintech can revolutionize or disrupt the existing system.
“With the right frame of reference, students can see where authentic blockchain application is, whether that’s as big as the banking system of an African nation or as small as a payment customer interface,” Jacobs explains.
To learn more about FINC 258 and the other opportunities for students to explore fintech at Georgetown McDonough, including the Georgetown Fintech student club, visit the school website.
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Georgetown McDonough MBAs Launch HoyAnalytics Club
A group of Evening MBA students at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business recently launched HoyAnalytics—a student organization focusing on statistics and data analytics. Though the club is is pending official sponsorship by the MBA Program Office, it has drawn a lot of interest in the McDonough School of Business.
According to the McDonough School, HoyAlytics is the first club organized by Evening MBA students. The organization’s board is made up of both full-time and Evening program students, and was created with unifying the two MBA programs in mind.
But the organization’s two main objectives are to create a community for those interested in statistics and analytics, as well as help those who are not already data-savvy gain quantitative skills. As statistics and analytics have become prevalent in more and more industries, HoyAlytics hopes to prepare MBAs for their careers.
“The club is on the cutting edge,” said Kenny Tan (MBA’19), one of the HoyAlytics founders. “Students are taking it in their own hands to make things happen.”
According to McDonough, the club recently held a free Excel workshop with nearly 40 full-time and Evening MBA students in attendance, and plans to continue holding workshops to teach different skills and software, such as Tableau, SAS, R, and SQL, as well as inviting guest speakers.
Student organizations and clubs generally provide great networking and professional benefits, such as access to industry leaders, professional development opportunities and the ability to make a real impact. A U.S. News & World Report list describes the following as reasons why it’s a good decision to get involved in a club in college:
- It allows students to become connected to their school
- It helps them build community
- It allows them to discover their passions and strengths
- It’s a résumé builder
- Sometimes, busier people do better
- Utilize your school’s resources
Check out some of the coolest MBA clubs and student organization’s in the Washington DC Metro here.
