Thursday, September 29, 2011

Expansion of BCOB's Graduate Business Programs

Last Wednesday, UNC Charlotte announced its dual MBA/JD degree program under the Belk College of Business. As expected, the announcement is the new "buzz" around campus. The announcement represents the strength of UNC Charlotte's brand, dedication to fulfilling our students' needs our customers, and growth or UNC Charlotte's business programs. Below how I feel this program translates into our three key strategies and attributes.

Brand
  • Belk College of Business signifies high quality & competitive programs for the Charlotte business community.
  • The partnership signifies our value proposition to our students aka customers.
Customers
  • The Belk College of Business remains cognizant of our students' needs within higher education.
  • We recognized a gap in our current product and created a partnership as a solution-based effort.
  • This allows students to have a competitive edge among colleagues upon graduation.
Growth
  • This specialized program is unique to the Charlotte community.
  • We continue to expand our consumer base through a market penetration strategy and composition of business community.
  • The BCOB continues to provide its students with various education options to fulfill their multi-faceted business roles.
As a current student and future alum, it is exciting to learn about the various growth opportunities within the university. The dual degree is an enhancement to our current programs as well as signifies and expansion of our network. The JD/MBA program will create yet another diverse element to our current student body.  If you would like to learn more about the dual program, please visit mba.uncc.edu.

Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Beginning of the End.

The Fall 2011 semester marks the beginning of the end for second year full time MBA students. It is a time to hone skill necessary for the re-entry or entry into the workforce as well as network with various alumni. I must say that I am surprised at how much time flies….but I am at the beginning of the end.

The Fall 2011 semester brings me closer to a sigh of relief while at the same time to the 40+ MBA application position.  Throughout numerous class discussions, I can hear the tension in students voices in regards to company searches and the “job hunt.” The anxiety levels tend to ebb and flow as the career search process begins. I do not know want to use the phrase, “job search,” because for me I do not relate to it.  I am not searching for just a "position" that comes with a specified list of duties and matching salary, I am looking for a career. I am looking for the long term career path that will lead me to my ultimate career goal. I am aggressively researching companies to understand their mission, values, and culture to determine whether or not their incentives are an ideal fit with my personal values, mission, and culture. I will say that I am grateful to be a Belk College Graduate Fellow because this recognition ha exposed me to developmental opportunities that have lead to my current thought process. I believe that this program has given me the comfort and I would go so far to say assurance that I am navigating my process well. The program has provided me with the necessary confidence in myself to network with fellow business professionals in my respective field and be candid about my goals and open to their recommendation and guidance. Yet another joy of being a Belk College of Business Graduate Student.

The countdown is on! I will continue to enjoy each day, network with new and current students, and hone my business skills before it "Back into the Real World."

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Graduate Business Association

Passion. Commitment. Engagement. Those are the three words that come to mind when I think about the Graduate Business Association here at the Belk College of Business.  Last Friday marked the first day of fall rrecruitment for the organization. The orientation session allowed students to learn more about GBA's history here at UNC Charlotte as well as learn of the organization's future goals.

Passion. The revival of the Graduate Business Association was due to four passionate students. Four students in the MBA program wanted to develop their personal network among students.  From conversations with various Belk College of Business administrations, they felt the need to pursue their common goals through the GBA. In addition, they felt that the GBA would allow students to be ambassadors for this University to promote the Belk College of Business brand.

Commitment- The organization thrives off of student commitment. The officers expressed that this is not an administration run organization. This is a student led group whose "life" depends on student commitment. It is a commitment that can blossom to create many lasting impressions on the Charlotte business community. The commitment will assist with reinforce the Belk College of Business' brand.

Engagement- GBA hopes to facilitate a sense of engagement beyond the classroom. Through various casual social and professional networking events, students will have the opportunity to build his/her network. It is important to engage with professors and students in the classroom; however the missing element is external engagement. The power of an internal network is just as important as one's external professional.
GBA's involvement with its members seeks to complete the Graduate Business experience. The GBA provides students with an outlet to develop/hone skills necessary to put the "edge" on their resume as well as solidify a student's university network.

The Graduate Business Association provides numerous development and engagement opportunities for the Belk College of Business students and alumni. I am looking forward to this year's promise. Have a great weekend.

Monday, September 12, 2011

My Educated Reflection

Labor Day for some represents a three day break from their full time positions. For some it is a shopping experience to catch the final end of summer sales. Others it is a time to catch up on "honey-do" lists, homework, sleep, or all of the above. For me, Labor Day was a mixture of each of the items mentioned above. In the midst of my reading, I decided to take a Netflix break. This week's movie: "Waiting For Superman." 
Now I will not begin to write a dissertation on the documentary. I will not discuss my personal thoughts on the movie nor will I write a summary of the 90 minute film; however I will discuss my "light bulb" moment. Watching the documentary was like having someone hold my hand as I walked through my educational past. The movie documents four young children throughout the country and their local educational experience. I must say that the documentary was a personal eye-opener.  Throughout the film, I could not help but constantly reflect on my educational background and my path leading to my MBA.

 
The movie was a reminder not to take my masters degree or any degree for that matter for granted. At times, I will admit that I do lose sight of the value and the privilege it is for me to enroll in a higher education program. It is an opportunity that some are unable to pursue due to financial, personal, or academic reasons. On the flip side of the coin, I do believe that a degree is an investment that has financial value as well as community value. The education that we receive while obtaining our degree is a gift. It is a gift that can easily be shared amongst peers or individuals looking to pursue a similar direction. I would even go to say that our educational paths are stories that must be shared with our community as a means of encouragement and motivation.

Just a couple of thoughts that I wanted to share as a reflection on "Waiting for Superman." Have a great week!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

A City Transformed: Internationalism at UNC Charlotte

Read a most recent article from a current MBA student, Teresa Hoelle, at the Belk College of Business. Teresa is second year student with a concentration in global business and marketing. Also, she is a Professional Development Scholar at the Belk College and Vice President of the Graduate Business Association.

A City Transformed: Internationalism at UNC Charlotte

In late February, I witnessed Charlotte welcome 102 individuals into the United States.  I was not in customs at the Douglas International Airport. Rather, I attended a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in south Charlotte.  At this office, which performs bi-weekly nationalization ceremonies, I watched over one hundred people, representing 45 different mother-countries, swear to protect, honor, defend, and solely pledge their allegiances to the United States of America.

To commence that afternoon’s ceremony, an official with the Citizenship and Immigration office played a brief, yet emotionally powerful video. Images of immigrants from centuries past were projected alongside photos of recently naturalized individuals.  Quotations from immigrants on the date of their nationalization raced along the bottom of the screen.  Words spoken by Pelageya Ilchencko, an elderly woman who naturalized from Russia in 2004 in Vancouver, Washington, still echo deep within my heart and mind. She simply yet beautifully stated, “America is my peaceful refuge.”

As the ceremony progressed, I shifted my gaze to the young man towering in the front row of the overcrowded room:  my fellow UNC Charlotte MBA colleague, Ali. While in the presence of this wonderfully diverse company of individuals, my classmate Ali was surrounded by his mother, father and two brothers.  As a family, all five had emigrated from Lebanon five years ago, and on this special day, as a family, they stood shoulder to shoulder and accepted the U.S. as their newly adopted country.

As the ceremony concluded, I eased myself toward the back of the room to observe Ali celebrate with his family.  I was moved by all of the initial interactions between the family and friends as they embraced and rejoiced. Through the hugs, tears, exclamations, and encouraging chatter in multiple languages I could not comprehend, I felt my body overcome with trembling as I considered the sacrifice, struggles, and hard work that Ali and his family, now my fellow countrymen, endured for freedom, the hope for a better future, and the promise of a peaceful refuge in America.

Just as the individuals I observed that afternoon, I too have moved several times in my life in hope of charting a brighter future.  My motivations include educational advancement, career opportunities, personal growth, and life adventure.  Most recently, I settled into Charlotte a year and a half ago, eager to experience this fast-developing southern city and to pursue one of my life dreams: earning my MBA. 

I first met Ali when I began my studies as a full-time MBA student at the Belk College of Business at University of North Carolina – Charlotte. Meeting the many international students like Ali in my MBA program has dramatically changed my impression of Charlotte and significantly improved my quality of life.  Each week, I learn alongside with fellow classmates from China, Israel, India, Portugal, Turkey, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and France.  In fact, UNC Charlotte’s Fall 2010 MBA enrollment was comprised of 15% international students, and almost half of the students moved to Charlotte from another US city. 

UNC  Charlotte’s geographic and ethnic diversity offers me a unique opportunity to analyze business management cases and corporate governance issues in a global context.  And, my engagement with the dynamic individuals in my MBA program extends beyond the classroom.  In the past couple of weeks alone, I brainstormed over coffee with a fabulously gifted and intelligent Chinese student, shared dinner (speaking in German) with another MBA colleague, attended a professional speaker series with a student from D.C., and grabbed drinks after class with fellow students from Israel, Portugal, and Trinidad.

Though I had appreciated some aspects of the ‘cleanness’ of the uptown area when first arrived, I got the impression that Charlotte’s city planners were not motivated to embrace and showcase the regions’ abundant diversity.  Therefore, I had toiled and questioned if my values and desires could thrive with what appeared on the surface as whitewashed, corporate city. 

However, since starting classes uptown at UNC Charlotte’s MBA satellite location on Tryon Street uptown, I have been continuously inspired and revived by the diverse perspective and ideas that are openly shared and embraced.  I feel genuinely welcomed as one of many from varying worldviews, cultural heritages, and even a less familiar accent.  Belk College of Business has been the catalyst to help me feel truly naturalized in this evolving, international American city; it has become my “place of peaceful refuge” in Charlotte. 

When the new Belk College of Business Campus on Brevard and Ninth Streets opens for classes this fall, it is my hope that UNC Charlotte continues to expand its reach in helping Charlotte to facilitate valuable, deeper connections between our growing international and business communities.  If successful, I believe the implications could spark significant ripple effects for years to come.