Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a monumental event in the history of the Belk College of Business. The Charlotte, NC-based Belk, Inc. showed its continuous support for UNC Charlotte by offering an extremely generous gift to the Belk College of Business: $5million over the next 5 years. The gift is comprised of 4 components: endowed professorship in business innovation, endowed chair in marketing analytics, Belk Scholars program, and faculty research and teaching grants. This multi-dimensional, multi-year relationship will be instrumental in educating the upcoming generations of students to help solve the business problems of the future.
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| John Belk making the big announcement |
What does all this mean to a current business student or an upcoming student? In my opinion, this gift speaks volumes not only on the university and college's reputation, but also on Belk, Inc.'s commitment to invest in innovation and the business leaders of tomorrow. I am proud of my decision to earn my MBA from an institution that has such great ties with the business community and provides such unique opportunities for its students and faculty. Innovation and business analytics are two very important upcoming areas in the business world and, as a college that prides itself with offering top-quality programs, Belk College of Business would only increase its status by offering such great programs. As more and more companies recognize the importance of innovation and data mining and analysis, the Belk College of Business upcoming students would be able to have an advantage having studied and researched these hot topic fields.
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| Chancellor Dubois, Thomas Belk Jr. (Belk, Inc Chairman and CEO), David Plath (UNC Charlotte student), Kelsey Young (UNC Charlotte student), John Belk (Belk, Inc. President and COO), Dean Steve Ott, and Courtnee Spence (UNC Charlotte student). |
