From: Office of Academic Programs and Student Experience Date: July 7, 2020 Subject: Summer Scoop - July 7, 2020
Full-Time MBA Program
July 7, 2020
Hello all,
What a spring and summer 2020 has brought us.
Amid the new normal of managing COVID-19 and the economic challenges that have affected so many Americans, Rice Business is also determined to face head-on the pain of inequities and injustice in our society. TheRice Business family stands with Black Lives Matter, and to creating truly respectful and equitable treatment for people of color and other marginalized groups. Many of you, we know, are already taking action in your own ways. We’re proud to have you join us in our work for social justice at Rice Business.
Rice Business has long championed a diverse and inclusive community. Research shows it’s good business practice; ethics tell us it’s right. With this in mind, our on-campus resources such as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and student affinity clubs work hand-in-hand with strategic partnerships offering scholarships, events and programs for our students including students including underrepresented populations and women. Among them: the National Black MBA Association, Prospanica, Consortium, FORTÉ Foundation, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Reaching Out MBA and the PhD Project.
As the most diverse MBA in the most diverse U.S. city, we are responding to the historic call for action with an ongoing roster of actions.
Just over two weeks ago, Dean Rodriguez addressed the call to action in ending systemic racism and promoting justice that prompted the creation of the Rice Business Task Force on Racial Equity and Social Justice. The task force is comprised of faculty, students, staff, and alumni.
The Jones Student Association wrote an impassioned public letter in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Rice Business for Black Lives, and established a GoFundMe account to assist organizations that work in the social justice realm. The Jones Student Association has also created a Black Lives Matter T-Shirt, in which all of the proceeds would go to Houston organizations working on social justice.
Over 60 staffers tookpart in a special session, TheseTrying Times – How Rice BusinessResponds, sponsored by the Dean’s Office and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion on June 3.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion will roll out a Learning Circle and Discussion Series related to inclusion and equity to be scheduled over the upcoming weeks.
Twice-Rice alum, Julian Duncan, CMO of the Jacksonville Jaguars (formerly with Nike and UnderArmor) extended invitation to a June 5 webinar organized by ADWEEK titled, A State of Revolt: Navigating Turbulent Times, Leading Teams and Taking Action. Participating organizations included the NBA, JPMC, Lyft, Papa John’s and Omnicom.
Our partner organization, the Consortium for Graduate Management Study, launched MBA Students Care: Fundraiser for Color of Change campaign organized by Student Liaisons and Class of 2022 Fellows.
Encouragement for staff to take an extended lunch pause on Tuesday, June 9 during the broadcast of George Floyd’s memorial in Houston.
The year 2020 has been taxing for all of us. For Rice Business, we also see it as an opportunity to make work and daily life more fair, more inclusive and more enriching.
Lina Bell
Director, Diversity and Inclusion
Canvas is a course management system designed to promote teaching and learning, as well as collaboration between members of the Rice University Community. As a student within the Jones Graduate School of Business, Canvas will be used to access all course information ranging from course syllabi to course readings.
Mini-Case Open Session – Student-Led Review
This is going to be an open-ended review session covering the core concepts in all three mini-cases in the MBA Quantitative Toolkit. The focus of the three initial sessions was to provide a remote learning opportunity, covering intermediate business math and statistics while integrating such subjects with Excel to further develop the students’ quantitative toolkit.
Goals
1) Provide leveling for students, whose quantitative skill-set might not be as developed as peers
2) Highlight topics that are in the MBA Toolkit
3) Use mini-case to provide context and to tell a story to reinforce learning
4) Fill in gaps on topics and tricks not in the MBA Toolkit
In case you missed the latest message from the dean about our Task Force on Racial Equity and Social Justice, you can check it out here.
What is Board Fellows?
Founded by Rice MBA students and staff in 2008, Rice Business Board Fellows is a year-long experiential learning program that matches talented, energetic, and committed Rice MBA students as fellows to local nonprofit boards to serve as non-voting board members.
Both students and organizations benefit from the Board Fellows program:
Organizations can deploy a Rice MBA student’s ideas and energy to solve a problem or execute a project with the possibility of cultivating a future board member. MBA candidates learn valuable leadership skills from community leaders and gain experience in the nonprofit sector from “real live” nonprofit management and governance.
The CDO wanted to inform you of a really cool event: The 2021 JPMorgan Chase & Co. MBA Early Advantage Program. The deadline to register for this exiciting opportunity is July 12. For more information, please reach out to Jessica Campbell of the CDO.