The School of Business continually looks for ways to address ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic diversity among our students. Our overall goal is to provide a learning environment that enables graduates to be effective in the kind of world in which they live and work.
Valuing Diversity
Corporations around the globe have made clear that they are looking for leaders in a diverse workforce - leaders who represent and understand the diversity among their employees and their client bases. Our Office of the Learning Environment works to promote diversity in our students, faculty and staff and to offer an inclusive environment. It is the primary liaison between the School of Business and the larger efforts of the UW-Madison campus to foster a more positive climate.
This past year, the Equity and Diversity Committee of the School of Business explored topics relating to diversity, climate and culture, inclusiveness and fairness and learned from "best practices" in other departments.
Some of our major initiatives in this area include:
Membership in the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management
We partner with 12 other prestigious schools and more than 100 of America's foremost corporations, to increase racial and ethnic diversity in corporate America through MBA fellowships. Over the past academic year, 18 Wisconsin MBA students received Consortium-related fellowships and awards.
Diversity Weekend
The MBA Program Office brought prospective students from across the country to campus in fall 2004 for a better understanding of the Wisconsin MBA and the school's commitment to creating a diverse class of MBAs.
PhD Project Conference
Wisconsin, with its large and highly regarded doctoral program, continues to be a key player in this national program designed to increase the number of minority scholars in PhD programs.
Undergraduate Initiatives
Twenty-eight students from Milwaukee and Madison-area high schools participated in a special business school program in summer 2004 as part of the UW-Madison PEOPLE program. Students from high schools across the nation attended the CAP (College Access Program) Business Event in July of 2004.
TOTAL ENROLLMENT
| Undergraduate | 2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 46% |
41% |
40% |
| Minority | 3.5% |
3% |
2.6% |
| International | 6.9% |
7% |
6.6% |
| Full-time MBA | 2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 33% |
30% |
35% |
| Minority | 11% |
11% |
10% |
| International | 30% |
22% |
22% |
Looking Ahead
A school-wide forum on classroom climate in fall 2005, hosted in conjunction with the Associated Students of Madison, will bring together students, faculty and staff to discuss diversity and the atmosphere both inside and outside our classrooms.