Collegiate Times

This fall, the Pamplin College of Business added a new minor in business diversity. With hopes of changing the make-up of the work place and attracting new students, the program is open to Virginia Tech sophomores, juniors and seniors who are currently enrolled in the Pamplin College of Business in good academic standing.

Mary Connerley, director of the Business Diversity Center, has championed the program and is excited to finally be able to offer it to students. Initially, the program was Dean Richard Sorenson's brainchild, stemming from the fact that Tech is 73 percent white. The program hopes to enhance the diversity-related competencies in students, while also giving them the chance to take many courses that wouldn't be offered without the minor.

"It's a traditional 18-hour minor, with many courses designed specifically for the minor along with management courses, amongst others," Connerley said. "There is a great focus on developing the awareness, knowledge and skills of the individual, while also giving them the chance to expose themselves to many different areas of diversity in the work place through their course load."

The curriculum was developed in order to provide students with a broad view of diversity as it impacts the work place. That is a quality that many new businesses are looking for in prospective employees.

"Diversity has become a significant part of the fiber of our organization," said Greg Kendrick, vice president of Internal Audit at Wachovia. "From the hiring phase to many senior management groups, informing others about diversity is an ongoing awareness process. It's even better if we can hire someone who already knows what it's all about."

Representatives from Ernst & Young, one of the world's leading professional services organizations, practice the same idea.

"We have a focus in diversity recruiting to raise awareness and identify the top students early in their college careers," said Amie Phillips Pablo of Ernst & Young's Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services division. "Last year, we hired over 300 multi-year interns across the U.S. and Canada targeted at underrepresented minority groups."

Connerley believes that the minor is primarily a building block to help students get jobs and cited that it's an ongoing process.

"We also want to help our students be able to compete more and have a better chance at earning a job or internship after graduation," Connerley said. "People often think they are experts at it, but you can always learn more, even if you have a solid diversity-related foundation."

Since August, nearly a dozen students have declared the business diversity minor. Connerley hopes for at least forty declarations by the end of the year. She personally receives all of the applications, reviews them and conducts personal interviews with applicants.

"Students can start the minor as late as first semester of their junior year and still graduate on time," Connerley said.

Laura Jones is a junior ACIS major who has applied for the minor and begun the courses.

"I applied because I thought it would increase the opportunities available to me," said Jones. "Today's business executives are a lot different than those forty years ago, so I wanted to be able to bring something different to the table."

Connerley agrees with Jones' intentions by furthering what she is already learning with an accounting and information systems major.

"Overall, the business diversity minor is a nice addition to their course work and to their major," Connerley said. "A lot of people are dedicated to this program. ... It's a nice compliment, and hopefully we'll hear great things about how it helped them in the job market and getting into the workplace."