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"Those of us who are working here now are fully committed to diversity programs, but at some point we're all going to move on. How do we make sure this legacy continues?" house," he says. "We encourage prospective students to sit in on classes, take the campus tour, sit in on a group informa- tion session, talk to current students, meet with someone at In addition, Wharton considers every day an "open AAMBAA or WHMBAA. So we start the mentorship early." ■ Yale has recently ratcheted up its attempts to make diver- sity a bigger part of the school's culture. A director of minor- ity student affairs attends workshops and conferences all over the country and keeps in close touch with individuals who have expressed interest in attending the school. Current stu- dents are actively encouraged to reach out to prospective or newly admitted students. "The students get people excited about the program and the experience they're having," says Stevens. "There's really a kind of galvanizing effect." In February—culminating a year's worth of efforts on the part of Yale officials, students, and alumni—the school holds a networking reception in New York City. "The idea is to bring together people who may have been communicating by e-mail and allow them to meet per- sonally," says Stevens. "Alumni talk more specifically about their experiences, and then we break into groups based on areas of interest. For example, one group might be talking about venture capital, while other groups talk about management consulting or media or nonprofit management. The reception isn't just for a group of people who all happen to be people of color. They're also people who share certain interests." Once students are admitted to Yale, the School of passed, Haas saw a dramatic drop in the number of minori- ties applying. "Only this past year, as we've done more recruiting, have we seen the tide very slightly turn to an increase in the number of applicants from underrepresented groups," he says. At Michigan, the percentage of minorities enrolled in business school hovers around 10 percent, although Wilt notes that Michigan formerly had a higher percentage of minorities but has lost students to other schools that have initiated heavy recruitment of top candidates. "Even though we're not getting as many minority students as we used to, there are more opportunities for these individuals, and that's a good thing," she says. While Milano believes the picture is improving for minori- Management makes every effort to retain them. All business students are matched up with a professional mentor, an alum working in their area of interest; minority students also are paired with a second mentor. Financial aid packages are available for all students, some based on need and some on merit. "While most of these are available to all students, they have particular appeal to students who other- wise might not have considered a business education," says Stevens. In addition, the Megunticook Scholars program annually selects two students from underrepresented groups who have expressed the intent to give back to their commu- nities of origin. Crunching the Numbers Even with all the minority programs in place, school admin- istrators admit their numbers are lower than they'd like and that they have to continually push to improve them. Some, like Haas, have had to adapt to new legislation that mandates that officials cannot consider race and ethnicity when review- ing applications. According to Pihakis, once that legislation ties, he is convinced that consistent effort will be required to keep the numbers rising. "The more minorities we have studying manage- ment, the more ambassa- dors we will have in minority communities talking about manage- ment education," he says. He believes women moved more quickly into business because they had fathers, brothers, and community role models to show them the way. "For them, business part of the school's cultural mindset, says Stevens. He notes that Yale recently conducted research that concluded that, for a diversity program to succeed, the entire community had to be behind it. "We're working really hard to institutional- ize this," he says. "Those of us who are working here now are fully committed to diversity programs, but at some point we're all going to move on. How do we make sure this lega- cy continues? The bottom line is, it's important to get sup- port from the whole spectrum of the community—the facul- ty, the students, the alumni, and the administrators." It requires an ongoing effort to keep all those groups z was not a foreign land. For minorities, it clearly is. The situa- tion won't get corrected overnight," he says. One way to improve the situation is to make diversity a committed to minority recruitment. Yet, with so many pro- grams in place, administrators are optimistic that change can occur and that diversity will eventually become a reality of business education. ■ BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2003 35