Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62913
headlines Diversity Matters TWO CALIFORNIA business schools are among those instituting new measures to ensure diversity among their faculty, staff, and students. The Graduate School of Management at the Univer- sity of California in Davis has launched a schoolwide diversity plan led by newly appointed chief diversity offi- cer Linda Oubre. Specific initiatives include establishing a new faculty committee on diversity; recruiting diverse faculty and staff; increasing the diversity pipeline for all academic programs through recruitment and retention programs; and strengthening relationships with partners and external programs, including the National Black MBA Association, the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, the National Association of Asian MBAs, and the Forté Foundation. The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley has hired Eric Abrams to be its first director for diversity and inclusion. The school had already seen an uptick in minority applications since it rejoined the diversity-oriented Con- sortium for Graduate Study in Management in 2010. Applications from underrepresented minorities for the class of 2013 jumped 44 percent and the percent- age of underrepresented minorities enrolled nearly doubled to 9.6 percent of the class. In addition, MBA students are promoting the push for diversity by planning ini- tiatives such as the Bay Area MBA Diversity Mixer to connect students with local professionals, MBA alumni, and prospective students. Both schools are partnering with other University of California business schools on the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML). The summer institute, to take place annually at one of the six UC busi- ness schools, will provide first- and second-year students from historically black colleges and universities with an expenses-paid summer fellowship program. For more information, visit sieml.universityofcalifornia.edu. 16 May/June 2012 BizEd Competitions with a Twist MANY SCHOOLS hold competitions, usually revolv- ing around business plans and venture startups, but occasionally schools put new twists on the old models: n The Wharton School of the University of Penn- sylvania in Philadelphia wants to promote the idea that what looks like failure can often be translated into success. In its recently concluded "Brilliant Mis- takes" competition, entrants were challenged to sub- mit a description of an error that they committed, which led them to a new concept or innovation that helped transform a project or organization. The competition was inspired by the book Bril- liant Mistakes: Finding Success on the Far Side of Failure. Wharton's Paul Schoemaker, author of the book, was one of the competition judges, as was Eric Schurenberg of Inc.com., the media spon- sor of the event. Also serving as judges were other Wharton faculty and Deloitte's John Seely Brown. The grand prize went to Stephen Salzman of UCLA Medical Center, who described his research into the effects of adrenaline on athletes. n The Wharton School also recently conducted the 2012 Financial Literacy Essay Contest, which was open to any registered users of its Knowledge@Whar- ton or Knowledge@Wharton High School sites. In 500-word essays, students, professionals, and retirees from all countries were invited to explain why financial literacy is important to them and to describe the goals they will meet by achieving financial literacy. n Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, combined former business plan competitions into a new event called the B.E.T.A. (Babson Entrepreneur- ial Thought and Action) Challenge. The competition recognizes major milestones student businesses have achieved by taking action. Winners of the graduate and undergraduate B.E.T.A. Challenge will receive a grand prize of US$20,000 in cash and in-kind dona- tions of services from corporate sponsors, respec- tively. In addition, $2,500 will be awarded to two other finalist ventures. JUICE IMAGES/GLOW IMAGES