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AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN WHO ARE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 25 AND 35 AND WHO HAVE GRADUATE EXPERIENCE ARE THE ONES MOST ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN STARTING NEW BUSINESSES. most actively engaged in starting new businesses. They are 50 percent more likely to start a new business than whites. Hispanic men are 20 percent more likely than white men to be involved in startup ventures. The project involved the support shall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Research for the report was con- ducted by more than 120 scholars who developed the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). The PSED is an ongoing collabora- tion between Gartner; Nancy M. Carter at the Graduate School of Business, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota; Patricia G. Greene at the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, University of Mis- souri at Kansas City; and Paul D. Reynolds at the Blank Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Babson College, Babson Park, Massachu- setts. The national sample of 64,622 U.S. households identified 830 nascent entrepreneurs and followed their efforts to pursue business start- ups over a three-year period. The study revealed, for example, that approximately 26 of every 100 African American men and 20 of every 100 Hispanic men with gradu- ate experience report efforts to start a new business. In the U.S., African American men who are between the ages of 25 and 35 and who have graduate experience are the ones of 33 universities and private founda- tions, the National Science Founda- tion, and the Kaufman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The new findings were announced at the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency's national Minority Enter- prise Development Week conference in Washington, D.C. Conference Stresses Minority Leadership The African American MBA Association of the Wharton School recently sponsored the 29th Annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Conference, which ex- amined ways black professionals can assume more prominent leadership roles. Among the speakers at the con- ference were former presidential advi- sor Vernon Jordan, NPR talk show host Tavis Smiley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman. Panel discussions included insights from top African American CEOs and entrepreneurs as identified by Black Enterprise magazine. Among the topics discussed were the choice black MBAs often make between serving the community interest versus serving the corporate interest. In recent years, AAMBAA used the conference and corporate contri- butions to raise more than $1 mil- lion to create an endowed chair at Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This chair, believed to be the only one endowed by a black MBA organization, will ensure that BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003 9 there will always be African American representation at the school. Bernard Anderson is the first professor to hold the Whitney M. Young Jr. chair, which is named for the man who was executive director of the National Urban League from 1961 to 1971. Cost Not a Top Consideration When evaluating executive MBA programs, students say cost is their least impor- tant concern, according to a new industrywide survey of student satis- faction. The study was conducted by the Executive MBA Council, an as- sociation of academic and program administrators devoted to fostering global excellence in executive busi- ness programs. order of their importance, are most important in determining students' satisfaction with their programs: the ability of the program to forward their careers; the quality of the other students; the quality of their study groups; and the reputation of the business school. At the other end of the spectrum, the cost of the program and the ranking of the full-time MBA program were rated as least important. The following factors, listed in