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TY founding director of LEAD and director for student development sup- port planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, explains that the program teaches participants that business can offer them many Business schools and organizations are working in concert to increase the number of minorities getting manage- ment degrees. Here's a look at a few of the programs—whom they're targeting and what kind of results they're getting. In addition to working on joint marketing projects, the avenues to leadership. Even if the students who go through the LEAD program ultimately don't enroll in business school, he says, "they understand that business is a very important part of our existence." In the LEAD program at The Wharton School, he says, students are taught to execute a business plan, practice busi- ness writing skills, collaborate with others in small groups, and understand the components of marketing, organization- al behavior, and demographics. "We also make sure they understand topics that relate to business issues, like social responsibility," Haskins says. "They also must learn to func- tion in teams, because the tasks we give them cannot be done by themselves." Another major player in the effort to increase minority to drawing minority high school students into business careers. African American, Hispanic, and Native American students between their junior and senior years of high school attend summer institutes at 12 graduate business schools around the country, where they learn the basic concepts of business and leadership. LEAD also supports the students while they're in college and offers them networking and internship opportunities. Harold J. Haskins, groups also have a goal of sharing a central database so that "all minorities contacted by all organizations will be made aware of the opportunities that exist," says Milano. Thus, if students apply to the LEAD program but cannot be accom- modated, their contact information can still be shared among other organizations. LEAD itself is one of the foremost organizations dedicated enrollment is The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, based in St. Louis, Missouri. The organization works with 14 business schools and a group of outreach organizations to recruit minority students on behalf of the schools. The school also works closely with historically black colleges and univer- sities (HBCUs) to attract students from their populations. "We keep trying to reach farther down the pipelines to cre- ate awareness, so we are beginning to do some programs that will reach high school and even junior high school students," says Barbara Britton Jones, the Consortium's chief operating officer. "Our mission is to get the largest number of under- represented minorities into business schools and subsequent- ly into the workforce." The Consortium streamlines the admis- sions process for minority students and pro- vides fellowships for some of those who are accepted into one of its member schools. Minority students interested in applying to business school can use the Consortium application to apply to up to six member schools; the Consortium then distributes the application. "Once they're admitted, we can consider these students for a fellowship that covers full tuition and required academic fees," says Jones. While the Consortium makes the applica- tion process a little easier for students, they must still meet academic requirements and go through the same admissions process as BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2003 31