Letter from the Director

Steven Johnson Jr. shares MBSP updates and opportunities to connect.

Greetings, alumni and friends.

The Multicultural Business Scholars Program wishes you well at the start to this new year and decade. Thank you for taking the time to read more about the highlights of our program from the past year.

Commitment to academic excellence.

The MBSP continues to strive toward academic excellence, and the newest class of scholars are no exception. We welcomed 13 new students into the program in fall 2019; 10 are new to KU and two transferred from within KU’s Multicultural Scholars Program. New program scholars achieved an average high school GPA of a 3.82 and a 24 ACT score. Half of the new cohort were alumni of the Summer Venture in Business program, and two scholars also were admitted into the Business Leadership Program.

Broadly, the program currently serves 45 scholars, and many of the business disciplines are represented among this cohort’s majors and minors. Scholars uphold academic standards of excellence, evidenced by another year of maintaining a 3.4 cumulative GPA for the program and with six students achieving a 4.0 GPA this past fall semester.

Scholar highlights.

Multicultural Business Scholars engage in opportunities both in and out of the classroom. In the last calendar year, four students participated in global experiences, learning in India over winter break, interning in Shanghai, China with the CIEE Internship Program, and practicing Spanish-fluency in Barcelona. Two students participated in global experiences this winter session, and a few of our scholars participated in internships around the country.

Scholars in the program continue to gain leadership experience through student organizations and volunteering commitments. Over 90% of students are involved in at least one organization and nearly 50% of those students assume a leadership role within their organization(s). These groups include religiously affiliated communities, residential councils, identity-based groups, and social and/or professional Greek organizations. Twenty-eight students reported in a recent survey being involved in a service or volunteer initiative.

In addition to these co- and extracurricular opportunities, over half of program scholars maintain a regular work schedule. Balancing these various commitments certainly can pose a challenge, but scholars in MBSP navigate these experiences with pride and success.

Strategic engagement and partnerships.

Last spring, the MBSP recalibrated student-centered engagement opportunities to better meet the holistic needs of current students. As an introduction or reintroduction to these initiatives, they are highlighted below.

Mentorship programs
The MBSP Faculty-Scholar Mentoring Program exists to support student engagement, persistence, and retention by connecting students to faculty in the School of Business based on scholars’ major(s) and/or career interests.

Through this mentoring program, scholars are able to create intentional relationships with faculty where they can receive guidance surrounding professional development, academic success, and personal goals. The mentoring program intends to help scholars navigate their collegiate experience in more successful and fulfilling ways and to develop tools and habits that will serve them beyond their time at KU.

We were fortunate to get excited faculty from various disciplines within the School of Business as mentors. In addition to this mentoring program, students have also been encouraged to sign up for the KU Business Mentoring Program. Alumni are encouraged to sign up as mentors to connect with current students who may have shared interests or come from similar backgrounds.

MBSP Buddies Program
The MBSP Buddies Program is student-led initiative that aims to help scholars become acquainted with others within the program with whom they may not yet know. Once a month, scholars are encouraged to connect with an assigned scholar (their MBSP “buddy”) and receive some direction on meeting themes, potential suggestions for interactions, and other relevant information. In the event that buddy pairs are already familiar with each other, discovering new areas of commonality and connections may be helpful when identifying ways of finding support throughout one’s time here at KU. The overall intent of this program is to create a semi-structured yet organic path for scholars to make meaningful connections with those around them in order to expand their network personal, academically, and professionally.

Student advisory group
The MBSP created a student advisory group to strategically incorporate student voice and input in program updates and enhancements. As MBSP works to better serve the needs of current students, while honoring the program’s history, this advisory committee has been instrumental in identifying ways to better deliver services and initiatives. This year, the focus of the group has centered on sense of belonging. The MBSP Buddies Program was an initiative that came out of this group last year, and the group is currently exploring other ways to strengthen relationships within the program.

Opportunities to connect.

As we continue planning for the future of the program, it is our hope to find ways to remain intentionally connected with you. If you have not yet connected with the KU Business Mentoring Program, you are encouraged to do so. Lastly, if you are ever in Lawrence and wish to meet with myself or connect with our program during a scheduled event, please do not hesitate to email me and we can discuss plans in greater detail.

Thanks for all you do to continue to support this amazing program.

Steven Johnson Jr. (he/him/his)
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Programs
KU School of Business