I joined the Lundquist College of Business in 2009 and my role for the college is to lead a cutting edge project that attracts and retains under-represented minority students for business and accounting degrees.
No one else at University of Oregon has ever tried a project like this, so it seems quite innovative. But I’m no stranger to trailblazing, I’m actually a product of an innovative educational experience right here in Eugene as a member of the first graduating Spanish Immersion program of Eugene International High School. So I know a thing or two about running students through unique educational options and grooming them for leadership.
Combine that with my passion for being a part of creating the diverse community that I want to live in, well, when the Dean of the College of Business showed me an opportunity to lead this project, my answer was simple… “someone has got to level the playing field, so let it start with me.”
With the help of brilliant colleagues and inspirational student leaders, we created a community of support and leadership where to participate you have to either be, or willing to mentor, an under-represented minority student. Our program challenges the conventional educational experience at the University of Oregon education because we expect our students to work as a team to reach academic goals. Everybody has to take risks and nobody gets left behind.
I teach three styles of leadership, and I expect my students to use those skills in the classroom, in projects we take on as a group and I also expect they take those leadership skills out onto the courts and fields they play on, into the dorms and social lives they live in and even back into their families and communities that gave them their start.
We are on the verge of explosive growth and we need your support.
We need business partners who can support events for networking and projects for skill building.
We need underwriters to provide the means for site visits and trips to business competitions to give these students shots at making a name for themselves nationally.
If you can give us your time, we need mentors. If you have “been there and done it” you can help guide one of our students on their path.
Its good work, challenging the status quo, one leader at a time. Join me, together we can level the playing field.