This past May a committee of four MBA alumni, two MBA students, and two MBA staff representatives came together to review funding proposals for student projects set for the 2019-20 school year. The funds come from an endowment established by MBA alumni in 2005—the MBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund (MAEEF). This yearly awarding process is the most direct way that alumni invest in students and the legacy of the MBA program.

This year the committee awarded $25,000 to support a wide variety of projects:

The Graduate Consulting Group will host its first Consulting Alumni Reception, which aims to connect alumni across class years and consulting firms to help elevate McCombs’ strength and stature within the consulting industry. With the support from the MAEEF and the MBA Leave a Legacy Endowed Excellence Fund, the group will launch and pursue an engagement strategy that facilitates a closer connection between campus and consulting firms and mirrors the best-in-class approach of other competitive MBA programs. This support enables the group to deepen relationships that are critical to the long-term success of the McCombs consulting program.

The Health Innovation Fellows will use the MAEEF funds to move forward with the MBA Healthcare Association Case Competition. The funds will support their efforts to expand healthcare offerings, improve their partnership with other graduate programs on campus, and help to enhance preexisting relationships with healthcare companies.

Texas Veterans in Business intend to utilize their MAEEF funds to increase veteran community engagement and build greater inclusion within the McCombs and Austin community. The group intends to direct these funds to a few particular events:

  • VetX Talks: The intent of this event is to engage the community through shared veteran experiences and lessons learned, with the hope to help build understanding and increase rapport. The hope is to expand future iterations to the wider MBA community and the university veteran community.
  • Leadership Speaker Series: In conjunction with the Program Office, the group intends to sponsor one of the Leadership Speaker Series events for the upcoming year. The opportunity would allow them to bring in a relevant and respected speaker who has spent a portion of their career in federal service serving in one or more noteworthy leadership roles. They hope to engage the MBA population at large and to include members of the part-time and executive programs, helping to build cohesion through this collaborative event.
  •  Miscellaneous events: Throughout the year, the group intends to host a few events to help build camaraderie within the veteran populace at McCombs while still fostering a sense of community. This includes opportunities such as a Veterans’ Welcome Event and MBA Coffee to take place the week prior to Veteran’s Day.

Net Impact will bring together social impact leaders from across the McCombs and Austin communities and engage them in an important discussion about the intersection of business and society in today’s changing world. With the MAEEF funds they will host a summit and create a space for leaders and students to engage in this conversation in the hopes to elevate social impact among the McCombs classes of 2020 and 2021, and the Austin community as a whole.

The Graduate Business Council (GBC) will host a series of ongoing McCombs Wellness Activities. With their awarded MAEEF funds they propose to bring these activities to McCombs students in the fall:

  • PeaceBox with a self-serve guided meditation
  • Sunrise yoga in the courtyard with a Wanderlust instructor
  • Morning boot camp organized by the GBC and Texas Veterans in Business
  • Lunch & Learn with Rob Wagner
  • Cooking class for wellness organized in collaboration with the Food & Beverage Innovation Club

The McCombs Consortium Chapter will host the McCombs Diversity Conference for its second year. The conference exposes students to the challenges that occur within the diversity and inclusion spaces in corporate America and provides real world strategies to solve them. The MAEEF funds will provide the Consortium Chapter the opportunity to source and provide the best quality speakers, to create content so that the Austin community can get involved, and to partner more closely with smaller local businesses. Their goal for this year is to provide positive press and exposure to McCombs through the lens of diversity and inclusion, leading to hopefully higher URM enrollment.