Topics for the Daniels College of Business fourth Inclusive Excellence Business Case Competition will be released early next week. The competition will take place Friday, April 12, and will see approximately 25 students provide potential solutions for a live business case proposed by telecommunications company CenturyLink.
According to Daniels Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Dorothy Joseph, the competition connects undergraduate and graduate students with companies committed to providing a better understanding of inclusivity and its role in business.
Joseph said that scholarships are awarded to the three top teams. This yar the winning team will receive $6,000, second place will get $4,000 and third place will take home $2,000.
“The prize amounts have not always been the same,” said Joseph. “The first-place prize money was somewhat reduced last year.”
According to Joseph, funds for competition winners will receive prize money from CenturyLink, who is sponsoring the competition and reception. As sponsor, CenturyLink will write a business case about a current issue in their company.
The winners are determined by judges from various companies, this year including CenturyLink, Target, United Launch Alliance, Charles Schwab, Molson Coors and FirstBank among other corporations.
Apart from the success achievement of winning the Inclusive Excellence Case Competition, Joseph said the competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to get in front of corporations and make connections.
“It’s all about networking,” said Joseph. “By participating in the competition, students are able to enter the workforce with more knowledge about the importance of inclusivity and how to work in groups where people are not all alike.”
Joseph said that the IE Business Case Competitions started four years ago, after a former Daniels employee in the Career Center started a multicultural career fair that drew participants from all around the state. However, the competition is now no longer for the entire state, but instead specifically for DU and Daniels.
According to Joseph, while the case competition is not directly related to any Daniels courses, inclusivity is at the center of the competition. As such, Joseph said that the competition gives students from different academic disciplines, ages and ethnicities the opportunity to work on a live case.
Similarly, Joseph’s graduate assistant and planning partner Kathryn Ruggeri said students are asked to compose their teams as diversely as possible based on a variety of criteria.
In the past, Joseph said that there have been six teams of four students. However, this year it has changed.
“Students are now encouraged to form teams of four to six people, which provides more flexibility and opportunity for more students to participate,” Joseph said. “We are trying to be as inclusive as possible, so that every student who wants to get on a team hopefully can.”
“Teams are selected for the competition based on several factors, and the key sponsor [CenturyLink] will have some say in this,” said Ruggeri. “For example, teams are evaluated on whether or not they meet the formation criteria, their responses to a number of short answer questions on inclusive excellence, as well as their resumes.”
Joseph said that compared to last year, there has been a “tremendous” increase in IE Case Competition interest and awareness among students.
“We’re all learning a lot of things and we’re getting better and better as we have more resources.” said Joseph. “Obviously just having someone like Kathryn [Ruggeri] to help and who has been completely dedicated to the execution of the project has been great.”
Joseph said that the competition this year was planned by the Inclusive Excellence Committee, co-chaired by David Corsun and Marilyn Hughes with the help of graduate assistant Kathryn Ruggeri. They also partnered with the Center for Multicultural Excellence (CME).
“Whatever the issue, students get to work with companies on live cases, in which they attempt to provide potential solutions and suggestions to the issue through research, analysis and a final presentation,” said Joseph.
Joseph said that some of the companies’ past issues have been about veterans and specific minority populations.
According to Ruggeri, the committee is still working with CenturyLink to develop the live case, which will be released to the selected teams March 11.
One of the most beneficial aspects of the competition is that students get to meet with representatives of the companies throughout the competition, which includes the pre-information sessions known as Lunch & Learns said Joseph.
“Representatives from companies enjoy watching the students interact, particularly with judges and individuals from the corporations,” said Joseph. “Great companies such as Kaiser Permanente, CenturyLink and Charles Schwab that have participated in the past really enjoy the program.”
