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The Martin J. Whitman School of Management offered the first Whitman Challenge program for MBA online students from Oct. 1-3.

The Whitman Challenge allows MBA online students to work collaboratively with a company or organization, analyzing and solving a business issue, during a three-day residency over the weekend.

Students in the Whitman Challenge program contacted the company representative for the first day, and then they worked with their team members to develop their own opinions on the issue they were facing. For the final day, students shared their ideas with the company representative and received feedback on their presentations.

The program was designed for students to gain real-life experiences and enhance their careers.

“This was the first time that we’ve launched this challenge,” said Jenny Henderson, assistant director for student services and online operations. “What we’re hoping that they’ll learn is really how to take the theory that they get in the classroom and make it work in the real world.”

Faculty sponsored the program, offering advice and help when the students needed it as they completed their challenges. Also, alumni acted as coaches for the students, speaking in classes.

This fall, the Whitman Challenge partnered with the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, sponsoring two projects, and another nonprofit organization called Excite All-Stars. The program assigned approximately 40 students to each of the projects, and about 120 students participated in the first online Whitman Challenge, Henderson said.

“I did actually look at the educational background with the students, and we wanted to spread that out a little bit. We didn’t want to have one whole project where they were all earlier in their program,” Henderson said.

Excite All-Stars is an organization focusing on helping children with emotional distress in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They wanted to develop the organizational infrastructure and create a succession plan. 

One of the student groups in the Whitman Challenge program came up with a suggestion to utilize social media platforms and created a QR code, Henderson said. They also shared a live link for donation during the presentation.

“We got a very nice thank you note back from the CEO, and (they) mentioned that they would be using the donations for the students, or textbook purchases … for the children that they support,” she said.

The program is good for students to both develop business-related solutions and build a bond with executive members of a company, Henderson said. 

Initially, the program was set to take place in person in New Orleans. But due to the pandemic, the organizers of the Whitman Challenge decided to move the program online this fall. 

Henderson said Whitman’s MBA program used to have connections to local companies in Syracuse. The program expects to build partnerships with larger companies that have potential projects for students to tackle. The residencies are offered four times a year, so the program has not started to look for additional companies yet.

Published on October 26, 2021 at 11:26 pm

Contact Wanshi: wzhan104@syr.edu