Students come to Purdue seeking knowledge, but some of life’s most important lessons aren’t found in a book or a lecture hall.
Transformational experiences including leadership immersion trips, research projects, corporate consulting, and study abroad change the way students look at the world. When we switch the academic experience from passive to active, we produce agile, critical thinkers capable of seeing and then tackling the world’s biggest problems.
We are transforming the academic experience by ensuring students are ready for their careers before they enter the professional world.
Our CareerBound program, already nationally recognized as an innovative platform for internship and career preparation, develops skills employers tell us are the real differentiators for success. Through CareerBound, students develop core competencies and are matched with an advisor, a career coach, and an alumni mentor who provide structured feedback.
We will invest in this career preparation program to provide more staffing and gamified software programs, building upon the success of this award-winning program.
Transformative career prep requires dedicated staff, robust technologies, and school-wide devotion.
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We will grow the Honors program to 100 business students each year, or about 10% of each incoming class. We will increase the number of Honors business courses offered.
To transform their academic experience into a truly active one, students can choose between a scholarly project with a faculty mentor or an internship. Partnering with faculty on real-world research and interning are some of the most transformative learning experiences a student can have, and our new Daniels School of Business will increase these valuable opportunities.
Ninety-percent of our business students report having at least one internship before they graduate. We will magnify this success, ensuring that our new School of Business provides the best experiential learning opportunities for all students.
Honors College student Eli Coltin has enhanced his classroom learning with internships and research projects.
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"My experience as a Griswold Intern has been transformative. The Griswold Undergraduate Research Internship program gave me the opportunity to work with clients on developing immediate solutions for their company. My teammates and I met with the clients, developed a relationship with them, and provided solutions that were implemented. I also learned powerful software such as Power BI, which I can now incorporate into my portfolio of skills when applying to jobs." — Hannah George, double major in Marketing and English, Class of 2024, Business Analyst at Angi
Our innovative learning opportunities don’t stop with Honors courses, internships, professional development, or the creation of new majors and minors. We are also reimagining how our students learn.
We will embrace a forward-looking environment across the school by bringing industry experts and futurists to campus to share their predictions and how they may impact organizations. Students will have short-term learning opportunities, such as a weekend hackathon, to develop a solution and gain credit or prizes.
These experiences will enhance collaborative thinking across disciplines, foster new perspectives of thinking, and enhance our culture of innovation across campus.
All business school students have the opportunity to live and learn on international soil, deepening their understanding and appreciation of different cultures and traditions.
Studying abroad to experience how business is done in another country has long been a core component of our school. But in the Mitch Daniels School of Business, more students will participate, as more funding will be available to provide these life-changing experiences.
Whether in Spain or Singapore, our students are learning lessons that can't be gleaned from a book.
Study Abroad Program Introduces Students to Doing Business in Peru
Our student-centric, extracurricular initiatives are key resources for undergraduates across majors, providing professional development activities that enrich classroom learning. Our centers enhance and transform the learning experience by both challenging students to take on leadership roles and supporting students as they define success for themselves.
The Daniels School of Business will bolster support for more than a dozen student-centers, increasing opportunities to build upon classroom learning. Our centers make learning an active experience, putting students in unique situations that help them develop leadership, critical thinking, and communication skills.
The Brock-Wilson center’s mission is to empower women to overcome gender obstacles in the workplace. The center supports all business school students as well as young women as early as pre-college in developing the skills needed to recognize and navigate gender-based challenges in professional settings.
Creating Confident Leaders
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The Business Opportunity Program (BOP) supports students of all races and ethnic backgrounds pursuing careers in business through mentorship, networking opportunities, scholarships, tutoring services, and more. BOP is one of the oldest diversity programs in a top-ranked undergraduate business school in the U.S.
Supporting Students
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Our Larsen Leaders Academy is a community for our most motivated students and provides enhanced leadership training. Many of the activities academy students participate in earn them credit toward a Larsen Leadership Concentration. The concentration coursework and activities both emphasize experiential learning and team-based consulting.
Academy students have the opportunity to take part in experiential, immersive learning trips in their sophomore, junior, or senior years. They include:
Participants study historical leaders on the very grounds where President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address and are put in situations similar to those faced by military leaders during the decisive battle of the Civil War.
At Cape Canaveral or the Kennedy Space Center, students learn from pilots and astronauts about decision-making and risk. They discover the leadership qualities of Purdue’s 27 astronauts, as well as alum Sully Sullenberger, who guided a commercial jet to an emergency landing on the Hudson River.
During this trip to California, students learn about the need for credibility and courage that leaders possess. Participants experience vulnerability as they brave the wilderness with alumni and corporate partners.
Purdue has a long and storied relationship with auto racing, including several links to the world’s most famous course. Here students are exposed to leadership positions within the motorsports and automotive industries.
Learning occurs inside and outside the classroom. Our new Daniels School of Business will provide students with an even wider menu of options to apply their classroom knowledge, enjoying both success and failure along the way as they prepare to embark on their business careers.
redefining the preparation of business leaders
