The University of Chicago Magazine
December 1997
Like any productive enterprise, the GSB has inspired its share of spinoffs-organizations, groups, and projects that educate, build community, and sometimes even make a little money. Among the standouts:
In 1970, a group of GSB students laid the groundwork for the National Black MBA Association, which later became an incorporated nonprofit organization with more than 4,000 members worldwide. The GSB's own African American MBA Association sponsors academic and social activities, including a fall career conference, a spring conference on personal and professional issues in the African- American business community, and a scholarship competition for high school students.
For the past seven years, "GSB" has also stood for Giving Something Back, a B-school community-service group with more than 200 active members. Efforts include tutoring elementary-school students, organizing quarterly food, clothing, and blood drives, and volunteering at a homeless shelter and the University of Chicago Children's Hospital.
A student-run activity, LEAD (Leadership Exploration and Development), is a required course for first-year GSB students, designed to foster a sense of community and develop practical business skills such as communicating and team-building. Second-year students guide cohorts of first-years through such activities as a retreat in Wisconsin and an "Olympics" competition, as well as facilitating sessions on leadership, negotiation, and presentation skills.
The New Product Laboratory, now part of the more inclusive Management Laboratories, was likewise designed to give students some practical skills. In NPL, students work on real-life projects-often the marketing of new products-brought to them by corporate clients such as American Airlines and Kraft. Recently established and soon-to-come laboratories feature collaborative technology-assessment efforts with the physical- and biological-sciences divisions.
Headquartered at the GSB, ARCH Development Corporation provides another opportunity for students to put their training to work. Established in 1986, ARCH commercially develops technology from the U of C and Argonne National Laboratory. In the ARCH associates program, GSB students write business plans, recruit managers, identify markets for new technologies, and market new products.-K.S.
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