In early September, the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business's Scovell Business Leadership Program (SBLP) kicked off the semester with a special event to welcome 22 new students into its ranks. The addition of these students brings the program’s total to 67, with 15 first-year students and seven current Rawls College students joining the returning 45 members.
Divided into 11 teams, students in SBLP are tasked with sourcing and working on consulting projects with industry partners. Each team is guided by one to two faculty mentors who, alongside program director Feruzan Irani Williams, Ph.D., help students throughout the sourcing and planning process. This hands-on experience provides students with practical leadership training and valuable soft skills such as sales pitches, project management, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.
Additionally, students are paired with industry mentors from the Rawls Advisory Council and the Recent Alumni Board. This semester, SBLP piloted the TERN Mentoring Platform under the leadership of Cathy Duran, Ph.D., professor of practice in marketing and supply chain management at Rawls College, to provide a more structured approach to mentorship, further enhancing students' professional growth.
Williams shared her vision for the program:
"To me, SBLP has a higher purpose than just gaining your college degree. Our goal is to create a 'whole' student, one who is well versed in foundational knowledge (gained through their major classes), but is also able to apply said knowledge in various business settings that may or may not be directly aligned with their major. We want to give students a leg up where they can hit the ground running in their jobs and careers, to give them the opportunity to gain those critical 'soft' skills that are so essential to their career journey, and to give them a network of supporters that will cheer them on along their path!"
About Scovell Business Leadership Program
The SBLP, originally established in the fall of 2013 as the Rawls Business Leadership Program, creates a dynamic learning experience designed to provide students with real-world knowledge and experiences to excel in leadership roles. Renamed in honor of the Scovell family's contributions to Rawls College in the fall of 2019, the program focuses on developing "complete students" who possess a strong academic foundation and real-world experience necessary to be innovative and ethical leaders. Open to all business majors, SBLP students have the opportunity to lead service-learning projects, travel internationally, and receive professional guidance from a personal mentor.