African American MBA students endow chair

Over the weekend, the African American MBA Association of the Wharton School of Business became the first group of its kind to establish an endowed chair. Directors of the association announced at the group's 22nd Annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Conference that they had fulfilled their goal of raising $1.25 million to endow a lifetime professorship at Wharton for an African American professor. The endowed chair, which was initially called for by Wharton students and alumni, will support a professorship for a scholar of world stature, spokesperson Malcolm Conner said in a press release. As one of the largest student-run business conferences in the United States, the Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Conference honors Young's efforts to transfer traditional underrepresented groups into the economic mainstream by increasing educational and career opportunities. Young was the executive director of the National Urban League and a leader in the civil rights movement until his death in 1971. "The conference is important because it is an open forum to communicate the role of the African American in business and to let people know we are out there," said Elizabeth Guzman, director of marketing for the conference. The African American MBA Association has been raising funds for the past seven years, combining profits from their annual conferences with funds solicited from corporations and private donors. According to the association, there are fewer than 15 tenured African American professors in all of the top 10 graduate business schools throughout the country. Because of the efforts of the association, Wharton will be one of the few schools to have two. "There is a gap that needs to be filled," Guzman said. "We have to start discussing ways to get people prepared and canvass universities to hire African American professors." According to Conner, the group's next project is to establish a center at Wharton for researching business issues related to African Americans. Conner added that the Association presented Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity with a $20,000 check for the center's fund. The theme of the conference was creating wealth in the African diaspora through education and entrepreneurship. Community action was explored through a career fair, and speeches from business leaders including Kenneth Chenault, vice chairperson of American Express. More than 80 companies, including the Chrysler corporation and ARCO Chemical Company, sent recruiters to talk with students working toward their MBAs.