DePaul MBA/IMF Program

MBA/IMF Student Association

Student Association logo

Background
First, some background - The MBA/IMF Student Association was established in January 1998 by the members of the Class of 1999. In the first quarter of the program several students found that they had ideas for making this new and evolving program into a world leader in international business education. Finally, they decided to stop talking about it and get the rest of the class involved. In January of 1998, the Association was launched and the process of creating a sustainable organization began. An "open space" meeting was conducted to generate ideas and then the association set about trying to make them reality.

Structure
The Association was envisioned as a participative organization and the founders tried to keep hierarchical relationships to a minimum. Four committees were formed, each with its own chairperson. There is also a president, whose main role is to be a facilitator for the committee's work and to communicate with Association members. The committee chairs are responsible for organizing the activities of their committees, but it is the members of the committees who really make the organization work. Together, these five elected positions form the Executive Committee.

Committees
The Executive Committee is comprised of each of the four committee chairpersons and the MBA/IMF Student Association president. Vikki Gutierrez is the current president.

The Business Resources Committee is designed to help the IMF students plan and build their future careers by organizing resources such as the contact database, speakers, and workshops. The current chairperson is Johanna Bobadilla.

The Consulting Committee is dedicated to furthering the education and knowledge of the IMF students while providing consulting services to a variety of business and non-profit organizations. The current chairperson is Robert Martin.

The Social Networking Committee has two main roles - providing the current and former classes with a chance to have some fun and creating networking opportunities with faculty, business people, and mentors in a relaxed environment. The current chairperson is: Amy Lee.

The Student Advisory Committee has two key roles. First, the committee serves as a student liaison to prospective students. Second, the committee is responsible for working with administration to improve the program as a whole. The current chairperson dealing with prospective students is: Michael Montri. The current chairperson that serves as administration liaison is: Sandra Carlson

Your Role
It is the hope of the original founders that each subsequent class will embrace the Association and help fulfill the original vision. Imagine ten years from now returning to DePaul for a visit and finding that the class of 2010 is still using the Association as a vehicle for learning, making program changes, and coordinating fun activities.

The Mission Statement is brief, but it gets directly to the heart of what the founders had hoped to accomplish. Eighteen months is a short period in which to accomplish large and complex goals, but by connecting each class's contributions from year to year, the Association can make an impact.

Accomplishments

New Students--- Having been new students ourselves, we wanted to make the transition for students coming from outside Chicago as easy as possible. The Student Advisory Committee worked to connect new students to current students who could provide information plus facilitate connections to new classmates who were trying to find roommates.
Consulting---The Consulting Committee has worked on two exciting projects. In one project, IMF students helped to quantify the costs companies experience because of employee turnover. The other project, which is ongoing, aims to give international financial executives and educators on-line sources of information.
Interaction---Sometimes it is hard to find time to enjoy each other's company despite the fact that we see each other every day. Through a series of international dinners, a golf outing, and a few other events, we had a chance to unwind and enjoy ourselves. For some of these events, we included alumni, professors, mentors, friends, and family members to add a networking dimension to the social aspect.

Plans
Just a few ideas for the future include...an internship file so future classes can benefit from our contacts...volunteer activities to make a contribution to our community...on-site visits to companies...speakers for the evening and weekend program, sponsored by the Association...a web page creation workshop and an on-line database of resumes and biographies...increased interaction with the administration to bring a student perspective to university decision.

We hope you will embrace some of the ideas and a few of your own to pass on to the Class of 2002. Good Luck and Have Fun!