Stephani Kobayashi Stevenson made the decision to attend business school while she was volunteering with the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea. "It changed my life to see the devastating effects of globalization, as well as the ramifications of poor business decisions," said Stevenson, who is 28 and a first-year MBA student at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
Business students belie their prejudicial image
By Martha Irvine
The Associated Press
Posted April 18 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. · As the stereotype goes, business students are supposed to be single-minded in their career goals: making money, more money and still more money.
But don't tell that to Daron Horwitz, who spent his spring break in Iraq -- visiting schools that will be helped by a nonprofit group that he and a small group of students formed at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Experts say they're part of a new breed of MBA student, influenced by everything from corporate scandal to the dot-com bust to concerns over the effects of globalization on everyday people. They also note that the curriculum at business schools across the country has been changing in recent years, placing more emphasis on ethics, nonprofit work and "corporate social responsibility."
"Our data suggest that the students are more interested in thinking about the role of business in society ... and as a generation, are saying `We want to do a better job,'" said Nancy McGaw, deputy director of the New York-based Aspen Institute Business and Society Program.
Stephani Kobayashi Stevenson made the decision to attend business school while she was volunteering with the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea.
"It changed my life to see the devastating effects of globalization, as well as the ramifications of poor business decisions," said Stevenson, who is 28 and a first-year MBA student at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
Meanwhile, Christina Murray -- who'll graduate this spring with her MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. -- has accepted a job at Project Place, a Boston nonprofit that helps homeless and low-income people find jobs and housing. She'll be director of "enterprise operations," overseeing vending machine and outdoor maintenance businesses.
Murray said she used to think that her business background would be a liability in the nonprofit world. But she soon discovered that, especially as the economy faltered, charitable organizations are increasingly looking for business types to help them survive.
