Investing in the Smith Journey

Undergraduate students have access to new programs and opportunities at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business as a result of differential tuition. Funds generated from the policy, adopted in fall 2015, have allowed the school to ramp up its investments in four key areas related to the undergraduate experience and the Smith Journey.

“Our commitment to undergraduate students is to deliver a world-class experience,” Smith School dean Alex Triantis says. “Differential pricing, which many business schools have adopted, will allow Smith to compete and grow as we educate the world’s next generation of fearless leaders.”

“We’re seeing some terrific new programs from this investment already, and I’m especially excited by the way students have been actively involved in shaping the new initiatives,” agrees Victor Mullins, associate dean of the undergraduate program.

Building a Strong Community

Special programming for undergraduates begins before freshman classes even start, with the Smith Leadership Institute (SLI), a one-day orientation program sponsored in part by EY (formerly Ernst & Young) where freshmen explore their strengths and develop their personal brand. Following SLI, these students participate in Smith Start activities throughout the year that allow them to get to know each other, become oriented to the culture and community of Smith, and get an overview of majors and careers.

The Fellows programs allow upperclassmen the opportunity to participate in career-specific activities and build a professional network before graduation. Coursework is often developed by faculty with industry experience in partnership with industry leaders to ensure that students are exposed to the most important issues in that field. Smith has 15 Fellows programs, including the recently introduced  Hospitality Business Fellows program (in partnership with Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International and Choice) and redesigned Sports Management Fellows program.

The student-run Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC) Engagement committee works with the Office of Undergraduate Programs to plan and organize activities that define and shape the student experience, and connect students with faculty and administration. One of the most popular community events is “Stacks on Smith,” a pancake dinner traditionally served to seniors by the school’s deans and faculty on the eve of finals. This year, additional funding will allow “Stacks” to be expanded to all Smith students.

Enhancing Academics

Smith is working to improve the academic experience, particularly in core classes — with the active involvement of undergraduate students who serve on DSAC.

New initiatives to develop critical thinking help students take the facts and frameworks learned in the classroom and apply them to complex, real-world problems in ways that yield innovative solutions.

The Innovo Scholars program pairs students with faculty to improve course structure. Scholars work to improve curriculums, suggest opportunities to increase student engagement, and track metrics to gauge success. The program has been instrumental in improving the classroom experience for students.

The modern business career requires students to possess Excel and technical skills. Smith faculty are working with the Office of Smith IT to design three new courses to help students develop and hone these important skillsets, regardless of their existing technical proficiencies. Two of these courses will be available to undergraduate beginning in fall 2016.

Smith will also be able to hire three new faculty directly as a result of increased funding.

Expanding Career Services

The Office of Career Services is using additional funding to provide expanded career opportunities to undergraduate students.  These new initiatives include additional networking opportunities, such as corporate visits, and better data capture functionality for prospective employers in the school’s job search tool, HireSmith. To support these initiatives, a new business development coordinator will be responsible for broadening undergraduate opportunities.

Smith has also expanded the Undergraduate Career Fair to twice a year, bringing employers on campus in both spring and fall to meet with students. The 2016 Spring Undergraduate Career Fair brought 59 employers to campus, a change from the Virtual Career Fair in years past. This new event has increased direct employer engagement and is particularly helpful to students in fields such as marketing that do not have a traditional fall recruiting cycle.

Investing in Technology

Smith has made a significant investment in technology resources for undergraduates and will expand its offerings with increased funding. In 2016 Smith will launch vSmith, a newer, more flexible platform replacing SmithApps that will allow students to better access to many programs from any location on or off campus. Work done on vSmith can be saved to Google Drive, UMD Box, Dropbox or Skydrive, and more students can be on vSmith at the same time.

Smith is also investing in new infrastructure for its facilities. This includes audiovisual equipment for undergraduate classrooms and a new system of plasma screens for the undergraduate lounge and study rooms.

Van Munching Hall has more Bloomberg Terminals than any other school in the nation, allowing students to work with real-time financial information in classes. The school also purchases subscriptions to industry tools such Thomson Reuters, Canvas, Panopto, IBIS World, and makes them available to students.

New and existing initiatives in these four key areas are made possible using funds from differential pricing as well as other sources. These initiatives are just the beginning of an ever-improving Smith undergraduate experience.

To learn more about these and other newly funded initiatives at Smith, please contact the DSAC Student Advocacy Committee at smithdsac@gmail.com. The Dean's Student Advisory Council, composed of 16 sophomores, juniors and seniors, works closely with Smith School administration to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives that impact the undergraduate experience.

Contributors to this article include:
Liya Ai, Smith Class of 2016
Cindy Liu, Smith Class of 2016
Praneet Puppala, Smith Class of 2016
Kelly Cosgriff, Smith Class of 2017
In conjunction with the Dean's Student Advisory Council (Smith Student Leadership) and the Office of Marketing Communications