My sincere thanks to the many of you who responded to my earlier call for external mentors for the McNair Business Scholars Network. Since then, I've created a website, which you can find at
mcnairbusinessscholars.org. Be sure to get all three of those middle S's in there! And if the URL overlay proves wonky, you can go directly to it at:
MBSNUnder the "Resources" tab, you can see a spreadsheet that lists all who have signed up so far as
external mentors. Thanks so much! We can still use more, especially in the non-management areas, such as finance, marketing, accounting, supply chain, and information systems. Thus, I ask that you
please consider signing up, and moreover, please share the link with colleagues in other disciplines.
The other thing I wish to ask of you is to help us fill out the other spreadsheets as well.
We need
McNair Business Liaisons at each institution that has a McNair Program. This is our point of contact, and this person serves as the bridge between the school and their local McNair Office, and shares information across their school. We've found that many schools don't know that the McNair Program exists, and so this role is crucial in bringing about more participation in this life-changing program. Ishva Minifee and I have reached out, repeatedly to the deans of the business schools/departments at every McNair grant-holding institution, asking them to appoint a liaison. We received replies from many, and those appointed liaisons are listed on the website. But most entries remain blank. If the liaison role is unfilled at your institution, I ask that you
please reach out to your dean and ask them to fill this role and contact us to specify who they have appointed. Perhaps you even wish to volunteer for this role? Without liaisons, much of the information will be lost across schools. And if you have no luck in getting your schools to support this program, then feel free to reach out directly to your university's McNair Program staff. They'd love to have you mentor a student! The same spreadsheet has their contact information.
We need to connect with
McNair Business Alumni. We've found some! But there are more out there. There's no central repository of these details. So if you know of any, please enter their information or, better yet,
ask them to enter their information on the McNair Business Alumni spreadsheet.
Thanks again for your interest in and assistance with this network. I truly think it's a great way to enrich the pipeline of business school faculty -- and it's low-hanging fruit in pursuit of this great goal, as the program already exists and has for decades. No need to raise money! It's also a great way to encourage undergraduate research and provide research support to faculty -- again, at no additional costs, in these tight budget times. So let's take full advantage of the great opportunity before us!
Yours remotely,
Mike
Founder, McNair Business Scholars Network
mbarnett@business.rutgers.edu------------------------------
Michael Barnett
Professor
Rutgers University
Newark NJ
(973) 353-3697
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