Activities & Organizations

Bauer Advisory Board addresses student issues

The members of the board have enacted major changes at the business school with the help of student input and suggestions. | Courtesy of Vivek Sud

The members of the board have enacted major changes at the business school with the help of student input and suggestions. | Courtesy of Vivek Sud

Students at the C.T. Bauer College of Business have seen some helpful improvements at the school thanks to the MBA Advisory Board.

Formed in 2009, the board’s mission of “You Ask, We Do” was created out of a need to close the gap in communication between the Bauer administration and its students.

The board, which focuses on getting feedback from other MBA students, operates differently from other student organizations because each member must apply for a position on the board.

The issues that MBA students bring to the board are turned into results that benefit every Bauer student.

“This is a concept that is pretty unique,” said Vivek Sud, the vice president of marketing. “Other business schools have actually approached Bauer to take this concept further in their business schools.”

The board has a rolling application deadline, but typically has only 15 members.

“We want all student groups represented, so we try to get that balance correct,” said Gayan Gunawardana, board president. “Our objective is to collect student feedback about the MBA program, networking and facilities. Students can do that through our website, one-on-one, or at the Awareness Campaign.”

After being selected, members are then divided into three committees: operations, marketing and recruitment.

The Advisory Board’s main event, the Awareness Campaign, is held in the middle of the semester when students are less busy and information provided from other student organizations has slowed.

“The campaign lets them know what we do and how to share feedback with us,” Sud said.

Since its inception, the board has already implemented comments from students by adding additional lighting outside of Melcher Hall, adding a security guard for Bauer students leaving classes in the evening and creating a centralized calendar that includes all of the events at Bauer.

The board also formed the Corporate Relations Committee, which works with Career Services in order to provide a better connection with industry companies and MBA students.

MBA student Jacob Jee was the first person to join the committee.

“We would go out to networking mixers and other business functions to meet people who would be beneficial to our students,” said Jee. “It was our opportunity to let them know what Bauer does and let them get acquainted with us.”

Sud emphasized the program’s focus on improving the student experience, and underscored how student feedback is heard by the proper officials.

“It’s the value of the MBA program that we are trying to increase, so the students’ feedback is critical in helping that mission,” said Sud. “We have a monthly board meeting with the faculty and staff, to make sure the comments are heard by the relevant people running the business school.”

For more information please visit http://www.bauer.uh.edu/mbaboard/.

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