Lindner Business Fellows homecoming event puts growth on full display

Kimberly McGinnis, the program’s founder and former associate director of student engagement for diversity and inclusion, was honored alongside those who continue to help shape Business Fellows, including Dean Marianne Lewis, PhD, Connie Cooper, LaDreka Karikari, Karen Bankston, Curtis Eaton, Pierre James, Addison Nelson and Kris Jones.  

Dean Lewis provided opening remarks, highlighting the growth and evolution of the program through its decade-plus history.

“The most important thing I want to stress is momentum. And I hope you can feel it,” opened Lewis. “Because we're going to talk a little bit about where we are. But, more importantly, we're going to talk about how we got here.”

McGinnis’ original proposal from 2011 had a humble vision: enroll 20 students of color in a pilot program that would track their progress through the academic year. Students would receive mentorship and engage in professional development opportunities.

“I was meeting with quite a few undergraduate students who were disconnected from other students like them,” said McGinnis of the program’s origins. “I saw that the need was there and that they needed a way in which to connect with other students so they could create their own support network.”

Karikari, who served as senior admissions officer during Business Fellows’ early years and later assistant director of undergraduate admissions, observed a similar need for students to carve out a sense of community among the vastness of UC.

“A lot of times, when we look at the University of Cincinnati as a large institution, families — especially families from marginalized backgrounds — are looking for that smaller avenue within this larger pocket,” said Karikari. “So, we asked ‘How can you make this smaller for students? How can we guarantee that support throughout their way?’ That was the selling point: having a smaller experience within a larger population, where students can connect with other students and go through this pathway together.”

Beyond community, McGinnis also saw an opportunity to better connect students of color with resources and opportunities for study abroad, co-ops, internships and more. Early programming worked to mend this divide by offering mentorship with alumni and business professionals and a speaker series that covered time management, interview skills, networking, professional dress and more.  

Although the college and university offered some initiatives and supports for marginalized students, formalizing a signature program for students of color allowed for more concentrated efforts to be made to advocate for students throughout their entire college experience.  

In 2013, Business Fellows began to take its current shape, implementing a cohort program to further the sense of community created for students.  

Today, the Business Fellows program boasts more than 150 students and continues to engage Lindner’s most diverse scholars in a variety of programming. This year, the program also added a new assistant director of inclusive excellence, Brienne Blair, and welcomed its largest first-year cohort.

“There are so many different layers in supporting the Business Fellows, mainly because there are so many individual needs from each academic level. Since the first day of meeting the students, they have been welcoming, which makes my position even more fulfilling,” praised Blair. “The passion and commitment from the executive board is stellar, from organizing events for their members to making sure each first-year mentee has an authentic mentor. I’m looking forward to being a part of our first-year students’ growth and development throughout their college career.”

In December, 50 first-year Business Fellows will travel to Seattle to meet with alumni and tour giants of industry like Amazon and Microsoft. And a date — April 18, 2024 — has already been set for the annual Toast event in the spring for graduating Business Fellows.

As the program continues on a trajectory toward even greater growth and success, the homecoming event offered the opportunity to commemorate those who laid the foundation.

“We always have to honor that any program that gets started doesn't get started on its own,” reminded McGinnis. “It is a group of people that are saying: ‘Yes, this is important.’”

Featured image at top: Kimberly McGinnis (center), founder of Business Fellows, poses with some of the program's current students. Photos/Scott Beseler.