Young women aged 13 to 19 will get a taste of the B-school experience when Cornell University’s Johnson School hosts its seventh annual Camp $tart-Up from June 21 to 28, 2008. Teaming up with Independent Means and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the Johnson School, the camp is dedicated to exposing young women to the fundamentals of business.

According to a press release, campers learn about several key areas including marketing, finance, and research. While at the camp, the young women interact closely with current MBA students, professors, alumni, and local businesspeople to foster the campers’ capabilities in leadership and teamwork.

Five female MBA students (all class of 2008) are involved in all aspects of the camp, from coordinating leadership activities to planning the camp’s promotional materials, and working alongside campers as mentors and counselors. Each student plans to leverage her own business expertise and experiences to teach and empower the young women to become successful business leaders. A group of Johnson School students brought the Camp $tart-Up program to Cornell in 2002.

Camp $tart-Up is an important initiative to the Johnson School and its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, aimed to combat the relatively low enrollment of women in graduate business programs. Throughout most MBA programs, including the Johnson School, approximately 30 percent of students enrolled are women. The most effective way to increase the pool of qualified women for business education, and in business itself, the school says, is to reach out to them at a younger age and to teach them fundamental business and leadership skills.

During the eight day camp, girls will work in teams to develop a business idea and create a business plan to present at the end of the week. When the experience culminates, they will have learned the business, research and networking skills, as well as gained the self-confidence needed to plan their business together. For more information about this empowering venture, visit the Camp $tart-Up website.

Joining forces with leaders from American businesses, government and non-governmental organizations, the University of Pennsylvania will launch a new enterprise this spring on business and the environment. The Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL), led by Penn’s Wharton School, will address the environmental issues facing businesses today from academic and policy-oriented perspectives. This cross-disciplinary endeavor also includes faculty from Penn’s schools of Arts and Sciences, Design, Engineering and Applied Science, Law and Medicine.

“IGEL will bring the expertise of Penn faculty together with a network of leading experts in relevant fields from around the world to discuss and research topics concerning business and the natural environment,” says Eric Orts, professor of legal studies and business ethics and founding director of the initiative, in a press release from the school. “This unique business orientation and top intellectual/research capacity will be brought to bear on some of the most important long-term environmental challenges we face today.”

IGEL will provide forums for business leaders with environmental responsibilities to consult with Penn faculty and selected experts on emerging issues, existing or proposed national and international regulation, best practices and the most current relevant research findings. The initiative will also facilitate research on environmental issues interest to the business and policy-making communities. A potential partnership is in the works with Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Paris Institute for Technology, Ecole de Mines.

The initiative kicks off with a two-day conference in Philadelphia April 14-16; its goals are to raise awareness of the need for businesses to work with academics, government and non-governmental groups to tackle environmental challenges and to identify topics and issues deserving continued research. Business and environmental summits will be held annually on issues of greatest concern.

For more information on guest speakers and panel discussions planned for the conference, click here.

Also, check out these blogs by current Wharton students:

Kor Al: Swimming with Sharks

Perpetual Motion

La Laudiaria

If you’ll be in the New York area this week, consider attending the lecture on “How Traditional Companies Can Learn from the Innovation Approaches of Online Companies” led by Dean George S. Yip of the Rotterdam School of Management.

This special event will take place on March 18th from 7-9:30 p.m. at the Dutch Consulate General, located at 1 Rockefeller Plaza, 11th Floor, Avenue of the Americas.

There is no charge to attend, but you must RSVP online here.

Stacy Blackman Consulting is proud to be participating in the Beat the GMAT Scholarship for the second year in a row.  This year’s prizes are really fantastic - the first prize is valued at $7,890.  If you are not familiar with this scholarship, read on for more information.  It’s a great opportunity to receive some truly outstanding help in the MBA admissions process - for free!

Beat The GMAT is an MBA discussion community with a mission to help people achieve their full potential on the GMAT® and business school admissions by connecting them to the best resources available. In this spirit, Beat The GMAT is proud to host the annual Beat The GMAT Scholarship competition, co-sponsored by ManhattanGMAT and Stacy Blackman Consulting.  We will be distributing five scholarship packages valued over $15,000 this spring!

Submit your application by May 1, 2008. Competition ends in 60 days.  To learn more about how to apply, visit this scholarship information page. 

We look forward to reviewing your applications and working with some of you.  Good luck!!