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Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteLally School of Management and Technology

RECRUITMENT AND SCHOLARSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS

What programs and initiatives has your school found successful in the recruitment of minority and/or female students?

The Lally School sends out a mailing every year to a large group of female prospects, who we invite to apply for the Herman Family Fellowship forWomen in Entrepreneurship. The Herman Family Fellowship for Women in Entrepreneurship is a prestigious award granted to women interested inpursuing their entrepreneurial interests. The Lally MBA program is highly focused on entrepreneurship boasting a world-class faculty and on-campusresources that embody the Herman family’s belief that entrepreneurs drive competitiveness and economic growth. We encourage women interestedin entrepreneurship to visit the Lally School, and we remind prospects via an email newsletter of the fellowship several times during the year.

Rensselaer’s graduate admissions office hosts the Diversity in Graduate Studies Visitation Program (DIGS). DIGS is a one- to two day funded visit thatallows selected prospective graduate students (U.S. citizens, permanent residents and internationals currently studying in the United States) theopportunity to meet with faculty, visit Rensselaer research facilities and interact with enrolled graduate students. For selected students, this programcovers all meals, lodging and up to $300 for transportation expenses to support their visit to our campus. Students can apply for a visit by visitingwww.rpi.edu/dept/admissions/graduate/visit.html and completing the graduate student visit form. The Lally School often has minority students visitusing this program.

Applicants may also participate in Lally’s exciting new Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) Challenge Scholarship program to support MBA applicantsdeveloping business concepts that apply technology for social good.

As the next step in the process of bringing new technologies to market, Lally has introduced The Lally Tech Launch Pad program.

Tech Launch Pad is an accelerated, 11-week Entrepreneurship 101 training program, jetting through topics essential for venture success, such aspreparing a business plan, overcoming obstacles, legal issues for startups, mentoring and plan presentation strategies for approaching funders. Eachparticipating innovator will be partnered with one or more business advisers, who will assist in both manufacturing and product development, as wellas in business plan preparation. Practical lectures and real-world market examples will be presented by experts from the field.

Rensselaer’s graduate admissions office recruiting managers, representing the Lally School and other Rensselaer schools, travel each year to recruitat historically minority colleges and at college fairs, particularly those held by minority associations such as National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)and Society if Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). In October 2008, we also attended the annual SACNAS Conference (Society for theAdvancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science).

Lally also participates in the NSBE/SHPE annual career fair held at Rensselaer to recruit graduating engineering students and alumni who attend forthe MBA program.

Locally, we have presented to groups such as the Chinese Community Center and the Saratoga Women’s Expo and have sponsored speaker seriessuch as “Celebrating Women” and a biotech conference for “Women in Entrepreneurship” (which honors female biotech executives and researchersand high school students who are high achievers in math and science).

Please describe any scholarship and/or fellowship opportunities for minority and/or female students attending your school.

Name of fellowship program: Herman Family Fellowship for Women in EntrepreneurshipNumber of fellowships awarded: VariesDeadline for application: May 15thFellowship award amount: VariesWebsite or other contact information: www.lallyschool.rpi.edu/files/hermanfellowships.pdf or email [email protected] to request a Hermanapplication

A Herman Family Fellowship candidate must be a female U.S. citizen, and must complete both the Rensselaer graduate application and the Hermanapplication. Candidates must provide essays for both applications, transcripts, a competitive GMAT score and other academic credentials. An interviewmay also be required.

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PROMINENT ALUMNI/FACULTY

Please provide information about prominent minority faculty members at your school.

Iftekhar Hasan, Cary L. Wellington Professor, director of the International Center for Financial Research, codirector of the PhD program and areacoordinator of accounting and financeProfessor Hasan holds a PhD and MA from the University of Houston. He teaches corporate finance, financial institutions and markets and empiricalissues in research. He brings a unique perspective to the classroom, having held visiting faculty positions in several European and Americanuniversities, including the University of Rome, Robert Schuman University at Strasbourg, EPFL at Lausanne, Carlos III at Madrid, Cheng Chi Universityin Taipei and the Stern School of Business in New York. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, United Nations, Italian Deposit InsuranceCorporation and a number of other foreign central banks and regulatory authorities.

Professor Hasan focuses his research on international banking issues, the economics of stock exchanges, privatizations in emerging markets and newventures. In addition to his research contributions to the field, Professor Hasan plays an active role in several research institutions in the United Statesand abroad. He is a scientific adviser at the Central Bank of Finland at Helsinki, a research associate at the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studiesof the Stern School of Business in New York and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Satish Nambisan, associate professorDr. Nambisan, who holds joint appointment with the IT program in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Science, specializes in preparingstudents to work in technology- and innovation-intensive environments. Professor Nambisan currently teaches courses in innovation management,technology strategy, information technology and product development. He received his PhD from Syracuse University.

Dr. Nambisan conducts research on product development and innovation management, technology strategy, innovation networks and management ofIT. His publications have appeared in several top journals, including Harvard Business Review, Management Science, Academy of ManagementReview, MIT Sloan Management Review, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and the StanfordSocial Innovation Review. His new book The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World was published bythe Wharton School Publishing in fall 2007.

Professor Nambisan’s research has been supported by grants from institutions, such as the IBM Center for the Business of Government, NSF-affiliatedCenter for Innovation Management Studies (Raleigh), the Snyder Center for Innovation Management (Syracuse University), the National University ofSingapore and the Broadbent Entrepreneurship Research grant. He is a recipient of the Ernst & Young ICIS Doctoral Consortium Fellow (1996). Hewas recently honored by Syracuse University, his alma mater, with the 2006 Whitman PhD Distinguished Alumni Award for his academicaccomplishments. During the 2005-2006 school year, he was a visiting research faculty at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Universityand was affiliated with the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation at Kellogg.

Bill B. Francis, professor and codirector of the PhD program Dr. Francis holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, a master’s from York University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Toronto. ProfessorFrancis currently teaches classes in corporate finance, international finance and quantitative methods in finance at the MBA and PhD level. Hisresearch focuses on corporate finance and international finance and economics, and he currently conducts research on issues in initial public offerings,corporate restructurings and international asset-pricing. Professor Francis has published numerous articles in reputed finance and economic journalssuch as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, the Journal ofInternational Money and Finance and the Journal of Macroeconomics. He is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Stability.

David A. Gautschi, dean, area coordinator and professor of marketing Dr. Gautschi’s areas of research include economics of services, retailing and distribution; telecommunications industry; choice models; andoptimization methods. He holds a PhD in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley; an MBA in quantitative methods fromthe University of Oregon; and a BA in mathematics from the University of Maine. His areas of instruction are marketing management; marketingstrategy; B2B and industrial marketing; distribution channel management and the analysis of marketing intermediaries; microeconomics; and statistics.

Dean Gautschi has published two books and many scholarly articles in marketing, economics and technology management journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing,Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Retailing, Managerial and Decision Economics, AppliedEconomics, Empirica and Technology in Society, among others. He has served as European editor of Managerial and Decision Economics and on theeditorial board of the Journal of Retailing.

Dean Gautschi has cofounded three firms, among them an international firm that has developed marketing decision support systems and industry-specific market simulation models and laboratories with clients from around the globe. As a firm director, he served as one of six leaders of the e-business practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP from 1999 to 2003. He has also served on the faculties of Cornell, Yale, INSEAD and the University ofWashington.

Vault/CGSM Guide to Business School Diversity, 2010 Edition

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally)

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T. (Ravi) Ravichandran, associate professorDr. Ravichandran holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; a postgraduate diploma (industrial and system engineering) from NationalProductivity Council, India; and a BE (production engineering) from University of Madras, India. His research areas include information technologymanagement, supply chain management and business strategy.

Professor Ravichandran teaches the Networks and Value Creation and IT Strategy courses in the MBA and the executive MBA programs at the LallySchool. He periodically teaches some of these courses in top business schools in Asia and Europe, and lectured on these topics in several forums.

Professor Ravichandran’s long term research interests focus on four broad areas: (1) Strategic implication of information technology and organizationalcapabilities to manage information technology; (2) Supply chain management and business-to-business electronic markets; (3) Innovation diffusionand assimilation; and (4) Organizational renewal and growth through innovation. His research in some of these areas has been funded by grants fromthe National Science Foundation and the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

Professor Ravichandran has published more than 80 articles in academic journals and conference proceedings such as the Communications of theACM, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Information Systems, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Logistics Information Systems,Journal of Management Information Systems and MIS Quarterly. He currently serves as a department editor for IEEE Transactions on EngineeringManagement, as an associate editor of Information Systems Research and as a senior editor of Information & Management. He recently completed afour-year term as an associate editor of MIS Quarterly.

Please provide information about prominent female faculty members at your school.

Gina Colarelli O’Connor, associate professorDr. O’Connor holds a PhD in marketing and corporate strategy from New York University. Her areas of instruction are commercialization of advancedtechnology, corporate entrepreneurship, marketing management and new product development. Dr. O’Connor leads Business Implications ofEmerging Technologies, Lally’s flagship course in new product development, taught by an interdisciplinary faculty team. She contributed to theevolution of Lally’s curriculum by introducing MBA courses on commercializing advanced technologies and product management and developingdoctoral seminars in new product development. Her corporate experience includes contract administration work with McDonnell Douglas Corporationfor the AV-8B Harrier program and work in Monsanto Chemical Corporation’s department of social responsibility.

Outside the classroom, Professor O’Connor serves as academic director of the Radical Innovation research program, ongoing at the Lally School since1995. In that role, she leads a team of researchers across three universities in a longitudinal research program to understand and improve establishedcompanies’ implementation of radical innovation capabilities. Dr. O’Connor also gave the keynote address at the Fifth Annual Connecticut TechnologyCouncil’s Women of Innovation Awards.

Professor O’Connor’s interests include management processes for breakthrough innovation; new market creation; and opportunity identification fornovel technologies. She has published more than 30 journal papers, 25 conference papers and more than 10 books and book chapters. She hasbeen named one of the top-25 scholars in the field of innovation in a study recently published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Sheco-authored the book, Radical Innovation, How Mature Firms Can Outsmart Upstarts (HBS Press: December 2000), with Professor Lois Peters. Hermost recent book, Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation (Jossey Bass, 2008) describes a five-year research programshe has led focusing on how firms can develop management systems for innovation, leading to Innovation as a business function in companies.Grabbing Lightning was named one of the Best Business Books of 2008 by Booz Allen’s strategy + business magazine. Visit Professor O’Connor’sGrabbing Lightning blog.

Lois S. Peters, associate professorDr. Peters holds a PhD in biology from New York University. Her research areas include entrepreneurship and organizational behavior. Dr. Petersteaches courses in innovation; commercialization of emerging technology; emotional underpinning of innovation and entrepreneurship; internationalbusiness—global studies of innovation; national innovation systems; and globalization of R&D, science and technology policy.

Professor Peters has been a principal investigator in the Nanotechnology Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the NSF-sponsored NanoscaleEngineering Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For more than two decades, she has focused on policy implications of research andtechnology partnering among and between multinational firms, entrepreneurial small firms and universities. She continues to be an active member ofthe Radical Innovation program, which began in 1995.

Dr. Peters has participated in numerous conferences focusing on technology policy and management of innovation. As a member of the board ofgovernors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering Management Society, and past vice president of conferences, Dr.Peters has organized two international conferences. She brought the International Engineering Management Conference to Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute in 2003. In 2000, the organization awarded Peters with an IEEE Millennium Medal. For five months in 1992, Peters was an invited visitingprofessor at the Max-Planck-Institute für Gessellschaftsforschung, contributing to their studies on technological innovation and learning theirapproaches to network analysis.



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Susan W. Sanderson, associate professorDr. Sanderson holds a PhD in sociology and Latin American studies, and a master’s and bachelor’s from the University of Pittsburgh. Her researchareas include marketing and innovation management, entrepreneurship and international business. She currently teaches courses on marketing,innovation and product development and has developed innovative multimedia material that is used in both campus and distance courses. She is thewinner of the 1995 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award and the Hesburg Award Team (for Educational Innovation).

Dr. Sanderson has written about many aspects of innovation and product development, and is the author of several articles and two widely cited books,Managing Product Families (Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1997) and Design Inspired Innovation (World Scientific Publishing, 2007). Her findings have helpedshift attention from managing the design of single models to product families in order to better meet the needs of distinct markets, speed the productdevelopment process and sustain competitive advantage in technology and design.

Her current work focuses on winning with “beacon products” and how outstanding product innovations can trigger market takeoff and effectively bridgethe gap between early adopters and the mass market. (Products like Research in Motions’ BlackBerry, and Apple’s iPod and iPhone, have had majorimpacts on their firm’s success as well as their industries.)

In addition to her work on innovation and product development, Dr. Sanderson has completed studies for the Department of Labor and the EconomicPolicy Institute on economic development, the labor force and international trade. She is a member of the National Science Foundation IntegrativeGraduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT); a PhD program in engineering, science and entrepreneurship of fuel cells at Rensselaer(fuelcell-igert.rpi.edu). Dr. Sanderson is also working on the transition from traditional to solid state lighting.

Please provide information about prominent alumnae from your school.

Betty Jo Bouchey, MBA 1998, vice president of campus operations, Empire Education CorporationBetty Jo Bouchey has more than a decade of diverse management experience in entrepreneurial and technology-based businesses and privatecolleges. She holds a BA from the University at Albany, an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a doctoral candidate at NorthcentralUniversity. Currently, Ms. Bouchey is vice president of campus operations for Empire Education Corporation.

Ms. Bouchey was the founder of the Tech Valley Chapter of the Alliance of Technology and Women and later served as national president for theorganization. A veteran to women in technology issues and technological startups, Ms. Bouchey is regularly asked to speak and write about womenworking in technology. She is also a monthly contributor to a column on issues that Generation X face in the work force in the Sunday edition of theTimes Union, a Hearst publication. One of her greatest speaking accomplishments was before the N.Y. state legislature’s task force on Women inTechnology on why girls leave the technical pipeline in their middle-school years.

Among her accolades, she was awarded as a Women of Excellence from the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce in 2004. In 2005 she was alsoawarded by the Capital District Business Review as a 40 Under Forty.

CURRICULUM AND RESEARCH

Please provide information on any classes and concentrations that focus on issues related to women or minorities.

Global Strategic Management of Technological InnovationThe course helps develop an understanding of and the method for managing technology as a strategic resource of the firm. In doing so, anunderstanding of the process, roles and rewards of technological innovation are developed.

Integrating the strategic relationship of technology with strategic planning, marketing, finance, engineering and manufacturing are covered.Governmental, societal and international issues are covered. The course uses a variety of cases, readings, reports and lectures.

Please describe any faculty and/or student research projects that focus on diversity, multiculturalism and/or minority issues.

The Lally Mentors ProgramThe Lally Mentors Program is a new program that is on creating acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism.

The Lally Mentors demonstrate some of these leadership descriptors:

• Willingness to share your knowledge and experiences with others• Desire to master the practice of being a positive influence daily• Looking to create new opportunities at the Lally School to train aspiring MBA students how to value and practice leading• Desire to understand your own strengths more fully and to help others develop theirs• Looking for opportunity to intentionally work on improving teamwork skills in contexts outside of traditional classroom situations• Desire to influence your classmates to be their best• Desire to improve our school



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Lally Mentors demonstrate two essential qualities—intentionally valuing and developing people. This leadership laboratory, guided by these twoprinciples, has as its main objective to intentionally reinvent our program as a means of improving ourselves and our school. We are in the process ofcollectively crafting: (1) A list of the distinctive qualities of a Lally MBA degree from an “insider’s view;” and (2) A model of characteristics we want tosee displayed by Lally MBA students.

Each Lally Mentor will develop a mentoring relationship with a new Pathfinder MBA student over the August 2009 to May 2010 academic school year.

International student orientationThe international student orientation is held every year for new incoming international students, with sessions held by both the Lally School andRensselaer.

Please describe any symposiums or special lectures that focus on diversity and minority issues organized and/or sponsored by your school.

Severino Center for Technological EntrepreneurshipThe Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship was established in 1988 by Paul J. and Kathleen M. Severino. The center creates a platformfor budding and successful entrepreneurs, recognizing how the transformative power of technology affects the way human beings labor, live and learn.

The Severino Center lies at the core of the Lally School’s mission to educate future entrepreneurs who will guide organizations in converting technicalideas into new businesses, products and solutions and provides a broad-based platform for entrepreneurs to transition from concept tocommercialization. It further serves as an intellectual gathering point for the study, research and exchange of ideas regarding critical issues in the fieldof entrepreneurship studies. Through outreach programs, education, collaborative research and publications, the Severino Center responds to the callof the new economy by supporting the work of aspiring entrepreneurs—many of whom will become the business leaders of the 21st century.

Recent news includes :

• The Severino Center has been awarded a Kauffman Foundation grant to build entrepreneurship case studies and an online educationalresource section for Entrepreneurship.org.

• The Severino Center’s Biotechnology Management Seminar Series will soon be available online.

• A.P. “Preetham” Parigi, travelled halfway around the world to accept the 2009 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Parigi led themeteoric rise of Radio Mirchi, India’s leading radio network, using bold branding and innovative programming. Today, Radio Mirchireaches more than 200 million listeners in 32 cities and 10 languages.

Fast-tracking N.Y.’s energy industryNew York is poised to emerge as a national, and perhaps international, center for renewable energy and energy efficiency innovation. And businessschools like the Lally School of Management and Technology are training tomorrow’s business leaders who will manage and commercialize theseemerging technologies.

Rafe Pomerance, president of Clean Air—Cool Planet (CA—CP) and a former deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and development,along with Bob Sheppard, corporate program manager for CA—CP, spoke at an expanded session of the Severino Interest Group (SIG) breakfastmeeting December 10, 2008. The SIG is a university-community business and technology collaborative sponsored by the Severino Center forTechnological Entrepreneurship, located in the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Clean Air—CoolPlanet introduced Capital Region businesses to a cost-effective corporate program that can green their bottom line, and to a little-known initiative thatcould galvanize New York’s clean-tech industry,” noted Jean Howard, director of the Severino Center.

Read the full article at: www.lallyschool.rpi.edu/members/nashj2/nybc/fast-tracking-new-yorks-energy-industry.

Rensselaer and the Lally School take pride in the innovation and diversity that are so characteristic of our mission and accomplishments. The SeverinoCenter offers all students the focus, supporting resources and external links to ease their transition from business students to entrepreneurial leaders.

Women in Entrepreneurship SymposiumThe Women in Entrepreneurship Symposium is an annual, on-campus event held in the fall. It celebrates women’s roles and numerous contributionsin the field of technology entrepreneurship. Much like technological innovation, Rensselaer and the Lally School recognize diversity as a strong movingforce in the global economy. To that end, our goals in hosting this women-focused event are to provide leadership in addressing issues of diversity,provide support and advocacy to women students and develop pipeline programs for achieving greater diversity in science and business.

Yet another focus of the center is the support of women professionals and business owners. We recognize that women’s place as leaders in businessis no longer unusual; however, there still exist certain challenges for pioneering women seeking to claim an entrepreneurial stake in today’s dynamiceconomy. We support women in turning their early entrepreneurial steps into giant leaps toward creating future business value in the world.

The symposium also honors and celebrates selected female high school seniors. The students are the recipients of the Rensselaer Paul and KathleenSeverino Future Leader Award for their academic achievement in mathematics and science and leadership, service and devotion to their respectiveschool and community.



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Severino Oct Lunch Series“Women in Entrepreneurship: Risk and Reward.” Speakers included various inspirational women entrepreneurs such as Jennifer Kho, Carol Alm,Paula Mahan, Kat Koppett. Open to MBA students and to the RPI community and staff.

ORGANIZATIONS AND STUDENT LIFE

Please provide information about your school diversity student and alumni organizations.

Office of minority student affairsSince its formation in 1979, the mission for the office of minority student affairs has been to provide support services—academic, personal, financialand career—to underrepresented groups in the sciences, technology and engineering professions.

All support services focus on facilitating academic excellence, leadership skills, graduation, graduate school and entry into professional careers. Thismission has expanded in recent years to address the growing gap between access to scientific and engineering professions and preparation for suchcareers during precollege years. Our office’s staff members devote the majority of their time and energy to retention and graduation of enrolledstudents.

Rensselaer student organizations:

African & Caribbean Students AssociationAlianza LatinaAlpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.Black Students AllianceBrothers and Sisters in ChristChinese American Students AssociationChinese Students AssociationHellenic Students AssociationHillelHindu Students AssociationHong Kong Students AssociationIndian Christian FellowshipIndian Students AssociationIranian Students AssociationJapanese Students AssociationKnights of ColumbusKorean Christian FellowshipKorean Students AssociationLa Familia of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity Inc.La Sociedad de Damas Sigma Delta Sorority Inc.La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc.Malaysian Students AssociationMuslim Students AssociationMuslim Women’s AssociationNational Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)National Organization of Minority Architecture StudentsNewman Catholic FellowshipNigerian Student AssociationNSBE/SHPE Career FairPakistani Students AssociationPhilippine American LeaguePolish Cultural ClubRensselaer Bengali CommunityRensselaer Christian AssociationRensselaer Pride AllianceSociety of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)Taiwanese Students AssociationTurkish Students AssociationVietnamese Students Association



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International services for students and scholarswww.rpi.edu/web/isssThe international services for students and scholars office offers a variety of programs and services to Rensselaer’s international community of over1,200 students and scholars. Their goal is to assist each student with whatever questions or concerns they have about Rensselaer and its environs.Their website is designed to help students to become familiar with many aspects of life at Rensselaer, in Troy and in the United States, and make iteasier for them to adjust to the new environment.

Please provide information on any programs, including on-campus and universitywide programs in which MBA students participate that focus on issuesrelated to women or minorities.

Rensselaer Alumni Associationwww.alumni.rpi.eduThis organization provides numerous ways for Rensselaer alumni to keep in touch and continue to be a part of the Rensselaer community.

Chinese American Students Association

Graduate Indian Students Association

Please provide information on any institutes and/or related programs that focus on diversity.

Shirley Ann Jackson, PhD, Rensselaer’s president, states:

“For any institution to reflect an entire world of intelligence and perspectives—to achieve global reach and global impact—it must, by its very nature,reflect, represent and respect people and viewpoints from every walk of life. Rensselaer, as part of its official mission, aspires to such diversity—notjust of cultures, races and genders, but of thoughts, disciplines and ideas. Nothing less.

“We have chosen to illustrate this point with a kaleidoscopic view of the world because the kaleidoscope demonstrates rather beautifully how colorful,multidimensional and ever-changing the world is today. To be at the cutting edge, the education we offer our students must reflect this kaleidoscopeand must develop in them the ability to interweave rather than separate, disciplines, pursuits and individuals.”

Annual diversity events include:

Asian Awareness WeekBlack Family Technology Awareness DayBlack History MonthCultural Pride NightDiwali FestivalDr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, A Communiversity EventGarnet Baltimore Lecture SeriesGlobal Citizenship ProgramHispanic Heritage MonthInternational FestivalNational Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)/Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Career FairOffice of Minority Student Affairs Annual ReceptionSafeZone TrainingWalter Lincoln Hawkins Graduate Research ConferenceWomen’s History Month

Please describe any off-campus resources, activities, programs and/or organizations that may be of interest to minority or female students.

Jack & Jill of America, Inc. Greater Albany Chapter www.jack-and-jill.org

Troy Latino Coalition 1704 Highland Avenue Troy, NY 12180 (518) 272-0541

South American Spanish Association 5 Kenlyn Drive Colonie, NY 12205 (518) 447-4598



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NAACP (Albany)—Anne Pope P.O. Box 2544 Albany, NY 12202 (518) 442-9256

NAACP (Troy)—Rev. Cornelius Clark 542 8th Street Troy, NY 12180 (518) 271-9086

Centro Civico Hispano Americano, Inc. Dr. Cecila Sanz 230 Green Street Albany, NY 12202 (518) 465-1143

One Hundred Black Men of Albany Dr. Marshall Jones 388 Clinton Avenue Albany, NY 12206 (518) 432-1527 (518) 432-5393

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Dr. Betty Shadrick P.O. Box 13023 Albany, NY 12212 (518) 442-3899

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Dona Bullock P.O. Box 5187 Albany, NY 12205 (518) 869-4881

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Theta Gamma Sigma Alumnae Chapter Anuola Surgick P.O. Box 3790 Albany, NY 12203 (518) 458-7749

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Lynda Fleurismond P.O. Box 6596 Albany, NY 12206

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Nu Tau Chapter Mr. Harl’O M. Fisher 31 Riding Club Road Troy, NY 12180 (518) 273-8406

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Mr. Jeffrey Fryar P.O. Box 1121 Albany, NY 12201



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CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Please describe any diversity recruiting events for employers recruiting minority and/or female students at or near your school.

Career development center (CDC) Darrin Communications Center, Suite 209 Phone: (518) 276–6234 www.rpi.edu/dept/cdcDirector, CDC: Tom Tarantelli The career development center coordinates all job search and interviewing activities for intern, co-op and full-time job seekers. The goal of the CDCis to provide students with access to resources which will support career decision making and career exploration and provide experiences andopportunities to develop the skills necessary to conduct a successful job search. The CDC provides mock interviews, resume critiques and numerousworkshops and special events.

The Lally School Career Resource Center provides extensive resources to help our students achieve their career goals by providing resources andexpertise, workshops and career counseling. The Lally School’s prominence in the global business community attracts recruiters from top corporationsand is instrumental in helping our MBA students create a challenging and rewarding career.

NSBE/SHPE Career Fairwww.careerfair.rpi.eduLocated in Troy, New York, the NSBE/SHPE career fair has successfully hosted over 200 companies and has provided an atmosphere for careerdevelopment for more than 2,000 students in attendance each year.

Its website has been specially designed to provide companies with the opportunity to register and gives information on how they can make the mostof their career fair experience at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is also a place where the students of Rensselaer can research the companies thatare registered and plan their careers.

STRATEGIC PLAN AND DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP

Please provide your school’s diversity mission statement.

The Rensselaer plan is a comprehensive strategic plan for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It contains a section on diversity, shown below. The LallySchool, as an integral part of the Rensselaer community, shares these diversity goals.

7.2 A very diverse communityToday’s ideas will reach maturity and today’s students will be called to lead in a world that is increasingly diverse. The Rensselaer community must bejust as diverse and the institute must commit to leadership in bringing diversity to science and technology. We will:

• Seek a diverse body of students, via careful attention to excellence and to intellectual, geographical, gender and ethnic diversity (especiallygroups underrepresented in science and technology), moving to a resident student body that has a much greater presence of women andunderrepresented minority students

• Expand pipeline programs that provide access for women and underrepresented minority students, especially to research and graduatestudies

• Build a diverse faculty and staff of women and men drawn from all ethnic groups

• Pursue alliances with historically minority institutions to increase the flow of people and ideas to and from the campus

• Employ interactive pedagogies to bring together students and researchers from diverse settings, including those at distance from thecampus

• Create a lively discourse on important cultural, social, gender and ethnicity issues in courses, colloquia, fairs and festivals as well as inresidence halls, student activities and the research environment

The entire plan is available online at www.rpi.edu/president/plan.



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How does your school’s leadership communicate the importance of diversity to your student body, faculty and administration?

Rensselaer has a number of offices focusing on diversity.

Office of institute diversity Walker Laboratory, Suite 4010 Phone: (518) 276-3060 wwww.rpi.edu/dept/diversity Vice provost of institute diversity: Dr. Kenneth Durgans The office of institute diversity works to insure that Rensselaer reflects a diverse profile of students, faculty and staff, realizing that diversity is valueadded on our campus. The goals of the office include recruiting a student body that reflects the diversity of the world and creating a welcoming anddiverse campus environment that is comfortable for all students, faculty and staff, regardless of race, gender, age, physical abilities, sexual orientation,religion or cultural heritage. They provide a guide to diversity that lists campus and regional resources that can be found atwww.rpi.edu/dept/diversity/diveristy_resource_guide.pdf. This includes not only Rensselaer resources but local area resources and scholarshipinformation.

Office of minority student affairs (OMSA) Academy Hall, Suite 4600 Phone: (518) 276-6272 Email: [email protected] www.rpi.edu/dept/doso/omsa Director of OMSA: Karen Ferrer-Muniz The office of minority student affairs provides academic, personal, career and financial support services to underrepresented groups in the sciences,technology and engineering professions. Underrepresented groups, as defined by Rensselaer, include African-American, Latino, Native American andHEOP students. All support services focus on facilitating academic excellence, leadership skills, graduation, graduate skills and entry into professionalcareers.

The Woman at Rensselaer Mentor ProgramWomen in Engineering Director: Barbara Ruel Email: [email protected] Phone: (518) 276-6203 The Women at Rensselaer Mentor Program is a peer mentor program that matches first-year undergraduate female students who request a mentorwith an upperclassman female student in the same or related major.

The purpose of the Mentor Program is to help first-year students make a smooth transition to Rensselaer by pairing them with someone who has alreadymade the transition and who is familiar with the systems and programs at Rensselaer.

The mentor’s role may include:

• Offering advice and support by introducing students to clubs and organizations where they can make friends and pursue new andcontinuing interests

• Providing information about courses in their major or complimentary areas of study, acting as a sounding board and/or working throughsituations or issues that may arise with roommates or a newfound sense of independence

• Suggesting services that can provide additional support or advice to assist with academics, career and leadership development or personalissues that may arise

• Accompanying her mentee to social and professional development activities organized for mentees and mentors where students can enjoyand benefit from a diverse community of women students pursuing a broad range of technological programs of study

Please provide any additional information regarding your school’s diversity initiatives that you wish to share.

Rensselaer’s president, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, underscores the importance of active partnership with the larger community in the term“communiversity”—a vision of the way institutions of higher learning and the cities, towns and counties that serve as their homes can and should worktogether to ensure the viability and vibrancy of their shared communities. When educational institutions and their host municipalities collaborate toimprove the community’s quality of life, everyone benefits. The community has much to gain from tapping into the university’s resources and expertise.The community’s enhanced vitality, in turn, helps draw top students and faculty to the university and offers myriad opportunities for connecting learningwith real-world challenges and opportunities.

After being silent for 40 years, the sound of string music—violins, violas and cellos—can be heard throughout the halls of three elementary schoolslocated in the Enlarged City School District of Troy, N.Y., thanks in part to a partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.



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Rensselaer held a press conference today to announce its purchase of 55 string instruments that have provided the Troy school district with anopportunity to reinstate its string instrument and orchestra program for third- and fourth-grade students in Public Schools 12, 16 and 18. A total of45 students are enrolled in the program.

In remarks to the audience, President Jackson also noted that Rensselaer is committed to the Troy community. “As the Rensselaer plan emphasizes,‘Greatness in a university is inextricably linked to the vitality of the region in which it is situated.’ We believe that enabling string instrument instructionfor students attending Troy’s elementary schools strengthens our community, and makes it an even more attractive place to live and raise children.”Read more at: news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2577&setappvar=page(1).

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is initiating a “progressive dialogue” on ways to improve K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) education in New York state. The initiative, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be launched in June. It beginswith a summit of leaders from education, government, business and industry, foundations and nonprofit organizations and culminates inrecommendations for increasing the number of STEM students—especially those from minority and low-income backgrounds—throughout New Yorkstate.

For more than 30 years, Rensselaer has been working to build a national network of K-12 pipeline partnerships that focus on identifying, nurturing andproviding educational development for burgeoning scientists and engineers, with a special emphasis on women and underrepresented minority groups.

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson has long warned of what she has dubbed a “quiet crisis” in America—the threat to innovation in the UnitedStates due to reduced support for research and the looming shortage in the nation’s STEM work force. As current STEM workers retire over the next10 years, there are not sufficient numbers of young people excited about and prepared for STEM careers to replace them. And while STEM jobsrepresent only 5 percent of the total labor market, they are critical to any future U.S. economic growth.

Disabilities services (for physical or learning differences)Graduate: gradoffice.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=69Undergrad: doso.rpi.edu/update.do?catcenterkey=5

ESL services (for those for whom English is a second language)gradoffice.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=197

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Please describe the demographics of your most recent entering class.

Percentage of female students: 35 percent

Percentage of minority students: 16 percent

White/Caucasian: 30 percentAfrican-American/Black: 5 percentHispanic/Latino: 3 percentAsian: 7 percentUnknown: 3 percent

Please describe the geographic diversity of your most recent entering class.

Percentage of U.S. citizens and permanent residents: 48 percent

Percentage of international students: 52 percent

Distribution of students from different U.S. regions:

Mid-Atlantic: 21 percentNortheast: 68 percentSouth: 5 percentWest: 5 percent



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Distribution of students from different regions internationally:

Africa: 3 percentAsia: 28 percentEastern Europe/Central Asia: 13 percentLatin America: 8 percentNorth America: 48 percent

Please describe the selectivity of your school for the most recent application cycle.

Number of applicants: 78

Number of admits: 61

Number of matriculants: 40

Please describe the academic and employment backgrounds of your most recent entering class.

Average years of pre-MBA work experience: Three

Percentage of students coming from different industries pre-MBA:

Consulting: 10 percentConsumer products: 13 percentEnergy: 3 percentFinancial services: 18 percentManufacturing: 8 percentOther: 40 percentNone: 8 percent

Percentage of students who studied different undergraduate disciplines:

Humanities: 10 percentScience: 18 percentBusiness/commerce: 20 percentEngineering: 42 percentOther major/field of study: 10 percent

Please provide student employment information for the most recent graduating class.

Graduating class May 2008

Average starting salary: $86,143

Percentage of students entering different industries:

Consulting: 40 percentConsumer products: 30 percentFinancial services: 10 percentManufacturing: 20 percent

Percentage of students working in different functions:

Consulting: 10 percentGeneral management: 40 percentOperations/logistics: 10 percentOther: 40 percent



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Major recruiting companies:*These are both recruiting and/or hiring companies.

3MAdobeAmerican ExpressApple ComputersAT&TBooz Allen HamiltonBristol-Myers SquibbDeloitte & Touche LLPGeneral ElectricGoogleIBMMicrosoftReutersVerizonXerox



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