The University of Memphis’ Fogelman College of Business and Economics has partnered with Bank of America to launch the FCBE Career Fellows Program.
According to a statement released by the University of Memphis, the purpose of this program is to “engage, educate and effectively prepare African American students for professional success.”
According to Marja Martin-Carruth, director of the Avron B. Fogelman Center for Complete Professional Development at the University of Memphis, this partnership came about over a year ago.
“In a general sense, Bank of America was looking for ways to basically focus on their economic mobility,” said Martin-Carruth. “With their economic mobility, and aligning it with some of their college initiatives, they were looking to partner with a business school, specifically Fogelman, and hone in on some of the resources and programs that we currently have in place.”
“Career opportunities are a critical pillar in addressing the racial equality gap in our country,” said Trevia Chatman, president of Bank of America Memphis, in a statement. “In partnership with the U of M, the FCBE Career Fellows Program is designed to further equip Black/African American undergraduate business students with career development support and guidance to help ensure their success and position them for career advancement.”
The program is designed for African-American juniors, and it focuses on a group of students who may be looking for guidance, additional resources, help in connecting the dots to career readiness, internships, and preparing for their future career goals.
“Oftentimes, what we’ve seen over the last couple of years, even after the pandemic, students are having to juggle, or balance between ‘am I going to go to my part-time job so maybe I can make ends meet, or am I going to take advantage of this internship opportunity,’” said Martin-Carruth. She added that students may also not know what options are available to them, but there are a number of resources available at Fogelman that are designed to equip students for success.
The program hopes to show students that they can still have an internship that gives them the same financial stability as a part-time job, while also providing guidance from mentors and showing them how to take advantage of their resources.
“Some students just don’t take advantage of those resources, or know how to access them,” said Martin-Carruth. “With this program and with us kind of customizing a professional development plan with each of the fellows, we’re able to work with them specifically with their major, what their career/internship interests are, align some of our resources with what their ultimate goals are to give them that extra nudge that they need to make sure they have everything aligned.”
