Award honors Jones School’s programs and leadership

Award honors Jones School’s programs and leadership

BY DAVID D. MEDINA
Special to the Rice News

The National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA)
has honored Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate
School of Management with the Brillante Award for exceptional
contributions to the Hispanic community.

The Brillante Award, the most prestigious
honor that the NSHMBA grants, recognizes those who “foster
Hispanic leadership through graduate management education
and professional development in order to improve society.” The national award is presented annually to a corporation,
a nonprofit organization, an educational institution, an
individual and an NSHMBA member.

Past institutional and corporate winners
of the Brillante Award include the Anderson School of Business
at the University of California–Los Angeles, Citigroup,
ARCO, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, the Prudential and the
Quaker Oats Co.

“We’re very pleased to have our
efforts to serve both our students and our larger community
recognized by the National Society of Hispanic MBAs’
Brillante Award,” said Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr., dean
of the Jones School.

“Successful business people must be
comfortable with diversity; they must understand that the
best business decisions come from multiple perspectives,”
Whitaker said. “The Jones School actively promotes
diversity in our faculty and students and in our approach
to teaching business leadership.”

Martha Salinas said she nominated the Jones
School because it revitalized and strengthened the Houston
NSHMBA chapter, of which she is president.

“The Jones School has provided exemplary
leadership and resources in a variety of diversity initiatives,”
Salinas explained. For example, the Jones School and NSHMBA
have for the past three years co-sponsored the Houston Hispanic
Professionals’ Leadership Day, which this year attracted
200 participants.

Also, the Jones School recently hosted
a regional leadership development conference for the Central
Region of NSHMBA. The Jones School conducts diversity workshops
as part of the M.B.A. curriculum and regularly offers an
executive education course in “Leading the Workforce
of the Future.”

“Under the direction of Kay Henry,
director of the M.B.A. for Executives program, the Jones
School has forged effective partnerships with the Houston
chapter, resulting in respectful recognition of our organization
in the community,” Salinas added.

Henry said the partnership has benefited
Rice and NSHMBA since they both have several goals in common,
from increasing the enrollment of Hispanics in M.B.A. programs
to promoting Hispanic business leadership and entrepreneurship
through professional development.

“It’s been a pleasure to collaborate
with the Houston Chapter and the NSHMBA Central Region on
our annual Hispanic Leadership conferences and other worthwhile
projects,” Henry said. “The Rice M.B.A. and executive
education programs have been strengthened and enriched as
a result of our partnership with NSHMBA.”

In addition to partnering with the Houston
Chapter of NSHMBA, the Jones School has initiated several
successful outreach efforts to support the minority business
community. Last February, the National Black MBA Association
Houston Chapter named the Jones School “Partner of
the Year.”