Life at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

In a nation centered around business and marketing, schools of business are very competitive. Among the elite is the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Located atop a hill in Logan, Utah, the Huntsman school of business stands as one of the oldest schools of business in the United States and the oldest in the West (Parson). What is greatest about the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, however, is the quality of experiences it provides to its students. This quality experience is created by the wide variety of students attending, the entrepreneurial atmosphere, and the school’s global vision.

The school of business is made up of students from many different backgrounds. This variety is perhaps due to the 14 undergraduate degrees and 5 graduate degrees that lure students from all parts of the planet. In fact, 47 different languages are spoken by students attending the Huntsman School.

Because many students of the Huntsman School come from different backgrounds and long distances, there is a feeling of eagerness to succeed that the school refers to as the entrepreneurial spirit. To spur the students motivations as entrepreneurs, new programs have been launched including the New Venture Development Group (NVDP), which began in 2010. This group, constituted of about 20 students, reviews ideas submitted by students around campus to decide which ideas have the most potential at success. Once decided, the group works with the submitter of the idea to provide initial funding and form teams for management in order to “get the idea off the ground.” ("Entrepreneurial spirit," 2011)

This entrepreneurial spirit is not limited to ideas in Utah or the United States. The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business has the vision to “Go Global.” As stated on the school webpage, “Students at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business are developing a global mindset as they take advantage of international academic experiences that immerse them in new cultures.” ("Global vision," 2011) Despite the efforts of the school, many of the students are already globally oriented. Sixty percent of the students at the Huntsman School of Business speak a second language, and 46 percent have lived in a country other than their own for six months or longer. This advantage motivates many students to study abroad and make plans to enter the global market ("About the school," 2011).

As graduates from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business enter the global market, they provide evidence of their quality education. These businesspeople show that because of their wide variety of student peers, the spirit of entrepreneurship they harnessed, and the global focus they were offered by the school, they have become better businessmen and women.

References

About the school. (2011). Retrieved from http://huntsman.usu.edu/about/

Entrepreneurial spirit. (2011). Retrieved from https://huntsman.usu.edu/about/htm/entrepreneurial-spirit

Global vision. (2011). Retrieved from http://huntsman.usu.edu/about/htm/global-vision

Parson, R. (n.d.). An encyclopedic history of utah state university. Retrieved from http://library.usu.edu/specol/usuarchives/universityhistory.html