(Picture from the Spring Faculty/Staff Meeting reception. From L to R: Neetek Kumar, Amy Estey, Urvashi Jain)
Even before the MBA Student Association officially became the board that it is today, it got a wonderful opportunity to unveil its official homecoming at the Lerner College Spring Faculty/ Staff Meeting. At this meeting, Neetek Kumar and Urvashi Jain, the current MBASA Vice President and President respectively, got the honor of presenting the most coveted MBA Teaching Awards to the faculty. They became the face of the new MBASA which was still in its developing stages. It was a landmark day in the history of MBASA 2.0, so we had to showcase it!
After being welcomed by the faculty and staff as a graduate student association for the MBA candidates, MBASA came up with its board members incredibly swiftly to maintain and grow the rich legacy left behind by the MBASA alumni.
(From L to R: Dr. Fei Xie receiving the 2022 MBA Teaching Award Honorable Mention Award, MBASA Vice President- Neetek Kumar, MBASA President- Urvashi Jain)
Ever since the inception of the UD MBA Student Association, First Fridays have been a tradition. A tradition which started as a trial for giving a safe place to the young leaders to hone their networking skills, saw immense potential eventually. It picked up pace and before anyone could realize, it became everyone’s favorite.
So on the first Friday of every month, students, faculty and staff would pop up at the evergreen and charming with its rustic vibes- the Deer Park Tavern, located behind the One South Main campus, just a few walking steps from the Lerner. In an informal setting and over a couple of drinks, they gathered to build great relationships. The students found it a safe haven to indulge and interact with each other, and to come out of their comfort zones and immerse themselves into the art of networking.
Past MBASA First Friday
Unfortunately, as the entire world grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic and social interactions became a distant reality, this tradition also lost its way. But, with the rebooting of MBASA 2.0, the current MBASA team has been able to successfully launch the First Friday tradition and it is back in full swing. These MBA students have never missed an opportunity to bring people together notwithstanding the rains or the summer. This dynamic group is doing an amazing job with keeping up the tradition and is sure to live up to the mark set up by the alumni.
The UD MBA Student Association (MBASA) is a graduate student organization chartered in 2015 with a mission to enhance the experience of UD MBA candidates through meaningful social, professional and educational activities.
With the pandemic taking over the world, impacting socialization around campus and the then MBASA members graduating and moving on in their lives, MBASA became dormant. But it was not late that Urvashi Jain, the current MBASA President felt the need to build a group and was apprised of the past presence of this student association. Over a luncheon began the reconstruction of MBASA 2.0 with Urvashi putting forward her aspirations of setting up a group and some new traditions at UD with Amy Estey and Shabbir Wardhawala, Academic Program Coordinators at the Lerner College.
Little did she know that her ideas would get an instant response and encouragement. With the help, guidance and constant support of Amy, thus began the rebooting of MBASA.
(L: Amy Estey, R: Urvashi Jain)
With a determination to pull through the challenges of the post Covid-19 era, the interested in-person and online MBA candidates came together to rebuild MBASA, all bringing in new energy, talent and wealth of resources. We’re proud to introduce the wonderful, enigmatic team of UD MBASA for the academic year 2022-23.
(From L to R: Urvashi Jain – President, Neetek Kumar – Vice President/ Event Coordinator, Shriya Tandon – Social Media Manager (Marketing), Veer Nair – Secretary, Satya Sai Bopanna – Treasurer, Jing Chen: Photographer (Marketing), Ashutosh Tripathi – Public Relations Officer, Victor Ponce- Design Lead (Marketing), Selvam Mascarenhas: Online Program Representative)
