History

Changing the face of American business since 1966

Washington University’s Professor Sterling Schoen created The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management with one mission in mind: to give African American men the business skills they need to secure positions in American corporations.

With a team of 60 respected educators, business managers and community leaders, he determined the best way to do this was to create a cooperative network of universities.

In 1966, Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University-Bloomington and University of Wisconsin-Madison joined as Consortium member schools. We connected our initial class of 21 African American men with 27 corporate partners.

Two years later, University of Rochester and University of Southern California joined The Consortium.

In 1970, we opened Consortium membership to women, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. This sparked growth in our number of member students and corporate and university partners. In 2004, we evolved to include all U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have demonstrated a commitment to The Consortium’s mission.

Between 1973 and 2023, the following universities joined The Consortium:

1973: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1983: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
1984: New York University and The University of Texas at Austin
1992: University of Virginia
1993: University of California, Berkeley (withdrew in 2003, rejoined in 2010*)
1999: Dartmouth College
2001: Carnegie Mellon University and Emory University
2008: Yale University
2009: Cornell University
2010: University of California, Los Angeles
2013: Georgetown University
2017: Rice University
2018: University of Washington
2021: Columbia Business School
2022: Stanford Graduate School of Business
2023: Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

*Berkeley was compelled to withdraw because of legislation under Proposition 209 that barred the use of state funding for programs that used race-based decision-making. Berkeley rejoined in 2010 following a 2004 change in Consortium eligibility requirements.

Each year, we offer membership to more than 500 incoming students attending our 23 member universities.

Over the years, we have helped more than 12,000 of the country’s best MBA students achieve their goals.

Learn more about The Consortium; order our 50th-anniversary book, Leading the Challenge of Change.

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