This year, the Prospanica Brillante Award for Educational Excellence went to the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School for its commitment to cultivating a diverse MBA student population and for its dedication to helping Hispanics pursuing higher education.
Each year, Prospanica (formerly the National Society of Hispanic MBAs) awards the Brillante Award for Educational Excellence, its most prestigious honor, to an institution or individual who advocates on behalf of diverse communities and students.
“Miami Herbert is proud to be recognized for promoting a diverse and inclusive community that drives student, faculty, and staff success,” said John Quelch, dean of Miami Herbert. “We are committed to fostering global mindsets and multicultural understanding. Our diverse community is strengthened by our mutual appreciation for our differences.”
More than 35 percent of Miami Herbert’s full-time MBA students are Hispanic, outpacing the national average of 9.4 percent. In addition, Hispanics represent 32 percent of the School’s graduate student population and 28 percent of its undergraduate population. Miami Herbert’s faculty is as diverse as its students representing 34 countries and 19 percent identifying as Latinx.
To ensure graduate students’ career readiness, in 2021, alumnus Andy Unanue and his wife Marie, made a transformative $3.3 million gift, matched by the Herbert Challenge Endowment Gift Match for a total of $5 million, to help in accelerating the careers of Miami Herbert graduate business students. In honor of his parents Joseph and Carmen Unanue, Hispanic business and community leaders, the Joseph and Carmen Unanue Graduate Career Advancement Center helps graduate students find their path through training, mentorship, and networking.
According to the U.S Department of Labor, Hispanics are the largest minority group in Florida and are projected to account for 78 percent of net new workers in the U.S. this decade.
“The donation is helping advance the career and professional development of our diverse graduate students,” said Virginia “Ginger” Baxter, assistant dean of graduate career advancement and engagement and director of the center. “It has truly transformed the way we connect, collaborate, and co-create experiences for students, facilitating experiential learning opportunities, and travel to job fairs and to conferences like Prospanica’s Annual Conference and Career Expo. We are committed to enhancing prosperity for all and preparing business leaders for the future.”
Acknowledging the financial barriers of tuition costs, over the past five years, Miami Herbert has awarded $19 million in scholarships to Hispanic graduate business students. It also established a Prospanica scholarship for Hispanic MBA students.
Other initiatives and partnerships have fueled Miami Herbert’s increased diversity including:
- Experiential learning opportunities for MBA students with Latin American and global companies.
- The Latina Project, which offers mentorship and career preparation to undergraduate first-generation Latina women who aspire to be entrepreneurs.
- The School’s partnership with the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in the Dominican Republic to bring the Women in STEM Entrepreneurship (WISE) program to the Caribbean nation.
- The Unstoppable Women Leaders of Telemundo, a Miami Herbert executive education program aimed to elevate the impact of women leaders.
- Partnerships with The Hispanic Promise and Prospanica that advocate for the upward movement of Hispanics in society.
- Co-hosted the Latinas Rising Up in HR Leadership Summit and the Hispanic Leadership Summit.
In addition to this recognition, Miami Herbert rose 26 places from No. 72 in 2019 to No. 46 in 2021 in the Bloomberg Businessweek MBA rankings, landing at No. 7 for diversity, with special recognition as a top MBA program for Hispanic students.
