Fortune 2000 Program banquet
recognizes students, sponsors

Congratulations were in order at the first FORTUNE 2000 Program senior banquet held in May at the Trabant University Center. The banquet honored 25 seniorsÐthe first FORTUNE 2000 graduates who completed all four academic years in the program. Approximately 300 students, parents, relatives, friends and corporate representatives attended the event.

Awards and gifts were presented to all seniors. In addition, 32 FORTUNE 2000 participants who maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or more, and 34 who maintained a grade point average between 2.6 and 2.9, were recognized.

The program included an oration, "I Am," by Jeffrey Martini, assistant vice president of MBNA America, and an address entitled "Future Investments," about the successes of FORTUNE 2000 by Dana J. Johnson, dean of the College of Business and Economics. Kenneth Biederman, former dean of the college, gave a talk on "The Business Plan," highlighting the development of the program, and Norman K. Hatter, who chairs the program's steering committee, spoke on "Past Investments," detailing the Brandywine Professional Association's involvement with FORTUNE 2000.

Plaques also were given to corporate sponsors who provide financial support, professional development events, summer employment opportunities and employment after graduation. Those honored were Bank of New York (Delaware), Chase Manhattan Bank (USA), Colonial National Bank USA, Delaware Charter Guarantee & Trust Company, Delmarva Power, the DuPont Co., Ernst & Young LLP, Fleet Bank (Delaware), Gore & Associates Inc., Hercules Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., J.P. Morgan Delaware, MBNA America and Wachovia Bank Card Services.

The FORTUNE 2000 Program, directed by Terry Whittaker in the College of Business and Economics, prepares African-American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American students for leadership positions in corporate America. Currently, 130 students are receiving comprehensive academic and career-related assistance from the program, helping to ensure their successful matriculation, graduation and career placement.

According to Whittaker, the FORTUNE 2000 Program has had numerous successes, including

• Increasing the enrollment of ethnically diverse undergraduate students in the college from 4 percent (68 students) in the fall of 1992 to 10 percent (170 students) in the fall of 1997;

• Enhancing the academic performances of student participants with a 2.6 grade point average from 48 percent in 1992 to 59 percent in 1997;

• Providing academic support services for participants so that semester-to-semester retention rates are comparable to those of the college's general student body;

• Coordinating challenging summer internships with corporate sponsors, providing opportunities for at least 44 percent of sophomore and junior participants;

• Graduating the first FORTUNE 2000 freshman class with 80 percent of the participants who began in the 1993 Summer Bridge Program completing their degree requirements by 1997;

• Graduating 95 program participants between 1992-1996, with one-third of those who returned placement surveys employed full time with FORTUNE 2000 corporate sponsors; and

• Increasing corporate sponsors from one in 1992 to 14 in 1997.