Growing and Enhancing a Diverse Community: Alumna Mori Taheripour Talks about the Importance of Diversity
October 28, 2008
For Wharton West alumna Mori Taheripour, who graduated from Wharton’s West Coast EMBA program in 2003, business school was about more than just the academic experience. It also was about what her fellow students brought to the table. “The more diverse the program, the more you get out of it,” she says. “Without having people from different cultures, backgrounds and professions, the richness of the experience would not have been there,” says Taheripour. “In the EMBA format, the conversations in the classroom are as important as what you are taught. It’s all about the people.
”Wharton’s EMBA program is committed to growing and enhancing a diverse community by intensifying its marketing, outreach and recruitment efforts. Taheripour, who is now a lecturer in Wharton’s Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department and associate director of Wharton's Sports Business Initiative is helping to lead this effort. In addition to representing Wharton at events such as the National Black MBA Conference she also seeks out strategic partners for the EMBA program and organizes special diversity events for prospective and current students.
Strategic partners co-sponsor events like the diversity reception recently held at Wharton West with the National Association of Black Accountants which featured a panel discussion with Wharton West staff, students and alumni. Other partners include Ascend and the Financial Women's Association To reach an even broader audience of prospective students, Taheripour is helping to plan a multi-school diversity event on Nov. 10 with the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program and the Stanford Sloan Program. And she is planning another Wharton West diversity reception on Nov. 17 that will cover the topic of interviewing.
Wharton EMBA students are encouraged to participate in events throughout the year focusing on diversity such as the School’s Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Conference in Philadelphia, organized by Wharton’s African American MBA Association (AAMBAA). This year’s conference will be held Nov. 21-23.
Through ongoing events and outreach to prospective students, Wharton continues to increase the diversity of its community, celebrating differences in the backgrounds, opinions, demographics and professional interests of students and faculty.
To read more, go to: Diversity Networks
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