Undergraduate Program - Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park

Smith Undergraduate Fellows Program

The Smith Undergraduate Fellows Program is an innovative concept in undergraduate business education, offering a series of special academic programs—or tracks—which will create small communities of scholars within the larger Smith School community. Beginning with the launch of the Freshman Fellows Program in Fall 2006, each specialized Fellows program combines opportunities for action learning and professional development with rigorous in-depth academic coursework focused on cutting edge issues affecting 21^st century business.

Co-curricular activities—extras that support what you are learning in the classroom—are a key component of the Fellows program. Field trips and internships, international study trips and exchanges, speaker series, dinners, retreats and competitions will foster leadership skills and contribute to your personal and professional growth. Alumni involvement is an important aspect of Fellows programming, with Smith alumni and corporate partners contributing their time, talents and experience through sponsorship and participation in events and activities.

Freshman Fellows

The Freshman Fellows track will provide enriched opportunities for all of our newly admitted Smith freshmen students from the moment you step on campus for Freshman Fellows Orientation, followed by “Business Week” a yearly tradition to kick off the academic year with a series of social and professional events and activities. For more information, please click here.

International Fellows

A special group of Freshman Fellows, Smith International Fellows are students who declare dual degrees in business and foreign language. For more information on International Fellows, including information on your foreign language advisor, please click here.

Accelerated Finance Fellows

The emphasis of the Accelerated Finance Fellows program is preparing students for a high profile career in finance. In addition to traditional courses taken by all finance majors, students in the accelerated finance fellows program will enroll in a dedicated section of Business Finance, BMGT 340, and then pursue one of the junior-level Finance Fellows programs in their second year.

Junior/Senior Fellowship Programs

In your junior and senior years, you will again have the opportunity to participate in a Fellows track that allows you to specialize in a specific area of business. Fellows programs will provide a broad range of opportunities to specialize and integrate knowledge gained in the classroom with real-world activities and hands-on applications in laboratories, internships and other action-based learning.

For more information on each of the Junior/Senior Smith Fellows Programs, and to apply online, please click on their links below

Accounting Teaching Scholars - The AIA Department offers this special program opportunity for undergraduate accounting students who serve as discussion leaders and teaching assistants for the beginning accounting courses, BMGT 220 + 221. Accounting teaching scholars earn a $3,000 yearly stipend (depending on hours worked) while reviewing material in preparation for the CPA exam, and practicing organizational and delivery skills. A one-credit mentoring course is offered to prepare students for their roles as teaching assistants.
Business Process Fellows – The objective of the Business Process Fellows program is to develop excellence in operations management. Students will learn and practice business process methodologies and software tools used by leading edge companies and agencies to design and manage complex enterprises. The program will approach organizations as interdependent systems, with emphasis on statistical thinking and optimization of the enterprise. A practicum offered in conjunction with BMGT 485 Project Management course can lead to internships with partner companies.
Design and Innovation Marketing Fellows - The Design in Marketing Fellows Program bridges the gap between marketing research and theory and the realization of well-designed applications. The program curriculum and co-curricular activities are designed to produce business leaders who can make strategically sound and creative design decisions. Fellows program students will master the creative problem-solving and innovative- thinking skills and experiences along with marketing strategy and design techniques needed to be competitive in today’s job market( including design and brand management). This program is intendedly interdisciplinary, with mutual benefit to be gained by collaboration between marketing students and design students in developing creative business solutions.
Emerging CFOs Fellows – This program is designed for students interested in corporate finance and investment banking. It is designed to go more in depth into corporate finance aspects of finance, and provide students with enhanced leadership and communication skills. In addition to traditional courses taken by all finance majors, students in this program will attend a dedicated section of Financial Management, BMGT 440F. This section would bring in corporate guest speakers and a case competition.
Entrepreneurship Fellows – The Entrepreneurship Fellows Program brings together talented Smith School students to create an entrepreneurial chemistry that will stimulate the creation and growth of new high-potential enterprises. The Entrepreneurship Fellows Program is a special selective track of the General Business major, providing 4 dedicated entrepreneurship courses which prepare students to develop great ideas into viable business ventures. Co-curricular activities include activities and programs offered by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, including “Pitch Dingman” luncheons and the Cupid’s Cup annual business plan competition; an annual student-led entrepreneurship conference, the CEO student organization, and optional winter study trips.
Financial Services Fellows – This program is designed for students interested in the financial services industry, including traditional banking (loan officer, personal banking officer) and the financial services industry (financial planners, personal investment managers). Emphasis on financial services: traditional banking, financial planners, personal investment managers Potential partners may include commercial banks, savings and loans, credit unions, insurance companies, and financial planning firms. In addition to traditional courses taken by all finance majors, students in this program will attend a dedicated section of Commercial Bank Management, BMGT 445F.
Honors Fellows Program - The Honors Fellows program offers undergraduate students with superior academic credentials special career-enhancing opportunities, including the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research on business issues and to graduate with honors. Honors students take their upper-level BMGT core courses in small, seminar-style honors sections that encourage in-depth exploration in topics of marketing, finance, management and organization, business law, and policy and strategy. Students also have the opportunity of fulfilling one of their honors course requirements through dedicated faculty-led winter-term study abroad trips. The Business Honors Council provides extra-curricular activities and community building with honors alumni.
Leadership Fellows – Fall 2009: Leadership Fellows is an innovative and high quality academic program aimed at selecting and developing leadership talent for business. The program is based upon the philosophy that quality leadership development comes from a combination of three core elements: (1) sound leadership theories operating as guiding principles, (2) quality leadership experiences and practices, and (3) quality feedback based on scientific assessment tools. Students should have concrete organizational and leadership experiences by actively participating in activities in school, community, or business-related organizations, ideally taking on leadership positions by their second year in the program. Students will participate in a 360-assessment with mentoring and feedback from faculty and student mentors, and develop a Leadership Development Plan as part of an action-learning practicum.
Lemma Senbet Investment Fund Fellows - The Lemma Senbet Investment Fund Fellows is a year-long, advanced finance program available to undergraduate finance majors in their senior year. Twelve students are selected in the spring of their junior year to participate on the fund, two as portfolio managers and ten as equity analysts. The program provides the students with the opportunity to apply what they have learned in Finance classes to actual investment decisions, through researching real companies and managing a portfolio of real money, and through reviewing the results of the decisions they make. At the end of the year-long commitment, the Fund members will present their performance to Fund donors.
Supply Chain Fellows – The Supply Chain Fellows Leadership Program offers students a unique opportunity for learning and community both within the Smith School and with external supply chain professionals. As part of a top-ranked program, students will have the opportunity to take core supply chain classes together, participate as leaders in the supply chain Society, visit regional supply chain facilities and operations, sign up for a class that explores international and/or North American supply chain processes, and network at local and annual meetings of leading professional supply chain organizations. By combining classroom learning with opportunities in the professional community, supply chain Junior-Senior Fellows will provide a unique opportunity to build knowledge of the supply chain profession and create a foundation for a networked career.
Music Management Fellows – The objective of the Music Management Fellows program is to develop students’ interests and capabilities in the specialized management functions involved in the business of music management, including music marketing + promotions, production and distribution, broadcasting, performance and production logistics in event and tour management, and funding and management of venues and institutions. Students will interact with and learn from experts in the field by participating in the design and production of recorded music, live events and programs, and through specialized clinics and internships focused on different genres and performance environments: Music & Entertainment; Performing Arts.
Quantitative Finance Fellows – The Quantitative Finance Fellows Program is for students interested in investments, and in particular in learning more about the software and hardware used in the financial services industry. In addition to traditional courses taken by all finance majors, students in this program will enroll in a non-credit section of Reuters 3000XTRA, plus BMGT 343F—a dedicated section of Investments. This section would have a financial markets lab requirement – extra sessions taught in the lab in which students would be taught to use Reuters, Bloomberg and other financial markets labs hardware and software. Students would also be eligible to participate in winter-term study abroad trips with BMGT Honors, where focused on financial markets.
QUEST (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams) - A collaborative partnership with the A. James Clark School of Engineering and the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the QUEST program is an innovative three-year quality management program with a dynamic learning environment. Grounded in team-based courses led by an interdisciplinary faculty, the program offers students the opportunity to study integration of quality in the workplace while applying the knowledge and skill-set they have gained from their major in the field of engineering, business or computer science. QUEST graduates enter the work force excelling in teamwork, customer value management, process and product design, problem-solving, project management and customer satisfaction.
Research Fellows - Research Fellows is a one-year program offering students paid opportunities to work with one of our outstanding Smith Faculty members on their research. Research fellows complete up to a total of 250 hours/semester, which can be allocated as 18 hours/week for 14 weeks or some other set hours, to be established by the faculty project supervisor. Compensation is $5,000/year—or $2,500/semester—depending upon hours worked. Minimum one-year commitment, may be renewed.
Smith Technology Fellows – ST Fellows perform a variety of duties, which may include serving as teaching assistants with technology-intensive classes, or as research assistants, executing targeted technology development projects for use in instruction or research, assisting faculty and others with targeted projects involving software such as Oracle or .NET. Some project assignments will require experience using specific software platforms and will provide technical support for courses, assist faculty with tutorials and demonstrations, and assist student teams in projects. Students working on projects which require specific technology skills will be eligible to attend vendor hands-on training sessions. Projects will generally be defined as one semester in duration but could extend over the academic year. Compensation for work on projects is $10/hour, with projects ranging from 200-400 hours, which can be spread over a semester or a year. Projects may be renewable for additional semesters.
Sport Management Fellows – The sport management fellows program focuses on the worldwide enterprise of sport and the prominence of organized sports at every level in collegiate and professional sports environments, together with the significance of auxiliary industries in sports apparel and equipment, television contracts and other ancillary products and services. The curriculum, including a project assignment/internship built into the BMGT 485 Project Management course, will provide students an opportunity to focus on the particular issues in the sports industry, and prepare them for various roles in sport management in both the collegiate and professional sport environments and private sector enterprises.
STARS – The mission of the STARS program is to encourage and attract first generation and under represented students to the study of business, to prepare them for college, and to encourage them to make Maryland their #1 choice. Once admitted, the program provides a supportive network for academic success leading to graduation, and then welcomes them back as alumni contributors to the Smith Community. The challenge is to identify and support outstanding students interested in studying business, and to work together with their schools and with various access programs to prepare for admission to college. To achieve this goal, Smith School undergraduates have developed a corps of peer-mentors who provide mentoring and academic support to high-school students as well as to students already admitted to the University of Maryland who seek admission to the Smith School. Student mentors participate in visits to high schools and work with sponsored college access programs. They visit high-school students at off-campus sites and host these students during campus visits and educational programs such as the annual High-School-to-College Workshops and Finance Field Day. A one-credit course in Intergroup Communication is being considered as a vehicle for building mentoring skills and coordinating volunteer activities.
Technology and Business Transformation Fellows - Information Technology has not only become the lifeline of all organizations, but also the heart of innovation in all business sectors. The "Technology & Business Transformation (TBT) fellows program aims to identify and train students who are passionate about leveraging innovative technologies for business as well as for social transformation. This highly selective Fellows program will provide students with the opportunity to interact with faculty in small classes as well as to collaborate with them on state-of-the-art industry and research projects. The fellows in this program will also assist faculty in integrating emerging technologies into the undergraduate IS curriculum.

In addition to the Fellows Programs listed above, Smith School students can incorporate other exceptional multidisciplinary learning opportunities as part of their degree programs. Programs like College Park Scholars (including Business, Society, and the Economy); Gemstone; and The Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities (CEOs) programs join business undergraduates with those from other disciplines. Each of these programs offers unique learning experiences to complement a student's degree plan, and several of the programs mentioned above were formed through partnerships with other colleges or departments on campus.

Furthermore, Smith School students who have entrepreneurial aspirations can utilize the many services of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship which is housed in Van Munching Hall. The Dingman Center helps students and regional entrepreneurs develop and grow their businesses through a variety of services and programs As a nationally recognized leader in entrepreneurship education, the Center uses its strategic position within the Smith School to leverage resources from the entire University to assist enterprises, thereby acting as a window to the substantial entrepreneurial resources at the University of Maryland.