For undergrad Alexia Ayuk ’23, advocating for the less fortunate and serving as a changemaker have always been top priorities. The Maryland Smith junior, studying operations management and business analytics, is president of the Smith Undergraduate Student Association. She helped launch Smith’s Inclusion, Accountability and Oversight Coalition, which holds school leaders to the practices of diversity and inclusion.

When David Rosenstein ’20 was a Maryland Smith undergraduate student, he became known for his boundless energy. One marketing professor even referred to him as a “Human Energizer Bunny.  The title has stuck, and his tempo hasn’t slowed. These days, he’s in New York, working for LinkedIn as a Business Leadership Program associate. It’s an entry-level rotational sales program that has him working in customer operations and support, with content creators, and with customers in sales. “You wear a lot of different hats,” he says.

Like many college-bound high school seniors, Andrew Chen ’85 didn’t have any idea what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he’d be continuing the family tradition/legacy his grandfather, father and uncles started by attending the University of Maryland.

Entrepreneurs beat long odds when they launch a company and sell it to investors. Jason Cohen ’96 has done it many times. It’s not how he started his career.

On Friday, Oct. 15, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business greeted roughly 100 alumni, corporate partners and researchers both in-person and virtually for the Smith Advisory Council Welcome, commencing the start of new partnerships that will equip Smith School students with the skills needed to succeed in evolving fields.

Stephanie Catherine ’14 has always sought out the next hard problem to solve, the next challenge. It’s why she so enjoys the work she’s doing at Deloitte, where she works as a manager. The tasks and challenges she faces vary from day to day, and the changing nature of her work, she says, keeps her motivated and intellectually stimulated.

The University of Maryland and its Robert H. Smith School of Business are launching two new undergraduate programs that will give highest-achieving students a big-picture view of business and industry in the changing workplace. The Interdisciplinary Business Honors Living-Learning Program and the Smith Business Leadership Fellows Program are each designed to enrich the college experience for the highest-achieving undergraduate applicants and further nurture their intellectual curiosity.

“The reason we do research is for all those moments of true inspiration,” Maryland Smith’s Rajshree Agarwal told a group of undergraduate students last Thursday. “My PhD students inspire me as they showcase how entrepreneurship and innovation helps create solutions to the world’s thorniest challenges and unmet needs.”

For many people, work can be stressful. Between the deadlines, meetings, presentations and other responsibilities to be managed, the professional world can be tough to navigate. And it can be made that much harder for people who suffer from a disability.

Maryland Smith students are encouraged to be fearless in expanding their knowledge and experience in business. For some students, this includes playing a role in the world of research.