College of Business Student Team Takes Fourth Place in National Diversity Case Competition
Four undergraduate students competed Jan. 17-18 in Bloomington, Ind.
MANKATO, Minn. – A team of four Minnesota State University, Mankato College of Business students took fourth place in the Ninth Annual Indiana University Kelley School of Business National Diversity Case Competition, held Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18 in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Minnesota State Mankato student team included Shams Adediji, who is majoring in finance; Marilyn Allen, who is majoring in American Indigenous studies & business law; Michelle Dolezal, who is majoring in marketing; and Dhaval Bhakta, who is majoring in management. The team was the only one in the competition from Minnesota.
Minnesota State Mankato joined teams from the University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Arizona, Syracuse University, University of Vermont, Brigham Young University, Temple University and Rutgers University–Newark.
It is the sixth year that the College of Business team has competed in the competition. Notably, Minnesota State Mankato and the host team, Indiana University, are the only two teams to reach the final round of competition in two of the last three years.
The team was coached by professors Wade Davis and Oksana Kim. To speak to the Minnesota State Mankato students or for more information about the competition, contact Wade Davis at wade.davis@mnsu.edu or (507)345-2207.
Student teams were provided a case study and were required to prepare a 15-minute presentation in response to the case and then be prepared for a 10-minute Q&A following their presentation.
According to its website, the Kelley School of Business National Diversity Case Competition is a premier event that brings together top-level, diverse talent from colleges and universities across the country. It is held annually over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Undergraduate students from institutions across the United States have the opportunity to meet representatives from the event’s corporate partners throughout the weekend.
The full list of this year’s participating teams included: Babson College; Boston College; Boston University; Brigham Young University; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Claflin University; Delaware State University; Drexel University; Elon University; Emory University; Georgia State University; Howard University; Indiana University; James Madison University; Louisiana State University; Minnesota State University, Mankato; Penn State University; Portland State University; Purdue University; Rutgers University–New Brunswick; Rutgers University–Newark; St. Mary's University; Syracuse University; Temple University; University of Arizona; University of Arkansas; University of California, Berkeley; University of Cincinnati; University of Denver; University of Michigan; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Notre Dame; University of Pennsylvania; University of Richmond; University of South Carolina; University of Southern California; University of Texas at Austin; University of Vermont; University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce; University of Washington; Vanderbilt University; and Xavier University of Louisiana.
A list of event corporate sponsors is available on the competition website.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,297 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which comprises 31 state institutions.
