Ross School of Business: “MAP projects are a Ross School of Business staple. Every year, students get out of the classroom for seven to 14 weeks, depending on their program, and break into teams to work on real business issues for real companies around the world, like Amazon, Samsung SDS, General Motors, and Riot Games.

These projects are the heart of action-based learning at Michigan Ross, helping students gain relevant experience in industries they’re interested in and learn on the job how to tackle complex issues with teammates from various backgrounds and areas of expertise.

Many project sponsors have been returning to Michigan Ross to continue partnering with MBA students on these projects for years, particularly Amazon, with whom Ross has collaborated for well over a decade.

One of this year’s Amazon projects asked Full-Time MBA students to help create a better experience for users of its digital signage product, the Amazon signage stick. For Amazon senior product leader and sponsor Yanning Li, MBA ’14, working with students has proven beneficial thanks to their fresh, outside perspectives. As a Ross alum himself, Li has been proud to help foster the partnership between Amazon and Ross for more than five years.

“I think the students definitely have a more unbiased perspective. They really don’t have much time to waste, so they have to be really, really focused on delivering something great,” Li said. “And this project, in particular, was great because, with the students, the school, and the company all involved, everyone has an interest in making the product successful.”

To read the full story, click here.

DON’T MISS: UNDERCOVER ROSS: USING MAP TO FIND YOUR CAREER DESTINATION

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How Virginia Darden Integrates The Case Method With AI

Darden School of Business: “Generations of alumni from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business know the basic assignment: Read the case, test your reasoning with classmates, often in a learning team, and enter class ready to say what the protagonist should do. In some courses, today’s students can add an AI system to that preparation, asking it to surface alternatives, challenge assumptions or produce a confident answer before the discussion begins.

The tools could hardly be more different. The demand on the student, Dean Yael Grushka-Cockayne told alumni during a 20 August virtual conversation, is not.

People often “over-index on tools and techniques” and underweight decision-making and the ability to lead through ambiguity, she said.

Grushka-Cockayne believes an answer machine like AI disrupts an education organized around supplying answers, but it may raise the value of one like Darden’s—built around questions, arguments and accountability.

A Darden student still has to frame the problem, judge the evidence, listen to dissent and own a decision. The machine can enter the preparation. It cannot take the student’s seat in the room.”

To continue reading, click here.

DON’T MISS: DARDEN NAMES A NEW DEAN: LONGTIME PROF YAEL GRUSHKA-COCKAYNE

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Wharton WORKS: How MBAs Prepare Inmates For Life After Incarceration

Wharton School: “Since its launch in April 2023, the Wharton Opportunities for Reentry, Knowledge, and Skills (WORKS) program has steadily increased its impact. Led by Wharton Professor Damon Phillips, the WORKS program — in which MBA students teach business classes to incarcerated learners, mentor formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs, and help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society and the workforce — reached 60 justice-involved individuals this spring, up from 30 last year. Additionally, MBA student interest in Professor Phillips’s prerequisite course, Reforming Mass Incarceration and the Role of Business, has grown more than 50%. This spring, the course hit capacity at an impressive 76 students enrolled; last spring, it had 48.

Wharton WORKS is a part of Opportunity Lab, housed within the Wharton Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative. To learn more about what’s driving interest in the program — and what MBA students have gained from the experience — we spoke with four people who participated in it in spring 2026. Here’s what they had to say about their experiences as teachers and mentors to people in prison, as well as those reintegrating and starting their own businesses after release.

Amelie Ha, WG’26, and Perri Sucoff, WG’27, taught incarcerated learners at SCI Chester, a correctional facility located in Chester, Pennsylvania. Amelie, who earned her MBA this year and is now working in investment banking, and Perri, who enrolled at Wharton after five years at PwC, both noted that the WORKS program helped them hone leadership skills they believe will be integral to their long-term success.

To read about their experiences with Wharton WORKS, click here.

DON’T MISS: THE WHARTON PROGRAM WHERE MBA STUDENTS ARE THE TEACHERS — AND PRISONERS ARE THE STUDENT

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Meet Emory Goizueta’s New Faculty Members

Goizueta Business School: “As a new academic year begins, Goizueta Business School welcomes six new faculty members whose expertise reflects the breadth—and rapidly evolving nature—of business today. They bring with them new perspectives to Goizueta’s classrooms, research community, and connections with industry.

Their paths to Goizueta are equally varied. This year’s group includes scholars examining everything from AI-driven scientific discovery and climate policy to the forces that shape how people work and thrive within organizations, as well as experienced leaders bringing deep connections to industry and the Atlanta business community. One familiar face is also taking on a new role, moving from years of supporting Goizueta students and the BBA program into the faculty.

“Goizueta’s faculty are at the heart of what makes this school such a special place,” says John H. Harland Dean Saby Mitra. “This year’s new faculty bring an exciting range of expertise and perspectives that will strengthen our research, enrich the classroom experience for our students, and deepen our connections to the business community. As we look to the future, attracting talented faculty like these will be essential to building on Goizueta’s tradition of excellence and expanding our impact in Atlanta and around the world.”

To read the bios of Goizueta’s six new faculty members in areas like Finance, Real Estate, and Management, click here.

DON’T MISS: GREETINGS FROM GOIZUETA: THE THINGS I’LL MISS (AND THE ONE THING I WON’T)

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ADDITIONAL STORIES

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University of Central Oklahoma Creates AI MBA Program

Gentry Named Dean at Ole Miss

UM Business School Drops Herbert Name Following Death

UVA Darden Celebrates Student Excellence at 2026 Fall Awards Ceremony

Accounting Professor Takes Over As Tippie Associate Dean

UT Dallas Opens New Business School Building, Nears Completion On Additional Facilities

Harvard Business School Explored European Outpost After Trump’s Visa Threats

University of Miami Launches Master of Science in Marketing

Economist appointed as Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Finance and Political Economy at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management

Penn State Smeal Welcomes 16 New Faculty Members

University Launches National Search for Next Dean of Simon Business School

Five Ways an MBA Future-Proofs Your Career

Mays Business School Names 12 Finalists for AI Venture Velocity Challenge, $100K on the Line

Emerson gives $4M to WashU’s Olin Business School for endowed AI professorship

2026 Michigan Ross Faculty Awards and Honors

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