Building on the Bloch School’s legacy of serving Kansas City, the 亨利w布洛赫管理学院 has more than doubled its enrollment of graduate students from underrepresented groups in the last four years.
2017年至2021年期间，布洛赫大学研究生学位课程的入学人数增加了170%，黑人学生增加了148%，西班牙裔学生增加了127%。
“We want to be Kansas City’s business school. 作为其中的一部分，我们把重点放在社区参与、外联和寻找使我们的项目更容易获得和更灵活的方法上。 These efforts are helping us meet needs throughout our entire community for engaging, cutting-edge business education,” said Dean Brian Klaas.
Addressing the needs of students from across our entire community has been a long-standing priority at Bloch, dating back to Henry W. Bloch’s original 1986 endowment. 最近，21世纪的工具使学校扩大了其影响范围，使整个社区的学生更容易接触到它。
学校已经实施了一些新工具，创造了更多的机会，比如为工作时间不可预测的人或有育儿责任的人提供灵活的课堂模式。
“We’ve found that moving from a largely on-campus and traditional program to more blended offerings has increased our ability to serve many working professionals and others who are juggling a complex life with a range of work and family obligations,” Klaas said.
根据克拉斯的说法，灵活的课程可以让学生找到自己的舒适水平，同时决定哪种模式最适合他们。
布洛赫商学院（Bloch School）副院长、创业学副教授布莱恩•安德森（Brian Anderson）表示，通过允许学生远程或以混合模式学习某些课程，或者延长休学时间，该学院得以扩大其影响力和吸引力。
“Having a full range of modalities allows us to build engaging and inclusive classroom experiences that can better serve all of those within the Kansas City community,” Anderson said.
除了提供灵活的课堂模式外，该学院还利用数字营销工具与更大、更多样化的社区分享机会。
“Back in the day, we often relied on word-of-mouth, networking and events to share information about our programs,” Klaas said. “Now with digital marketing and social media, we have more tools and more capacity to connect with candidates throughout this community. We are better positioned to highlight for candidates throughout this community the opportunities available here at Bloch and programs that could help meet their needs and achieve their goals.”
Technology and outreach aren’t the only factors that have played a role. 一对一的接触也同样重要。
“We aspire to offer concierge-level service for every student. 并不是每个人都像一些学生那样拥有与生俱来的人际关系。 We’re here to give you that network and then show you how to continue to build it,” Anderson said.
由此产生的网络也需要多样化。 为此，布洛赫学院将体验式学习机会扩大到具有不同领导和/或使命的组织，以帮助服务不足的社区。 布洛赫学院研究生项目的学生与AltCap、Pipeline和The Porter House KC等组织密切合作，加入由教师领导的咨询团队，为服务不足社区的企业家提供服务和帮助。
波特之家KC由丹尼尔·史密斯共同创立，他目前在布洛赫学院教授一门课程。 Smith said it’s important to be intentional about the different needs students from underrepresented backgrounds bring with them to their MBA experience – and it’s important for students to get an opportunity to see themselves represented in the organizations they work with.
“It requires encouragement, doubling down and going into spaces universities don’t typically go into,” Smith said. “It’s beneficial for the university and the community they serve. The ability to counsel and walk alongside these students is invaluable.”
梅丽莎·文森特（Melissa Vincent）是堪萨斯城高增长企业家专业发展网络“管道企业家”（Pipeline Entrepreneurs）的执行董事。 In an effort to better support entrepreneurs from underserved backgrounds, Pipeline recently created Pathfinder, a year-long virtual program partnered with Bloch’s E-Scholars program to help earlier-stage businesses develop resources and gain traction.
“We recognize that it’s not an even playing field right now in multiple senses,” Vincent said. “One of those is access to networks, resources and programming. 另一方面是资金问题。 In order to be able to really change the trajectory for underserved entrepreneurs, we have to answer both sides of that equation.”
“At the Bloch School, they truly care about training their students, and with that comes a genuine belief that their students have the capacity to contribute to the community regardless of their age.”
文森特说，布洛赫学院的教育与来自管道等组织的外部支持相结合，对早期创业者来说是一个成功的组合，尤其是那些来自服务欠缺社区的创业者。
布洛赫学校网络的另一个关键部分是中央交易所。 中央交流中心成立于1978年，是一家非营利性机构，自那时以来，在为该地区妇女发展和提供专业发展和领导经验方面发挥了关键作用。 它与企业成员密切合作，在女性职业生涯的关键时刻为她们提供有影响力的领导力发展。
在过去的几年里，布洛赫学院一直与中央交易所密切合作。 助理教学教授Ann Hackett为Central Exchange提供领导力和战略支持，这是她在布洛赫学院工作的一部分，她致力于扩大该地区女性（包括布洛赫学院的学生）的领导力发展机会。 这一合作关系不仅为Central Exchange会员提供了参与布洛赫学院项目的机会，也为布洛赫学院的研究生提供了参与Central Exchange的机会。
The school has long-prioritized Henry W. Bloch’s vision for being a community-centered school, according to Klaas, and the initiatives being implemented today are very much consistent with that long-standing priority.
MPA项目的学生詹妮弗·亚历山大（Jennifer Alexander）说，她在布洛赫学院接受指导的经历让她感到自己受到了重视。
“Throughout our careers, women under the age of 40 have had to prove we’re qualified in ways men under the age of 40 have not had to prove themselves. My experience at Bloch was that I never felt like I needed to prove myself as a young woman,” Alexander said.
华裔美国人亚历山大说，她觉得布洛赫学院的教职员工在学生时代给她的支持，超过了她二十五六岁时在职场的经历。
“At the Bloch School, they truly care about training their students, and with that comes a genuine belief that their students have the capacity to contribute to the community regardless of their age,” Alexander said. “It was such an encouragement to me in that I didn’t necessarily experience that trust in my earlier nonprofit experience. 布洛赫学院相信给你进步和前进的机会。 That’s the biggest impact they made on me.”
“我有很多教授鼓励我，当我有想法时，要用自己的声音说出来。”
最近从PMBA毕业的Gretchen Metzger说，她觉得她的老师努力支持课堂上所有学生的声音。
“Being a woman in an MBA program, I can say from personal experience that there’s a tendency for women to speak more timidly and less boldly,” Metzger said. “But I had a lot of professors who encouraged me to use my voice and speak up when I had an idea. I admired that a lot.”
None of the initiatives Bloch has implemented over the past four years have been particularly groundbreaking, Klaas said, in part because the school has always prioritized Henry W. Bloch’s idea of a community-centered school.
“Henry W. Bloch was deeply committed to efforts to support inclusive prosperity in Kansas City. 这是他帮助建立一个以社区为中心的学校的目标。 Today, we are continuing to work on achieving the goals that Henry established for the school years ago,” explained Klaas.
“He wanted us to have great programs, but he also wanted us to get the word out to the whole community that there were opportunities here in business, entrepreneurship and the not-for-profit sector, no matter what your background,” Anderson said.
克拉斯承认，总有改进的余地，布洛赫商学院也不例外。 Pursuing Henry’s vision for offering great programs that serve all of Kansas City is a work in progress. A key priority for us is attracting and serving a student body that looks like this community,” Klaas said. “Being Kansas City’s business school is a key part of our mission. As part of that, we are very much committed to serving all parts of the community.”
The enrollment numbers in Bloch’s graduate programs suggest that the school is finding ways to reach and serve the needs of students across our community, Anderson explained.
“We’re focused on fostering community and opportunities for engagement. We do so in a way that leverages new tools and new technology to meet students where they’re at and offers them a chance to engage,” Klaas said. “We recognize the success of this depends on having faculty that look like this community, as well as a student body that looks like this community. These are important priorities for us, and we’re striving to make significant progress in these areas.”