Quinlan MBA Develop Immersion Course in Colombia
During an immersion trip over spring break, six Loyola University Quinlan School of Business MBA students traveled to Colombia to study the South American country’s developing economy, with the guidance of Professor Cliff Shultz, Kellstadt Chair of Marketing.
“Our tagline here is ‘Preparing students to lead extraordinary lives,’” Shultz told Travis Cornejo in an article on Quinlan’s website. “Well, I thought, why don’t we actually give students the opportunity to co-create the class and to actually go lead an extraordinary life.”
The six students chose to visit Colombia thanks to a connection one of their classmates had. Pedro Navas, a Colombian native enrolled in the Quinlan MBA program, had professional connections within the country. Additionally, Shultz had contacts in the country.
Lisa Marks, one of the student participants, said the content of the course they created was amazing, “…but the other thing that was a fantastic experience was how we truly created this from scratch.”
Marks told the Quinlan website that the group met with scholars from universities including Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, leading economists in the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers, and Colombia’s official brand manager.
“We were able to be upfront and talk to everybody about what changes are taking place and how things need to improve,” Haque said. “We also talked about what kinds of things Colombians would like to see for their country and what their existing struggles are.”
Sarah Haque, another student, said the group received an “incredible, overwhelming” response. “I think the idea that a group of six MBA students wanted to visit and to study their country, somehow incited a great amount of excitement from everybody.”
