Western Michigan University to connect ‘education city’ through new partnerships

Western Michigan University to connect ‘education city’ through new partnerships
<strong> Courtesy Western Michigan University </strong>

A new educational partnership being piloted at two colleges this spring aims to place Kalamazoo-area students in the business community.

Western Michigan University (WMU) and Kalamazoo College announced a new project, which will see students from both institutions working with local companies to solve real-life business issues, gain experience and forge community connections. 

According to WMU, the program will be managed by Doug Lepisto and Derrick McIver, co-directors of WMU’s Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy, and Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker associate professor of business management for Kalamazoo College. 

The project will ask students to collaborate through an immersive consulting experience at investment firm Sleeping Giant Capital’s downtown office.

The partnership taps into the existing leadership and business strategy practicum course, which Lepisto co-teaches at the WMU Haworth College of Business, and integrates elements from the strategic marketing management course MacMillan co-teaches at Kalamazoo College. 

The courses are structured so students work for an entire semester on a single business issue for a company, in the same way a management consulting firm would. Alongside the company, their peers and professors, students will explore solutions and conduct research to get the best results for their client. 

There will be a total of six teams, each with two student leaders and a group of student analysts from both schools. When the project concludes, students will be prepared to lead, excel in project-based work and take on small and medium-sized business clients. 

The program will kick off this spring semester with its first client: construction and development firm AVB, which has asked students to look at growth strategies for its future. Students from WMU and Kalamazoo College will work on teams in a competitive process throughout the semester, with faculty members providing feedback and deciding which strategies best address AVB’s business question. At the end of the semester, the top teams will present to company leadership with a cash prize of $5,000 to be awarded to the winning team.

Along the way, students will be mentored by executives, who are WMU alumni, from management consulting firms including McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company and others.

Lepisto originated this partnership out of a desire to connect two similar institutions, WMU and Kalamazoo College, for the good of both student bodies. 

“Kalamazoo is an education city,” Lepisto says. “By connecting WMU, Kalamazoo College, Sleeping Giant Capital and local businesses, our goal is to offer an unrivaled experience that is transformative and drives widespread benefit.”     

Lepisto’s concept for the collaboration soon led him to reach out to MacMillan, and together they created the partnership to be piloted this semester. 

“Experiential education has long been a defining feature of Kalamazoo College,” MacMillan said.  “As educators, we constantly need to innovate these experiences to meet student needs. This unique collaboration with WMU and Sleeping Giant Capital provides real-world experience that builds leaders ready to hit the ground running when they graduate.”  

Students involved in the new program will also participate in a docuseries, providing an insider’s view of the project and what they are learning from the process and each other. This is just the latest in West Michigan’s educational partnerships, as area educators build new bridges to connect students to local employers. Earlier this month, Grand Valley State University announced its partnership with Acrisure, Amway, Cascade Engineering, Corewell Health and Michigan Software Labs to keep students local post-degree. Davenport University announced a new addition to its urban educator program and a collaboration with Pine Rest in January, while it continues its $35 million campaign to adress local talent gaps. GRCC and University of Michigan Health-West have also partnered to combat the nursing shortage area health care providers are facing, the newest in several such education/health care partnerships in the region.