A Year in Review: 2020
2020 at Leeds
Dear Leeds Alumni and Community Members,
2020 was an opportunity to prove that no challenge is too great to keep the Leeds community down—and we certainly rose to the moment to persevere and thrive in the face of adversity. From opening spaces in our new Business and Engineering expansion and faculty who rank #24 in the world in research productivity to maintaining a top ranking among the public universities and achieving 82% placement of all graduates, the Leeds community has shown incredible resilience, grit and determination during a global pandemic. We invite you to take in a few highlights in this year-end review.
We are thankful for the partnership of our community members who make Leeds truly extraordinary. As we look forward to the year ahead, we hope you’ll join our efforts to move the world of business forward by getting involved or deepening your engagement with our community.
Go Buffs!
Every now and then there are things that remind us of (or point us to) what we can achieve with an amazing community. At Leeds, the world is at our doorstep. Introducing our #WhyLeeds video. If you loved your time as a Business Buff or dream of becoming one, you’ll love watching this.
Business and Engineering Expansion
Join us on a virtual tour of the new Rustandy Building.
Student spotlight: undergraduate class of 2024
The incoming first-year students of fall 2020 are more competitive and academically qualified than ever.
29 .61
ACT profile
3 .84
incoming students; compared to 3.8 in 2019
47 .5%
women enrolled; up from 46.2% in 2019
25 %
students of color
Resilience in the face of COVID-19
- COVID-19 brought unprecedented challenges for all in 2020. Thanks to an agile response across Leeds, we introduced a range of programs to help our students and community persevere through a difficult year.
- New programs helped students and new graduates navigate their careers during the pandemic. The Adopt a Business Buff mentorship program matched recent graduates, MS and second-year MBA candidates with alumni and business leaders to help them connect to professional networks, find job opportunities, prepare for interviews, and navigate unexpected hurdles. The program was a success, with recipients receiving job offers coming from all types and sizes of organizations, from Lockheed Martin to a small marketing firm.
- Leeds started a Micro-Internships program for job-seeking students who saw their internships and job opportunities disappear due to economic disruption. These short-term, paid positions offer students the opportunity to explore different careers, enhance their skills, and build a professional network and portfolio while they look for their next role.
- Graduation went virtual in May and December. Both ceremonies included messages to students on Facebook Live.
- Leeds and CU Boulder collaborated to host six COVID webinar series, featuring topics as diverse as the Colorado Economic Outlook Forecast, How Can Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 Indoors Be Minimized and The Impact of COVID 19 on Professional Sports. The series continues this February with a seventh round of webinars
- The Deming Center for Entrepreneurship launched COventure Forward, a platform to help entrepreneurs move their business forward through the economic challenges posed by COVID-19. COventure Forward pairs experienced mentors who have navigated downturns in the past with small business and entrepreneurs in need of guidance.
Alumni Engagement: By the Numbers
42,000+ Leeds alumni
(Half of Leeds alumni are in Colorado)
Nearly $16 Million invested in Leeds by donors
25,921 unique individuals engaged
thanks to more online engagement opportunities than ever before
33 webinars hosted across 6 COVID-19 webinar series
2 new ways to stay connected: LeedsLink & Forever Buffs Network
Leeds faculty are at the forefront of business education
- Yonca Ertimur, Professor of Accounting, was named senior associate dean of faculty and research and the first-ever Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Professor at Leeds. Professor Ertimur saw Leeds faculty through the transition to remote teaching and research in 2020.
- Associate Professor Stefanie K. Johnson released Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams, which asserts that humans have two basic needs: to stand out and to fit in. Leaders who “inclusify” find ways to encourage people to be themselves while ensuring they also feel like part of the team. The book reached #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases.
- Leeds Accounting Professors, Jonathan Rogers and Sarah Zechman’s, paper “Run EDGAR Run: SEC Dissemination in a High-Frequency World” was selected to receive the 2020 Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Best Paper Award by the American Accounting Association.
- Distinguished Professor John Lynch received the 2021 CBSIG (Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group) Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a marketing scholar who has contributed significantly to the field of consumer research.
- University awards: Mark Meaney and Zack Donohew, scholars-in-residence for the Division of Social Responsibility, received one of CU Boulder’s 2020 Research & Innovation Seed Grants to support their study of space and sustainability. Finance instructor Diane Hirschhorn was awarded CU Boulder’s 2020 Marinus Smith Award for embodying the true meaning of Be Boulder by inspiring, educating, and motivating the CU Boulder community through innovation and passion.
- Research highlights: Research from Assistant Professor Sabrina Volpone reveals the influence of race in salary negotiations. Associate Professor Lawrence Williams and Leeds’ Doctoral Candidate Nicholas Light examined how an individual’s exposure to fake news impacts their consumer behavior during the pandemic. A study led by Assistant Professor Liu Liu reveals that images created and shared by consumers on social media offer businesses real-time insights into the usage, feelings, and experiences of their brands.
Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion
- As an institute of higher education, Leeds has a responsibility in shaping the thoughts and actions of future generations of leaders. And that means fostering an inclusive, safe and equitable environment where our Black students and faculty, and other students and faculty of color feel that they can fully engage.
- One component of our diversity and inclusion efforts is to ensure that Black students and other students of color see themselves reflected in course content and in school leadership. In addition to courses focused on diversity in business, the school is developing required anti-racism modules for first-year students and appointed a committee to enhance inclusion in curriculum. Leeds is also working to increase faculty diversity. At least 62% of new faculty hires since 2017 are female, people of color, international and/or LGBTQ+. Staff roles focused on diversity and inclusion have also expanded, including the hiring of Avondine Hill, special assistant to the dean for diversity and inclusion.
- This past summer, Leeds launched a webpage to better communicate the range of activities, resources and engagement in diversity, equity and inclusion and our commitment to anti-racist work. We invite you to visit the site to learn more about our resources and efforts.
- All of this builds on Leeds’ leadership as the first business school in the region to establish an Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA). We look forward to celebrating 20 years of ODA and its work to promote inclusivity in business education later this year.
Exciting new growth in Graduate Programs
- The pandemic significantly impacted the economy and individual career paths in 2020. More professionals and new graduates than ever before leveraged the challenge as an opportunity to further their education with a master’s degree from Leeds. Total graduate student enrollment at Leeds increased by 18.6% year-over-year.
- Our one-year MS programs in Business Analytics, Supply Chain, Finance and Real Estate all saw significant growth in enrollment. The MS Real Estate program more than doubled its year-over-year enrollment , and the MS Finance nearly doubled in size as well.
- The quality of Leeds graduate programs continues to rise as well. According to Poets and Quants, Leeds has been one of the fastest rising MBA programs over the last decade, moving from 90th to 62nd last year, its highest-ever placement.
Leeds Launches New Graduate Programs
- Our innovative two-year Executive MBA Program is designed for seasoned leaders and executives with a focus on leadership, innovation, inclusion and foundational business skills. The program features weeklong residency periods in Boulder and Colorado’s mountains, supplemented by online instruction and engagement. We look forward to welcoming the first cohort in Fall 2021.
- Conceived specifically for those who want to earn an MBA but can’t always attend in-person classes, our Hybrid MBA Program blends online coursework with in-person learning and networking. The curriculum and the world-class faculty are the same as the Full-Time MBA with an accessible and convenient virtual component.
Honoring Robert Deming
We remember and celebrate the life of Robert H. Deming, two-time Leeds alumnus (Acct’56 and MS Mgmt’59) and longtime, generous supporter of the Leeds School of Business and namesake of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. Learn more about Deming's impact on the Leeds community.
Mentoring programs
Leeds mentoring programs recently received the highest level of accreditation—Gold Level—from the International Mentoring Association accreditation. The Peer2Peer, Young Alumni and Professional Mentorship Programs are now internationally recognized as model programs and leaders in mentorship among higher education institutions.
From here to career
It’s no secret—Leeds alumni are thriving. Despite the most challenging economic environment in over a decade, 82.3% of Leeds graduates received an employment opportunity within three months of graduation in 2020. This follows on the heels of five consecutive years of more than 90% of Leeds graduates received an employment opportunity within three months of graduation.
Techstars and Leeds teamed up to launch an exciting new partnership, the Leeds + Techstars Elevate program. CU students and alumni can become associates of Techstars’ accelerator teams around the world, with special access to thousands of portfolio job opportunities. And Techstars entrepreneurs and alumni who are admitted to the MBA program may participate in independent study and earn up to six credit hours, based on specified criteria.
66 students and 66 mentors participated in the Adopt a Business Buff program, helping Leeds students to find job and internship placements. Adopt a Business Buff, which was featured in the Wall Street Journal, will re-launch in Spring 2021 to support a new class of Leeds student and graduates.
More than 600 students participated in Micro-Internships fairs in July and October, as well as career partners such as Ibotta and Iterate.ai.
Undergraduate Career Success
- Leeds 2020 graduates went to work for 415 companies, in 18 states and 4 countries.
- Companies across industries hired our alumni—including Fortune 50, consulting, technology, financial services, healthcare, accounting, media, entertainment and sports, real estate, energy and more.
- 77% of 2020 Leeds graduates had an internship. 80.33% of those internships were paid.
- 85.2% of 2020 Leeds graduates received or accepted a job offer, pursued a graduate degree, or started their own business within 3 months of graduation.
Women are thriving at Leeds
- Undergraduate enrollment by women at Leeds reached 46.5% for the 2020 incoming class, an all-time high.
- Leeds’ new BE Tech Scholars program is helping young women majoring in business or engineering break into high tech—armed with confidence that they deserve to be there. The program was inundated with applications when it launched in 2020 as an outgrowth of the Leeds and College of Engineering’s co-curricular partnership. See why the BE Tech Schoiars program is getting so much buzz.
- Leeds held its inaugural Women’s Leadership Symposium, which zeroed-in on tech, inclusion and courage. Women's leadership programs, a new area at the Leeds School of Business, is dedicated to gender parity and education and inspires a strong community of women at Leeds.
- One of Silicon Valley's first female African American CEOs, Shellye Archambeau, held two virtual discussions with undergraduate and graduate students of color, women students, faculty and staff. The event was hosted in partnership with C200, a preeminent global organization for women business leaders that supports Leeds’ ongoing efforts to reach diverse student audiences.
Jaideep “JD” Mangat (Info Mgmt and Ops’17)
Lafayette City Council Member and Teacher for Boulder Valley School District
For alumnus JD Mangat, Lafayette, Colorado, has always been home. His involvement in the community started early—since age 12 he’s served on youth commissions and pushed for positive change. Today, he serves on the Lafayette City Council and advocates for the prioritization of affordable living, sustainability, smart growth and youth involvement.
This year, JD spoke to Leeds students on the importance of voting, helping them understand that there are many races, aside from the presidency, that are relevant to them. It’s what he wished he’d known when he was a Leeds student.
“Your mayor, city council and state representatives play a vital role in your everyday life,” says JD. “The decisions they make will directly impact your life in more ways than you think. Make sure to vote every single year and all the way down the ballot.”
JD looks back fondly on his time at Leeds, where he was a member of the Diverse Scholars Program, Leeds Scholars and Leeds Student Government and build strong relationships with his peers. Together, his classmates and these programs helped him grow his abilities to become a driven, confident and knowledgeable community trustee.
Anya Berlova (Fin’21)
As a freshman, Anya launched a company without much business know-how, but was compelled by a mission to combat childhood bullying. She founded Anya Berlova Studio, which uses whimsical characters to explore loneliness, teach anti-bullying tactics and encourage kids to celebrate their individuality.
“Peer pressure can try to rid you of what makes you, you,” says Anya. “Stand up for who you are and be unique.”
A talented illustrator, Anya surprised friends and family when she applied to business school. But she saw it as the perfect way to channel her art into a meaningful endeavor. Now, as a senior focusing on finance, she directly applies what she’s learning to her startup.
In 2019, Anya placed 3rd in the public vote at the HSE University International Startups and Spin-Offs Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia—a unique opportunity to pitch her startup on an international stage. Recently, Anya was selected as a TEDx speaker in Florida on the subject of bullying and evolution, a testament to how far her work has come in a few short years.
Avondine Hill
Avondine Hill begins his workdays in his 70s-style turquoise office chair in his home. Though it fits the decor—a room with walls each painted a different color (gold, pink, red, turquoise) that will become his two-year-old daughter’s someday—it’s not exactly comfortable.
It’s the reality of our COVID-19 work environments; although, it does offer a beautiful view of elk and wild turkeys that occasionally wander by outside, and regular visits from Meatball (his cat) and his beautiful child and partner.
“I’m extremely privileged to have this space and the beautiful supporting staff,” says Avondine.
Avondine started at Leeds just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic and has now spent more time working from that turquoise desk chair than he has in the halls of Leeds’ Koebel building on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. From that chair, Avondine consults with and assists the Dean in her efforts and intentions around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
In a typical day, he’ll attend a handful of meetings with Leeds community members covering topics such as garnering input on a Leeds-wide DEI initiative and being a thought-partner in assisting teams with projects and efforts pertaining to DEI.
Avondine’s role also includes working with students. When asked what advice he’d give to his college-age self, he says, “It’s all about valuing and honoring self, people and relationships. Whenever you get lost (don’t know what to do, don’t know how to feel, don’t know how to approach a conversation), come back to this fundamental truth, and make a decision that both acknowledges the reality of the situation, and honors these values.”
Hometown: Albuqueque/Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Favorite Quarantine Food: “I started making a tuna, cheddar cheese and egg white sandwich, which I drench with a wasabi mustard that I buy specifically for this sandwich,” says Avondine. “I eat this alongside green apples which I dip into Kroger’s crunchy peanut butter.”