Press Releases Chicago Booth announces enhancements to its Civic Scholars Program

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business announces numerous strategic enhancements to its Civic Scholars Program, a highly selective scholarship program designed to support advanced business education for professionals in the nonprofit and government sectors.

For the first time, the Civic Scholars Program will offer both full and partial tuition scholarships, and expand the programs from which scholars are chosen to include Chicago Booth’s Full-Time, Evening and Weekend MBA Programs. Chicago Booth will increase its annual intake of Neubauer Civic Scholars by 50% in the coming year and will double the cohort size by the fall of 2022. The program previously offered full scholarships to up to eight Weekend MBA students matriculating each year.

Through its distinctive Chicago Approach to management education – which focuses on the mastery of the business fundamentals, a culture of deep inquiry and healthy debate, and a continuous push toward providing the next, better solution, Chicago Booth equips its Civic Scholars to diagnose and tackle complex problems in the government and nonprofit sectors.

“We are proud of the fact that Booth’s Civic Scholars Program is helping to create the next generation of nonprofit and government leaders by equipping innovators from these sectors with our data-driven and collaborative approach to learning,” said Chicago Booth Dean Madhav Rajan. “No other world-class business school offers as comprehensive a program for rising civic leaders. We are thrilled to expand this program to include a larger pool of MBA candidates and arm them with the knowledge and tools necessary to be even better problem-solvers in their fields.”

Additional enhancements to the Civic Scholars Program include the incorporation of faculty directors to oversee program design changes, mentor the scholars, and participate in the recruitment and admissions process, as well as increased administrative and admissions oversight from Chicago Booth Deputy Dean Stacey Kole. Inaugural faculty directors are Robert Gertner, the Joel F. Gemunder Professor of Strategy and Finance, and George Wu, the John P. and Lillian A. Gould Professor of Behavioral Science. The Civic Scholars Program Advisory Board will continue to play a critical role in referring MBA candidates to the program.

Launched in 2016 with seed funding from the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Civic Scholars Program brings important voices to the classroom and community by providing broader perspectives on issues such as understanding the role of business in society, the implications of expanding public-private partnerships and the opportunities for business leaders to engage productively with government and nonprofit organizations.

Neubauer Civic Scholars are subject to the same admissions standards and curriculum requirements as all students in Booth’s MBA programs. In addition to their core classes, the Scholars experience specialized programming, dedicated faculty, and networking opportunities designed specifically for government and nonprofit professionals.

Six Neubauer Civic Scholars have graduated from the program to date, and an additional 21 Scholars are currently enrolled as MBA candidates. Program enhancements are being funded through additional support from the Neubauer Family Foundation, which has invested a total of $7 million to date in the Civic Scholars Program.