Aspire Fellows is a selective cohort program for undergraduate business majors—accounting, finance, management or marketing—for students who want to go beyond the traditional classroom experience.
Accepted students participate in a 10 month, paid internship with focused class sessions and mentoring. Students integrate required coursework, real-world experience and professional development. In addition, students complete a Maymester multi-country global trip in which they will visit businesses and interact with executives.
The program runs for an academic year (summer, fall, and spring) and is open to rising senior declared business majors. The College of Business receives applications in early spring before the May term in which the student will begin. (See below for admissions requirements, process, and timetable.) Special scholarship funding may be available for participants.
Listed in alphabetical order by first name: Ahmed Amaar, Bennie Harris, Daniel Muhlbauer, Emily Phillips, Emily Watson, Hunter Brown, Jianna Casamento, John Wynia, Kaitlin Stanfield, Luke Wilson, Maria Arellano, Matthew Sherrod, Rachel Woods, Selvana Roum
Complete a paid 700-hour internship, known as a Directed Work Experience or DWE for short
Students will earn 7 course credit hours for the internship experience
Take 6 required courses (18 hours of credit) toward any business degree
Travel with the cohort on a Maymester Global Experience for four weeks
2 of the above required classes (6 hours) will be taken, plus business visits and group travel
Independently met chapel requirements, streamlined class registration, and no additional in-semester cost
Other Opportunities:
Service Days, led and organized by the cohort
Learn Days, during which students visit companies and speak with C-Level executives
Partnership with an Executive-In-Residence who lends his or her experience to help in the development of cohort members
Enhanced skill and professionalism workshops
Tickets to College of Business-sponsored events i.e. Nashville Business Breakfast, Nashville Business Journal's Bizwomen Mentoring Monday, and CEO Roundtable events
The 2019 Cohort will be traveling to Stuttgart, Germany and London, England. They will take International Business and Operations & Supply Chain Management. Future travel locations and courses may vary.
The Aspire Fellows internship experience much more than filing papers or making copies. Our students become an integral part of their company by working on focused projects. This is a chance for students to gain almost a full year of work experience before graduating college. Meanwhile, employers report a willingness to invest in our students since they will be in their positions longer than the traditional semester-long internship. Student roles typically reflect their long-term career goals.
2018 Partners
Advent Marketing
Aramark
Capital Financial
Data Intelligence Group
Genesco
Heimerdinger Foundation
Hilton Hotels
LKQ Corporation
Martha O'Bryan Center
Pride Sports
Schneider Electric
SnapShot Interactive
Staffing as a Mission
Surgery Partners
Virsys12
Visualize Health
For more information on the Directed Work Experience Program, please contact Director of Student and Business Relations Marianne Van der Voort.
Our student has been a valuable asset to our department and have become an integral part of our work-flow. Additional , her questions challenge our underlying perceptions.
— Paul Scalisi, VP Managed Care, Lifepoint
