Purposeful Business Fellows

The integration of faith and business has always been key to the educational and spiritual mission of the College of Business.

In 2016 the initiative began as the Center for Business As Mission (BAM), and in 2023, the college launched a new holistic approach to preparing the Psalm 78:72-professional for the marketplace called the Initiative for Purposeful Business.

IBP will take the college’s proven framework to integrate faith and business education that was centered around one academic center and now immerse it throughout the College of Business. The framework has expanded beyond providing missional experiences to holistically equipping business students who will most likely not hold a position of leadership or control in their post-graduate position. In this context, we are committed to prepare business students to exercise powerful leadership through their influence by embracing the values and virtues of Jesus.

Opportunities for students to see business with a purposeful framework include

  • Curriculum, core classes in which to infuse the concepts of purposeful business.
  • Faculty and staff, who will develop personal goals to advance the initiative through teaching, research, service, or engagement.
  • Missional Business, continuation of the college’s successful global experiences abroad.
  • COB chapels which highlight business leaders making an impact in their companies and in the world.
  • Co-curricular experiences structured as Purposeful Business Fellows.
  • Collaboration with the Center for Vocational Discovery, a university-wide program to help students not only prepare for a career but to also discover their purpose and to inspire them to use their talents to serve others.
  • A unique Be Well engagement program; to improve the spiritual and overall health of all students, faculty, and staff.

Educating students to view business with a missional lens and the integration of their faith in all aspects of their chosen career will result in

  • The use of profit for impact
  • Empowerment through job creation
  • The formation of strategic partnerships
  • Student engagement in a high level of experiential learning
  • Employees who contribute greater value to the workplace