This article was written for our sponsor, East Carolina University

A university education is designed to prepare students to enter the workforce in their chosen profession. But while classroom instruction can provide invaluable insight, there's nothing like real-world experience to give students a true leg up.

For high-achieving students in the Immersive MBA pathway (IMBA) at The Thomas D. Arthur Graduate School of Business at East Carolina University, that real-world experience is derived through immersive internships at major companies with facilities in eastern North Carolina and elsewhere. The pathway was established in 2023 with a pilot class of 12 students.

"The design of the immersive internship is two parts: to match a student's desires and interests with a company's needs, and to give that student more exposure and experience with leadership at that company," explains Linda Quick, Assistant Dean of The Thomas D. Arthur Graduate School of Business. "This is not a 'get coffee and make copies' type of internship. The students are actually assigned significant projects with the company they intern with."

Partner companies include Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Catalent, CAPTRUST, TowneBank, Fastenal, and ThermoFisher. Outside of this core group, one fashion merchandising major sought and was awarded an internship with Nordstrom in Seattle, Washington.

As with most scholarship opportunities, students must apply for a spot in the IMBA pathway. In some cases, students are encouraged by advisors who are aware of the students' career paths and believe an immersive internship would give them a professional advantage. Participating students receive financial support throughout the entirety of the program.

For many students, the IMBA pathway can be transformative. "The Immersive MBA students are high-achieving, high-performing students who are well prepared to move into leadership track positions," Quick says. "The missing component we found was industry experience, or an understanding of how what they're learning in the classroom looks like at an actual company and in practice. The design of the IMBA pathway was to give them a chance to put what they learned into practice and to learn from key leaders in these companies."

Business management graduate Ashley Dickerson '23 is interning at Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. in Greenville. She works with Talent Acquisition Manager Ruth Anne Harrell. "Our relationship with ECU provides an opportunity to give back to the community and help develop the future workforce," Harrell says of the company's participation in ECU's IMBA pathway. "The foundation of the IMBA curriculum is seven leadership competencies, and those competencies really align with Hyster-Yale Materials Handling."

Dickerson chose to participate in the Immersive MBA pathway because it was fast-paced and challenging. "I was very interested in that," she says, "because I know I have to really push myself to grow as a professional. The Immersive MBA pathway gave me that opportunity, including networking opportunities, leadership workshops, and experiences that I would never have gotten otherwise."

Dickerson is currently working on three simultaneous projects. The first deals with compliance and making sure the company meets its affirmative action goals; the second deals with creating a hiring manager survey aligned with the company's values so its talent acquisition team can evaluate the effectiveness of its recruitment process; and the third deals specifically with talent acquisition.

"The internship program at Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. is pretty robust, and is made of two main facets," Harrell observes. "The first is the experiential learning the interns receive by working with their supervisor on an assigned project. Through that, we aim to have projects that flex cross-functionally to provide the interns with as much exposure to the business as possible. The second part really focuses on professional development through our dedicated learning and development team. Interns receive exposure to senior leaders through question-and-answer sessions, and get to network with the young professionals in our organization."

Sometimes participating IMBA students also get to travel for co-curricular experiences as part of their internships. Last October, for example, 20 College of Business graduate and undergraduate students traveled to New York City to meet with ECU alums who now work for major corporations, such as Sean Clark '18, who works at PIMCO, an investment company, and Stevie Dupree-Parker '20 with J/PR, a global communications firm. Another 18 students, including 10 IMBA students, traveled to California's Silicon Valley for similar professional confabs in May.

ECU's Immersive MBA pathway is a win for all involved. Students receive essential real-world experience in their chosen field, and participating companies are able to mold the next generation of skilled workers. "We really value our relationship with ECU, especially with the Immersive MBA pathway," notes Harrell. "The quality of students that come out of this pathway is just fantastic. It's a great relationship that we hope will continue for years to come."

ECU encourages and provides unique real-world opportunities for students outside the IMBA pathway as well. To name a few, Sports Management students spent time in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII, Geology majors have field training in New Mexico and Colorado and students from Recreation Sciences had an opportunity to travel to Berlin to work at the World Games.


This article was written for our sponsor, East Carolina University