Donation with a catch

IU graduate and Cisco System's CEO John Chambers recently donated $1 million to the Kelley School of Business. \nThe money comes with a catch:\nCreate an innovative program for its students that puts MBA students side by side with a start-up company's highest executives.\n"This is absolutely revolutionary," said Dan Dalton, the Kelley School's dean. "There is no other institute we know of with a comparable program." \nThe new program allows students to work with emerging entrepreneurial companies during its earliest stages. \n"One of the real advantages is the amount of responsibility the student is likely to enjoy," Dalton said. \nThese internships also differ from others in that the student will be able to participate in every level of the company's creation, which they would not be able to do with a larger company. These internships also allow the student "the opportunity to build a strong network and relationships with the company's employees," said Elizabeth Gatewood, the director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.\nBut IU students are not the only ones who will benefit from this program. Dick McCracken, the director of the Kelley School's graduate career services, said the companies will also benefit greatly. \n"The grant will pay a portion of the student's wages which will allow companies to receive a higher talent level at a lower cost," McCracker said. \nThe program will also attract more prospective students to the school.\nGatewood said competition for these internships is sure to be high initially, citing the difficult job market as a contributing factor to the lack of overall internships for graduate students. \n"In the beginning the 15 or so spots will most likely be fairly hard to get," Dalton said. "(In the future) there should be a sufficient number to accommodate most of the people who are genuinely interested in the program."\nHe said he hopes to continue the program and to be able to offer 40 or 50 internships a year in the future. \nSpecific companies are still being researched by both the Kelley School and the Johnson Center and have not yet been chosen for involvement, though most of the companies are expected to have their base either in Indiana or Illinois for the first year. After that, Dalton said he hopes the program will expand to involve a number of companies both nationally and internationally. Qualifications for the internships include being a first year MBA student who has an interest in entrepreneurship or Internet-related businesses. Other factors that will be considered are leadership abilities, business experience and a desire to work in the high-tech industry. A committee of faculty from the Johnson Center will be reviewing applications and "the companies will play a part in the selection process as well," McCracken said. \nJohn Chambers graduated from IU's MBA program in 1976. He also has a law degree and a B.S./B.A. degree in business, which he obtained at West Virginia University. He joined Cisco in 1991. Since taking over as CEO in 1995, the company's annual revenues have jumped from 1.2 billion to its current run rate of almost $20 billion. This growth rate has mainly been attributed to Cisco's productivity increase as a result of its use of Internet business solutions. In the summer of 2000, friends and colleagues of Chambers donated more than $1.2 million to the business school in order to create an endowed chair in his honor.