OUT at Kelley offers advice for GLBT business students

Under the suits and sweaters of the Kelley School of Business, everyone is operating under the same guideline: professionalism.
For one subset of students, sexuality plays a role in determining how to be professional in the work environment.
Three years ago, business student Wayne Levinson decided to form OUT at Kelley to address the issues surrounding being GLBT in the workplace.
“Our initial goals were to be able to create a professional and social experience for students that would help them with networking, getting jobs, understanding OUT concepts in the workplace,” Levinson said. “So, things to do with being out in the workplace, coming out in the workplace and activities along those lines.”
The group currently has about 120 members and plans to recruit more during its first call-out meeting of the year on Nov. 4. OUT at Kelley works to send student members to the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference in New York each fall with scholarships from local sponsors.
Students at the conference have the opportunity to network with GLBT professionals working extensively in finance firms as well as attend panel discussions and workshops.
In 2009, five out of the nine students who attended the conference received internships from the contacts made there.
“I have a contact list of probably 100 GLBT professionals in New York City, all in industries that I am interested in, and that’s only because of OUBC and OUT at Kelley,” Levinson said. “We hope to bring more of that to campus this year, too, bringing the actual professionals here — that way it’s kind of more of a professional experience.”

 — Kayleen Cohen