Baruch College plans to sink millions of dollars into polishing its scrappy Big Apple business students beginning this fall, with a program emphasizing the “soft skills” inherent among blue-blood Ivy Leaguers.
Believing that the curriculum at the esteemed City University of New York business school is second to none, college officials said the new program focuses on refining students in the social graces inborn to country-club kids attending pricey universities.
Workshops on dining etiquette, accent reduction, global affairs and presentation skills are on the agenda.
There is also talk of offering students golf lessons to prep them for the inevitable day when they will entertain fat cats on the links.
“Everything about how one handles themselves, from eye contact to handshakes, will be covered,” said Ben Corpus, vice president for student affairs and enrollment.
“These are the outside-the-curriculum components that make candidates attractive to the Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns as they move on in their careers.”
The professional-development initiative, created with a $2 million grant from The Starr Foundation, is thought to be the first of its kind in higher education in the country.
The foundation has also committed to matching up to $3 million in Baruch fund-raising to develop the program over the next three years into a national model – bringing Baruch’s potential investment to $8 million.
With more than 60 percent of the college’s 12,800 undergraduate students hailing from households with an annual income of less than $40,000, they are generally not from the privileged classes.
Many of them are the first in their families to attend college.
Starr Foundation President Florence Davis said it was the students’ fortitude that moved her organization to help launch the polishing program.
“Often their families are new to America and the students lack exposure to the diversity of careers they can consider with a Baruch education,” Davis said.
While the program suggests a whiff of finishing-school finesse, Baruch President Kathleen Waldron said its objective was “to successfully prime students for job placement, post-graduate education and career advancement.”