With the influx of cooler weather and changing leaves on the Columbia campus comes a series of student-run conferences that give both first-and second-year CBS students the opportunity to expand their knowledge across a variety of disciplines through keynote speakers and panels and network with other like-minded students, conference sponsors (which are often big CBS recruiters) and even industry professionals who seek out these conferences. Just last week was the popular Social Enterprise conference, where speakers addressed education reform, green technology and health care reform, among other issues. The keynote speaker was former Intel CEO Craig Barrett, and Wikipedia co-foundder Jimmy Wales spoke on grassroots media. The Marketing Association of Columbia Conference follows in early November and, like the Social Enterprise Conference, it usually offers a packed house. This year’s theme is “You Marketing,” and the keynote is Yahoo! scientist Duncan Watts, who specializes in social media and collective dynamics. Also in November is the CBS Health Care Conference, featuring Fred Hassan, the CEO of Schering-Plough. (Conference season continues into the second semester, and features the popular India Business Conference and Columbia Women in Business conference).
CBS often touts its New York Advantage – students have the business world right at its door, ripe for exploration. Still, this advantage does not mean that CBS neglects to bring the business world to its students.
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