The Vanderbilt Undergraduate Chapter of the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) has partnered with various other university organizations to host the F.O.R.U.S. Minority Career Expo. The acronym, which stands for “Focused Opportunities Reaching Underrepresented Students,” reveals the expo’s mission of providing undergraduate students of color a chance to  learn more about focused opportunities that exist in the forms of summer programs, internships and full-time employment opportunities at prominent companies.

Victor Rounds, the president of the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Chapter of the NBMBAA, said the F.O.R.U.S. event is relevant in light of modern corporate racial inequality.

“Imagine if only 16 companies in the Fortune 500 shared their respective employment data,” Rounds said. “This would provide information for over 800,000 employees. Out of those 800,000 employees, about 5,000 people would classify as ‘executives.’ Of those executives, we know that 80 percent of those executives would be men and 72 percent of those executives would be white. This shows us that even in 2018, business still has a diversity problem.”

According to Rounds, in order to achieve success in such an environment, minority students must be empowered with awareness of and access to the right opportunities at events such as F.O.R.U.S.

“In order to get to the top of companies like those in the Fortune 500, we have to find and take advantage of opportunities that allow us to showcase our skills and ambitions,” Rounds said. “The fact of the matter is that those exact opportunities for us exist and many companies want us to know how dedicated they are to getting us in the door. That’s why F.O.R.U.S. is necessary:  to bring together underrepresented students, companies looking to hire underrepresented students, and opportunities specifically for these students that allow them to show their capability.”

The expo will be hosted this Tuesday on February 27th from 3-6 p.m. at the Student Life Center, where companies such as Google, Wells Fargo, Citi, Lyft and Teach for America, among many others, will be present. RSVP’s are highly encouraged and can be found here.