HU School of Business Receives Urban League's Campus Leadership Award

Hampton, VA - The National Urban Leagues’ Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP) awarded the Hampton University School of Business the prestigious Cal Darden Campus Leadership Award, designating the Hampton program as the “Best in the Nation” at the 36th Annual BEEP Conference held June 15-19 in Miami, Fla.

During the 2004/2005 school year, 50 schools from across the nation conducted BEEP activities. Competition for the award included Texas Southern University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Morehouse College and others.

Of the 50 colleges and universities, HU won the only award given to a participating school. This recognition was based on the overall organization of the Hampton University’s process from the initial contact, design, content, execution, student participation and follow-up reports to the national organization.

“We have worked long and hard over a long period of time to move the HU School of Business to the front of the pack,” said Sid Howard Credle, dean of the school. “The award from the Urban League as the best program is an honor that has been earned and is testimony to the hard work and energy of Dr. Ruby Beale and the students of the Society of Business Professionals and Leadership Application Program to make the program work.”

”It was a pleasure and an honor to present Hampton with the Cal Darden Campus Leadership Award,” said Donald Wofford, a BEEP board member and an executive with United Parcel Service. “The outstanding BEEP activities provided during our visit clearly demonstrated the leadership you've given to the students to earn and deserve this recognition.”

HU’s two-day, student-run BEEP activity effectively employs executives to facilitate workshops and panel presentations on such topics as “Marketing Me,” “Soft Skills,” “Ethics” and ”Professional Etiquette.”

“The Hampton model as conceptualized by Dean Credle has deviated from the normal BEEP program structure for a number of years,” said Beale, chair of the Business Administration Program and director of the Leadership Application Program. “Unlike other programs, HU’s format does not place executives into the classrooms, which would substitute real-world experience for academic theory.

“Instead, the HU BEEP activity is molded into the School’s existing Leadership Application Program, as a two-day supplement to classroom academic theory,” she added. “The HU BEEP activity also opens the program to students across campus and discipline to participate in the presentations, interactions, and workshops.”

The Black Executive Exchange Program is a voluntary partnership between the National Urban League, corporate America, the U.S. government and other institutions to loan African-American executives to participating colleges as "Visiting Professors." These visiting professors normally lecture in credit-bearing courses that correspond to their industries and participate in other BEEP-related activities such as networking sessions, workshops and mock job interviews.

BEEP's mission is to share learning experience across generations, cultivate new leaders, and inspire achievements "beyond the possible" through committed involvement and operational excellence.