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Holy Cross Graduates 46 Business Certificate Program Recipients

Established in 2006 with limited offerings for students to explore business at Holy Cross, the office was recently named the Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society.  Parents, students and alumni alike have found the Center’s experiential learning opportunities to be a valuable addition to the liberal arts education and student interest in these business certificate programs is booming. As of the spring 2019 semester, there are more than 470 students participating, and they come from all majors. Enrollment in the workshop about supply chain management doubled from 2017 to 2018, from 20 to more than 40 students. The workshop on business ethics and principled leadership had so many students enroll that Prof. David Chu, Director and Prebusiness Advisor,  hopes to offer multiple sessions in the future.

“With the center, we’re going to be able to significantly expand opportunities to meet student demand. The purpose of the center is to provide students with multiple pathways to learn about business — pathways that can complement any major in the curriculum. We don’t try to replicate a business school curriculum; we take a distinctively liberal arts approach” Chu comments.

Today, the Ciocca Center is proud to graduate 46 students from the Business Certificate Programs.  See a list of students below. Continue reading “Holy Cross Graduates 46 Business Certificate Program Recipients”
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HC Launch Celebrates Inaugural Year

HC Launch held an end-of- year dinner on Tuesday, May 7th at Volturno in Worcester, MA to celebrate its inaugural year with the Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society. This event reviewed the first year of the incubator, announced several awards and new leadership, and recognized the seniors.

HC Launch is a student-run incubator in the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program focusing on turning innovative business ideas into real ventures.  This year the incubator supported eight student-run ventures covering a wide range of concepts.

At the event Ja-Nae Duane, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, highlighted the many successes of the incubator.  She referenced key accomplishments such as the first annual Entrepreneurship Week held during the spring semester, the Innovation Challenge held to address systemic issues on campus, and the most successful Shark Tank pitch competition to date.

Joe Egan ’19, managing director, was recognized for his contributions.  “We were so happy to be able to honor and highlight the hard work and dedication of the HC Launch Incubator this year.” Egan commented.  “It has been an honor to be able to work with the incubator and celebrate the members.”

Duane, Egan and Paul Wiley ‘20, current managing director, announced the  following awards:

  • Innovation Award: Sanctuary (Mike Brown ‘19, Nolan Howard ‘19, Mike Lyons ‘19 & James Gould ‘20)
  • Dedication Award: The Equanimity Project (Tim Doyle ‘21, Kerry Grumka ‘21, Max Krause ‘21 & Tom Cremins ‘21)
  • Growth Award: Wilox (John Bowen ‘22, Mike Brown ‘19, Joe Egan ‘19, Nolan Howard ‘19, Luke Knox ‘22, Eric Lane ‘21,  Mary Anne Wiley ‘22 & Paul Wiley ‘20)
  • Leadership Award: Luke Knox ‘22
  • Rising Star Award: Tolu Akin ‘20

As a graduating senior, Egan announced his replacement for the new managing director for HC Launch, Tom Cremins ’21.  “I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with some of the most talented and innovative students on campus.” Cremins stated. “I know I have big shoes to fill, but I look forward to bringing HC Launch to new heights in the years to come!” Cremins has worked with HC Launch as an associate since January 2019.

The incubator saw incredible success in its inaugural year, and the future is looking bright. See photos from the event on Facebook. Thanks for reading!

Cassie Gevry, Associate Director of Student Engagement
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society

 

 
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2019 Women in Business Keynote Announcement

The Women in Business student committee is excited to announce the keynote speaker for the 14th annual conference! Meet Maggie O’Neill ’99, the co-founder and chief creative officer of SWATCHROOM, a DC based design, art and fabrication firm. As an artist herself, Maggie’s movement SUPERFIERCE is designed to empower, connect and advance female visual artists and to make sure the work of underrepresented women artists is seen worldwide.

2019 Conference Theme — BECOMING BOLD: Life in Color

Maggie received her degree from HC in political science, believing that her path was law school. Get excited to hear about her journey from political science into the art studio.  Save the date for Saturday, November 2, 2019.
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Ciocca Center Offers Alumni-led Tutorial

Classroom

This spring semester the Ciocca Center offered a new course through the Academic Internship Program.  Professor David Chu, Director of the Certificate Programs and Prebusiness Advisor at Holy Cross,  partnered with Katharine Quigley ’13, Digital Marketing Manager at Centage, to teach an Introduction to Online Marketing tutorial.

Complementing the Ciocca Center’s mission to connect the liberal arts to the job market, this new tutorial covered introductory marketing content through various readings and in-depth discussions with a focus on the Google Ads Platform. The five students then applied this to the design, implementation and assessment of an actual online marketing campaign for a non-profit, West Seattle Junction.

“A strong liberal arts education prepared me for an ever-changing digital marketing landscape.” starts Katharine.  “It was rewarding to help current Holy Cross students learn new digital marketing concepts and vocabulary, and then see them pair those tools with their existing critical thinking and leadership skills to make a real impact on a nonprofit client.”

Thank you to Katharine for reaching out and offering to work with students on this technical topic.  She worked with Professor Chu to identify readings, design a syllabus and spent every Wednesday night on campus working with students interested in a career in marketing communications.

Who were the lucky students involved?  18 students applied for this opportunity and only five were selected: Joe Egan ’19, Tim Haemmerle ’19, Olivia Lozy ’20, Lilly Puccia ’19 and Madeline Thero ’19.

UPDATE:  Each of the students involved won a “Top Marketer Certificate” from Google! The award is based on successful completion of the Google Ad Grants Online Marketing Challenge, passing the Google Ads Fundamentals Assessment, and a positive client experience survey rating from their nonprofit. Congratulations on the excellent work!

Read more about the Google Awards here.

Thanks for reading! Cassie

Cassie Gevry, Associate Director
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society