Campaign News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jazmyn Burton
(404) 798-5212
jburton8@spelman.edu
Twitter: @SpelmanMedia



ATLANTA (February 17, 2021) -- Fifteen Spelman College students will benefit from Goldman Sachs’ recently announced five-year $25 million commitment to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The commitment is tied to the Market Madness: HBCU Possibilities Program, a four-month class in finance fundamentals that offers students in-depth training and insight from Goldman Sachs professionals. The sessions will prepare students for the “Market Madness” case study competition.

In its inaugural year, 125 HBCU first- and second-year college students will receive hands on training and learn fundamental skills in a professional setting, to complement their coursework and extracurricular activities.

"Spelman congratulates our 15 students who won a place in Goldman Sachs’ ‘Market Madness,’” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. “Our thanks to Goldman Sachs for providing an opportunity for our students to acquire skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.”

During the case study competition that concludes the program, students will have an opportunity to present to senior leaders at Goldman Sachs and compete for cash donations to their institutions, which will create a funding opportunity for future generations.

“I am interested in financial services and saw this program as an opportunity to supplement my classroom experience with exposure to ‘real-world’ business problems,” said Spelman sophomore and economics major, Alexandra Jenkins. “Additionally, collaborating with fellow HBCU students and Goldman Sachs professionals will broaden my perspectives and introduce me to new problem-solving methods.”

This commitment is part of Goldman Sachs’ broader strategy to attract and develop a diverse workforce. A critical component of Goldman Sachs diversity strategy is its aspirational goal to double campus analyst hiring from HBCUs at the firm by 2025.

In addition to Spelman, the 2021 participating institutions include Florida A&M, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State and Prairie View A&M.

“Building upon our past efforts, today's partnership between Goldman Sachs and HBCUs is the natural next step in our longstanding commitment to developing the best talent available with the widest range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives,” said David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. “It's a smart, long-term investment for the firm, it helps us better serve our clients, and over time we believe it contributes to a more inclusive and dynamic economy and society.”

Goldman Sachs will partner with additional HBCU institutions in the upcoming four years of the program.

Each participating HBCU will receive a grant from Goldman Sachs, ranging from $250,000 to $1 million, based on their student team’s performance in the final case competition. Participating students will also receive a $10,000 academic stipend upon completing the program. Academic stipends will be administered by UNCF, a Goldman Sachs Fund for Racial Equity partner, who also advised in the overall program design.

“For generations, HBCUs have had a track record of producing titans of industry and public service. I'm confident the students in our Market Madness: HBCU Possibilities Program will be no exception,” said Asahi Pompey, global head of corporate engagement, Goldman Sachs. “HBCUs and Goldman Sachs have a shared commitment to excellence, achievement and striving. Not only are we investing in HBCU students, but also their institutions and the larger Black community.”

About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College’s picturesque campus is home to 2,100 students. Spelman is the country's leading producer of Black women who complete Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The College’s status is confirmed by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 54 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 19 for undergraduate teaching, No. 4 for social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 14th year among historically Black colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal ranked the College No. 3, nationally, in terms of student satisfaction. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU, and a program to increase the number of Black women Ph.D.s in economics. New majors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, and partnerships have been established with MIT’s Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Outstanding alumnae include Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, Starbucks Group President and COO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman’s first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones. For more information, visit www.spelman.edu.