About 400 new undergraduate students—including the first class of freshmen in the new four-year Spieker Undergraduate Business Program—began their Haas journeys last week with an orientation that culminated with Haas Base Camp, a community-building weekend in South Lake Tahoe.
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The class, which includes 191 first-year Spieker Undergraduate Business Program students, 110 transfer students, and 100 continuing UC Berkeley students, were introduced to life at Haas during Aug. 26 orientation sessions on building leadership and community, an intro to Becoming a Changemaker (a course created by Haas Professional Faculty member Alex Budak), and advice on adapting to the program’s academic rigor. (The Haas Undergraduate Program ranked No. 2 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Undergraduate Business Programs.)
“We are so excited to have each and every one here with us to launch your academic and personal journey here at Haas,” said Interim Dean Jenny Chatman. Chatman, a workplace culture expert who helped codify the Berkeley Haas Defining Leadership Principles, urged students to connect with professors, build relationships with classmates who come from different backgrounds, and follow their passions during their time in the program.
Haas announced in 2022 that its top-ranked two-year undergraduate business program would expand to become a four-year program, named the Spieker Undergraduate Business Program in recognition of the $30 million gift from Haas alumnus Warren “Ned” Spieker, BS 66, and his wife, Carol, BA 66 (political science).
Making changes
The undergraduate program office made many changes this year to orientation and the undergrad program, including splitting students into six cohorts, each with two leaders, and providing additional academic and mental health support programming for all. The undergraduate program is also moving toward UC Berkeley’s goal of attaining a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) designation, or a full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student enrollment that is at least 25% Hispanic.
Katrina Koski, the director of Inclusion and Belonging at Haas, told the students that if they are feeling any sense of impostor syndrome at Haas, “you are definitely not alone.” That belief has nothing to do with accomplishments and successes, she said. “We admit zero impostors here,” she said. “Each one of you, regardless of what has brought you to this chair you are sitting in now, deserves to be here.”
Elias Goss, BS 28, said he was excited to be building community as part of the first Spieker class.
“As a young, underrepresented student and the first in my family to attend a four-year accredited university, just being at Berkeley has changed the trajectory of what I thought was possible for me and my family,” he said.
Continuing UC Berkeley students kick off their Haas journey. All photos: Brittany Hosea-Small.
After orientation, the new first-year Spieker and M.E.T. students gathered for Haas Base Camp, a Labor Day weekend trip to Camp Concord in South Lake Tahoe led by the Haas Program Office and supported by upper division cohort leaders. At Base Camp students took an exhilarating dip in Lake Tahoe, played an epic game of Capture the Flag, demonstrated their knowledge of Haas and Cal during a lively trivia game, learned Cal songs, and performed in an enthusiastically choreographed lip sync and dance contest. They also explored one of the Defining Leadership Principles, Students Always, with Haas staff members sharing how they developed a growth mindset, learned from failure, and built resilience as a response to setbacks.
Interim Dean Chatman, former Dean Ann Harrison, along with Ned Spieker and Michael Grimes, both members of the Spieker Undergraduate Program Advisory Board, joined the students during a lively reception.
“The weather was perfect, the weekend was fun, and the students seemed to enjoy and appreciate the experience,” said Katie Marshall, associate director of Admissions, Yield & Transition, at Haas, who was on the planning committee for Haas Base Camp. “I was touched to see the students really come together as a community by the end of the weekend, and many felt that they made genuine connections to their cohorts and classmates.”
Expanding program
Over recent years, the undergraduate program has added three multidisciplinary programs and one minor outside of the core program, including:
- The Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology (M.E.T.) program, a collaboration between Haas and the UC Berkeley College of Engineering that grants graduates two bachelor of science degrees in business and an engineering discipline of their choice in four years, with the goal of providing deep leadership and technology skills. (This year marked the fifth entering M.E.T. cohort.)
- The Robinson Life Science, Business, and Entrepreneurship Program, a joint venture between the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology in the College of Letters and Science and Haas that allows students to earn a bachelor of science in business administration and a bachelor of arts in molecular and cell biology.
- The Global Management Program, a four-year international program that requires students to study abroad their first semester, fulfill a language requirement, and take specialized global business courses.
- The Summer Minor in Sustainable Business and Policy, a collaboration between Haas and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the College of Natural Resources that provides students with the skills needed for careers in business or government focused on sustainable business and policy.
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