Indigenous Business Education Partners’ inaugural director reflects on decades of service and impact – UM Today

September 19, 2024

In 1994, in what would soon be named the Asper School of Business, Wanda Wuttunee was approached by former dean William Mackness and then-associate dean Jerry Gray. The previous year, assistant professor Beth Rubin and instructor Jonas Sammons had put together a funding proposal for a pilot project.

The faculty of management had secured a year of funding for a project to support Indigenous students coming into the business school. Mackness and Gray wanted Wuttunee to lead it.

Wuttunee, who had been working in the emerging field of Indigenous economic development, was a faculty member in the department of Native studies at UM (today, called the department of Indigenous studies), and immediately saw the value and the boldness of the idea.

Doing what hadn’t been done

“A business education is lovely to have no matter what your career is. It was really cool that I could have this opportunity to support students in considering business, which can bring so many career opportunities and directions,” says Wuttunee.

Read More: https://news.umanitoba.ca/indigenous-business-education-partners-inaugural-director-reflects-on-decades-of-service-and-impact/