To strengthen the pool of minority executive talent available to corporate America, the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University has launched the "Pipeline to the 21st Century" initiative. Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney has presented the school with $80,000, the first installment of a two-year $160,000 commitment, to help fund the initiative's events.

The gifts will help support three important programs of the Office for Women and Minorities in Business at the Johnson School. The first program, Johnson Means Business, will consist of weekends at Cornell for underrepresented minority students who are within one to two years of applying to business school. Hosted by current MBA students, the prospective minority MBAs will learn how to prepare and apply for MBA admission at Cornell, how to finance an MBA education and the careers available to people with MBA degrees. It will also offer prospective students the opportunity to interact with Cornell faculty and students. For each weekend, the prospective MBA students, whose transportation and meals will be covered by the grant, will stay with current MBA students.

The second component, Destination Johnson Reception, will be a program at the Johnson School during the weekend of April 20-22 for all accepted students to have a firsthand look at the school. The Citigroup grant covers the expenses during the weekend for minority students who have been accepted to the program; it also supports a special Saturday reception for minority students and alumni at which minority executives from Citigroup will discuss careers in business.

The third program of the Pipeline to the 21st Century initiative is the Citigroup Minorities Alumni Speaker Series. This series will be in New York City this spring and all Cornell minority alumni as well as Johnson School minority alumni will be invited and encouraged to bring a high school or college undergraduate student guest for the day. Minority executives from Citigroup will address building wealth in minority communities during the series.

"We give Citigroup a lot of credit for making this commitment," says Angela Noble, director of the Office for Women and Minorities in Business at the Johnson School. "We are very impressed with their commitment and their understanding that to truly get more minorities to apply and attend business school, you need to reach out long before these students are ready to enter the business school environment. The Citigroup gift helps us to reach out to underrepresented minority MBAs during their entire career life cycle: before, during and after their MBA education. We hope that through these efforts we will substantially increase the number of minorities who consider careers in business and, naturally, who think about the Johnson School when considering MBA programs."

Other related website:

• Johnson School of Management: http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/