TALLAHASSEE — With its first Bartow scholarship recipient and as champions of the Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP) Case Study Competition, Florida A&M University (FAMU) has made history.


FAMU School of Business and Industry (SBI) students Najee Sanders, a graduating professional MBA student from Teaneck, N.J.; Asia McFarland, a graduating professional MBA student from Raleigh, N.C.; Krystal Wilson, a professional MBA student from Monticello, Fla.; and Andrew Lucas, a second year business administration student, became the first team of FAMU students to win the BEEP Case Study Competition.

With a total of ten schools participating, this year’s competition involved drafting and presenting a strategic plan in response to a given case study about Sodexo.

“It felt great to win,” said Sanders. “This was a great achievement for our team.”

Also during the 2012 BEEP Leadership conference, held in Orlando, FAMU student D. Simeon Dixon was presented with the Dr. Jerome E. Bartow Scholarship at the Education Breakfast. Established in June 1997, this scholarship is a $5,000 award offered to three students of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in the following majors: business, education, management, technology and STEM.  Dixon is the first FAMU student to ever to receive the noted award.

BEEP is the Urban League’s longest-running program and has a voluntary partnership between the National Urban League, corporate America, government, nonprofits and other institutions to loan African-American executives to participating colleges as “visiting professors.” 

Visiting professors lecture in credit-bearing courses that correspond to their industries and participate in other BEEP-related activities such as networking sessions, workshops and mock job interviews.

FAMU’s BEEP Chapter mission is to provide collegiate students with opportunities to network, learn from the visiting professors and enhance students’ overall professional development and creativity.

Case competition coach Jennifer Collins-Bowers said she is very proud of the students’ work.