School of Business Administration · Student organizations
Student organizations give business students real experience beyond the classroom. Events, speakers, trainings, and client projects are all ways to do that.
An organization is designated a club or a group depending on how far its work reaches outside the business school. The tiers below explain the difference.
Leading a student organization comes with responsibility. The work has two purposes, and they carry equal weight:
Avoid mistakes that harm the School of Business, the university, or the people we work with.
Set students up to succeed, build real skills, and protect their own reputations.
The further an organization reaches outside the business school, the more is at stake for both. This framework scales planning and oversight to match.
It comes from experience. Over several years of student organizations bringing in speakers and doing client work, most problems traced back to the same few causes: acting before planning, unclear roles, and work the advisor didn't know about. An organization that learns from that history can last. One that ignores it usually doesn't.
Freedom is earned by showing a plan. Plans don't need to be perfect. They need to show you thought it through before acting.
That principle also sets how much students lead. The faculty advisor decides the leadership model for the organization and says so openly. Planning and a track record earn more latitude, and the advisor grants it.
Overview
Each tier reaches further outside the school. Each step up raises the stakes for the school and for the students, so it raises the planning and oversight too.
| Dimension | Tier 1 · InternalClub | Tier 2 · External exposureClub or Group | Tier 3 · External businessGroup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designation | Club | Club or Group. Set during the proposal review by the faculty advisor and SBA leadership, based on scope, activities, and how often the organization works with outside people. Students do not decide designation. | Group |
| Leadership model | Student-led | Student-led or faculty-guided, the advisor's call | Faculty-directed by default. The advisor may delegate specific functions to students as they show readiness. |
| What it is | Students working with students inside the business school | Bringing outside people in, or putting the organization's work in public | Doing work for an outside organization |
| Examples | Member meetings, peer workshops, career events | Guest speakers, outside trainers, public promotion | Client consulting projects; any NDA or agreement |
| Who approves | Faculty advisor is informed | Advisor submits a ZAG Activities request; administration evaluates; the dean approves | Faculty advisor approves the client and scope before anything is confirmed |
| Plan required | Semester calendar | Event plan, at least 1–2 weeks before the event | Full engagement plan: client, scope, team, communication, timeline |
| Advisor's role | Kept informed | Sponsors the request and reviews the event plan | Approves the client and scope, stays aware of all client activity, is invited to key meetings, reviews work before it reaches the client |
| Planning and oversight |
The roles and standards below apply at every tier.
How much students lead is decided by the faculty advisor, in the open, and written down. Greater exposure means greater risk, and that risk sits with the faculty member, so the advisor decides how much of it to take on personally. Some organizations are ready to lead. Some are not yet. The level can change as an organization shows readiness.
Students run it. The advisor is informed and approves anything external.
Students run day to day. The advisor reviews key decisions and work before it goes out.
The advisor leads. Students take on specific responsibilities as the advisor delegates them.
Process
Every activity moves through the same five steps. What changes by tier is how much the plan has to cover.
Decide which tier the activity falls in. If it touches two, use the higher one.
Cover what that tier asks for. Keep it short and clear.
The advisor reviews it and routes it on when the tier requires.
Work inside the approved plan. Anything outside it comes back to the advisor.
Record what happened and what you learned, so the next team starts ahead.
Students working with students. This is where most of an organization's work with the wider student body happens, including events the School of Business relies on. Tier 1 organizations are clubs, and they are student-led.
The first step outside the school. When you bring in a guest speaker or trainer, you are using university resources and inviting someone in on the school's behalf, so there is an approval process with lead time. A Tier 2 organization is designated a club or a group during the proposal review, by the faculty advisor and SBA leadership. Students do not decide designation. The organization runs student-led or faculty-guided, and the advisor decides which.
The same process covers a concern about the leadership model, or a request to change tier.
Doing work for an outside organization. This tier carries the most risk and the most responsibility, for the school, for the client, and for the students whose names are on the work. A Tier 3 organization is a group, and is faculty-directed by default. The advisor may delegate specific functions to students as they show readiness.
Each area below is gauged by the faculty advisor. For each one the advisor decides whether to direct it, review it, or delegate it to students. Without faculty oversight of these areas, the risk falls on the students, the faculty member, and the school.
Always applies
No student organization in the School of Business is entirely student-driven. How much students lead is set by the faculty advisor. These roles and standards hold at every tier.
Students
Students lead to the degree the faculty advisor decides, and earn more of it by showing a plan and a track record.
Students are not agents of the university. They can't sign for it or be named as responsible parties.
Faculty advisor
The university employee accountable for the organization.
The advisor sets the leadership model in the open and writes it down, so everyone knows where the line sits.
School of Business leadership
Administration, the dean's office, and marketing.
The organization uses the school's name and resources, so the school sets the standards for using them.
Due: set by your faculty advisor
For students
Students who want to start a club or a group submit a proposal. There are two paths, depending on whether you already have a faculty member in mind.
Path A
You know who you want as the advisor, so you start with them.
Path B
You start with the school, and the school looks for an advisor.
Designation is set during the proposal review by the faculty advisor and SBA leadership. Students do not decide it. The same process covers a concern about the leadership model, or a request to change tier.