Business Students at Central Travel to UTC for ‘Empower Your Future’ Program

Empower our Future is a program designed to motivate female students to consider Finance and Economics majors.

“Currently, approximately 80% of Finance and Economics majors nationwide (and at UTC) are male students. Recognizing the lack of gender equality in the fields, we developed the Empower Your Future workshop to encourage female students to consider these potential majors and career fields,” commented Catherine Middleton, Senior Lecturer at University of Tennessee- Chattanooga.

The event is organized by Dr. Bento Lobo, the Department Head for the Finance & Economics Department, and has a multitude of speakers and panelists who show up to educate the students about their job experiences in Economics and Finance fields. Empower Your Future is available to all high school students across the Hamilton County area. Last year, the program was entirely live-streamed, so a few students from outside the Chattanooga area were able to participate.

According to Middleton, “The event is series of presentations and workshops for students to learn more about degrees and potential jobs.” Typically, there will be a keynote speaker from the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as a panel of local financial professionals, the UTC faculty, and a Q&A with a few current UTC business students.

For example, Dr. Sheena Murray did a presentation about the type of work done by Economists. Catherine Middleton had a few thoughts on it, “There are so many issues—like environmental issues, income inequality, economic growth, etc—that can be addressed by economic analysis. It’s a lot more than people generally realize, so I enjoy her presentation because I see the expressions on the faces of students who are discovering a whole new approach to solving some of the problems we face in society.”

“I graduated Central High in 1993 before going to UTC for a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. At that time, there was only one female Economics professor. There were almost no other girls in my Economics classes,” says Middleton. There are often stigmas that girls would not be suited for Economic jobs, with the excuse that ‘girl’s can’t do math’. “Thankfully,” Middleton says, “this has changed a lot over time.”

“It’s incredibly important to have diverse voices at the table in the financial world,” states Middleton. “…the vast majority of CEO’s for Angel Investor Funds (funds that give money to help people start a business) are white and male—and they disproportionately give start-up funds to white male owned ventures.’ Women and people of color often struggle to find the funds to start their own businesses, and Empower Your Future gives both of these groups a better chance.

While this program is female-oriented, it is not not available to male students. However, the focus is mainly on the importance of woman in these fields, due to the gender inequity in these fields. The Rollins College of Business does a variation of programs directed to all students, including the Business Empowerment Academy, which is a 5-day residential summer program that allows students to have a similar experience to that of the Empower Your Future program.

All in all, the Empower Your Future  program is an amazing and intuitive way to bring female students together and allow them to explore new career choices that may not have been made available to them before.

As Catherine Middleton said, “It’s also generally a well-paid career….and who doesn’t like that?”