Baruch College strives to make education accessible to students from diverse backgrounds, and it can do that if it expands its “Business Academy” program to include non-business students sooner rather than later.

The Baruch Business Academy helps students who obtain an associate degree in business administration from a community college within the CUNY system transfer to Baruch College’s Larry Zicklin School of Business.

Baruch President S. David Wu told The Ticker that he plans to expand the program to non-business students at CUNY community colleges. He added that Jessica Lang, the dean of Baruch’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, was interested in the model of the program.

While the college is known for its business school, its programs in the humanities tend to be overshadowed. The departments within the Weissman School have earned recognition over the years for the achievements of their faculty and students plus its resources such as the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence program.

Expanding the program to community college students who study within the humanities will encourage and allow them to seamlessly transition into the Baruch community. As a result, these transfer students will bolster the success of the Weissman School.

The business academy started in October 2022 as a bridge to Baruch for business students from Borough of Manhattan Community College. It has since expanded to include business students at Queensborough Community College and LaGuardia Community College.

Regarding the program partnership between Baruch and BMCC, Wu said it took two years for the faculty from the two colleges to agree on the eligible coursework that could be transferred between them. In order to make the expansion to non-business students happen sooner, Baruch should prioritize this initiative.