Game ball during David Stern’s time as NBA Commissioner. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.
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The nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are in the spotlight and the National Basketball Association (NBA) is taking notice. As part of its increased attention, the association is launching a new fellowship program, focused on career development and mentoring for HBCU students.
Launching in 2022, the NBA, WNBA, and its teams will offer paid fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students at HBCUs. The fellowships will provide students with the opportunity to gain professional experience and to work across the various business and operations functions within the NBA. More importantly, all of the fellows will be matched with a team or league staff member who will provide hands-on mentoring. Applications for the program will open on Careers.NBA.com in the next few months.
Oris Staurt, Chief People and Inclusion Officer, NBA
Photo Credit: Oris Staurt
According to Oris Staurt, the NBA’s Chief People and Inclusion Officer, “The NBA’s connection to HBCUs goes back over 30 years to former NBA Commissioner David Stern’s role as a founding member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund,” an organization that represents and provide scholarships to students at publicly-supported HBCUs. He added, “The NBA wants to deepen its relationship with the HBCU community as HBCUs produce incredible talent and reflect the communities that many of our NBA fans come from.”
Thurgood Marshall College Fund President Harry L. Williams shared, “We are pleased to continue our relationship with the NBA to build upon our commitment to our students, providing them with opportunities for learning, networking and collaborations. We both recognize there is a need for more minority professionals in the industry, and HBCUs have one of the strongest recruiting bases for talent. I appreciate the NBA creating space for our students.”
Harry L. Williams, President, Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Photo Credit: Thurgood Marshall College Fund
For decades, career services staff at HBCUs complained that few companies and organizations visited their campuses and that their students were often overlooked for jobs and internships. However, the situation changed in 2021. According to Seana Coulter, director of the Center for Career Development at the Baltimore-based Morgan State University, “In my 24-year career in higher education, all in career services, I cannot recall a time when recruitment efforts at HBCUs have been this high and have stayed this high.”
Coulter’s experience is not an aberration. According to a 2021 Workforce Report from LinkedIn, HBCU alumni are being sought after at greater rates than others on the job market. Analysts at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) attribute the increased engagement of HBCU graduates to the societal calls for racial equity and justice in the summer of 2020 — following the murder of George Floyd. Engaging with HBCUs, their students, and alumni is one of the many ways that corporations are answering the calls for justice.
“The NBA family recognizes the storied and prominent role that HBCUs have played in our society for decades. We also recognize that within our commitments to increase Black representation across the league and grow the game, we can create educational, athletic and career opportunities through engagement with these institutions,” shared NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum.
