The Wharton Dean's Undergraduate Advisory Board is one of the oldest undergraduate student body groups in the Wharton School. During a typical month, we will research, debate, and develop a variety of projects in small initiative teams. Our work culminates in our monthly Dean's meetings, where the entire Board meets with Dean Robertson, Vice Dean Phillips, Deputy Dean Gibbons, and other administrators in the Wharton undergraduate office (G95). The Board also collaborates with other members of the Wharton community including faculty and other student leaders. Board Members remain plugged into administrative developments through weekly meetings with the undergraduate division. WAB members are also invited to sit on several committees such as the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and many of the professor and student award committees.
What does WAB do?
"WAB plays a very important role in helping Wharton to better understand the undergraduate student learning experience and make it the best it can be. As a WAB advisor, I enjoy collaborating, creating, evaluating, and implementing initiatives with them, knowing that they will have an immediate and positive impact on our undergraduate community."
Suzanne Kauffman DePuyt
Former Managing Director, The Wharton School
Vice Dean and Director of Marketing and Communications, Penn Undergraduate Admissions
"WAB is at the forefront of improving the educational experience of fellow students. I have enjoyed collaborating with students who take a concerted interest in getting the most out of Wharton."
Scott J. Romeika, Psy.D.
Director of Academic Affairs and Advising,
The Wharton School
"WAB was by far the most important part of my life at Penn - it allowed me to be a stakeholder in my education, to create significant change, and to feel like an integral part of the Wharton community by giving back in so many ways. More than that however, it gave me the opportunity to create some of my deepest and most meaningful relationships - with the other members, the administration, and the faculty we worked with."
Suchi Sastri, W'07, Co-Chair 2006-07
Currently at Stanford Graduate School of Business
"For me, WAB was one of the few experiences in college where you worked together with a small group of like-minded individuals on matters that carried significance well beyond yourself. Many find the junior year summer internship as their first "real world" experience; to me, WAB, at its core, was a way to take all the things you learned about leadership and teamwork and figure out a way to apply it, starting as a freshman. The Dean's Board has a good mix of mentoring from senior members, supervision from administrators, and challenges from the Dean to work through each year."
Beeneet Kothari, W'04 SEAS'04, Co-Chair 2003-04
Currently at Duquesne Capital Management
"From freshman to senior year, I’ve had the honor of befriending seven classes of WABbies. They are the most genuine and high-performing people I have met at Penn, and I am lucky to be able to call them mentors and friends.
Working on initiatives on WAB has taught me a number of valuable skills: how universities and large institutions work, how to communicate and work with various stakeholders, how to coordinate work-plans with initiative team members, how to articulate my ideas persuasively to the Deans, among others.
WAB in particular offers its members a variety of unique leadership opportunities. WABbies work closely with the administration and provide student perspective on a variety of Wharton and University committees and panels, which leads to meaningful relationships with staff and faculty all across the University. WAB has enjoyed a 25+ year relationship with the Deans of the Wharton School. That relationship really allows WABbies to explore their ideas to the fullest, and in part explains why WAB has been responsible for the creation of new concentrations, interschool minors, leadership programs, the Cohort system, multiple white papers, research and scholars programs, among other deliverables."
Ravi Naresh, W'09 SAS'09, Co-Chair 2008-09
Currently at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners
“For me, WAB has played the role of several different clubs. I feel like I’ve made more of an impact on WAB than I could on any other club, because I’ve stayed active on several different initiatives spanning from creating a new concentration to organizing a conference. At the same time, WAB has been a social organization. Some of my closest friends are on WAB, and I’ve gone to older Wabbies for advice on most everything. We organize competitions with G95 and our sister club the Wharton Council, ranging from basketball and ultimate Frisbee to even a trivia competition.I’ve almost learned more as a member on WAB than as a student in Wharton. By interacting so frequently with the administration and faculty, we develop the skills to contribute to the business of running the best business school in the world. WAB is an organization of high-powered and smart individuals who are driven by the desire to make a difference in their education.”
Grant Wilson, W'09, Co-Chair 2008-09
Currently at PricewaterhouseCoopers