Babson College’s San Francisco Campus – ETA Thrives Calistyle
Although most students, alumni, and friends of Babson understand that the college’s main campus is located in Wellesley, the college has two additional campuses – one in Boston (at a brand new location on Federal Street) and a second in San Francisco, California located in the SoMa district (South of Market) which has provided a multitude of educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for blended learning MBA and undergraduate students since it was established over five years ago. Located at 135 Main Street on the third floor, students, staff, faculty, and alumni frequent this location throughout the year for classes, networking events, and company visits. The campus consists of two large classrooms, two conference rooms, offices for staff, and a central reception and kitchen area. Currently, there are about 100 blended learning students in two cohorts who participate in a 21-month MBA program, and 15 undergraduate students who are spending the spring semester in the city. This year, the staff has welcomed two students enrolled in the new Certificate of Advanced Management program who are taking one of the spring electives. All west coast students are welcome and encouraged to participate in events that take place on campus as well as outside of it including two Babson Connects in April and October (which are also open to the east coast graduate students), as well as a number of company visits. In the past, students have visited several reputable Bay Area employers including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Optimizely, LinkedIn, Kaiser Permanente, Jawbone, Nature Box, 500 Start Ups, Pandora, eBay, Oracle, and Tesla.
There’s also a huge network of Babson alums who live and work in and around San Francisco and several of them will be among the “featured alumni” at our 10th Babson Connect event on Thursday evening, April 7th. The companies scheduled to be represented include Lookout Mobile Security, VCE, Hertz, Fluxx, Powis Parker, Shark Branding, First Republic Bank, SumoLogic, and Cognizant.
This year, Director Lynn Santopietro will be launching two new initiatives – a Rocket Pitch Competition on Thursday evening, March 10th from 6-9 p.m. featuring Bay Area alumni judges, and a Summer Venture Program, a 10-week intensive experience designed to accelerate the development of the most promising Babson entrepreneurs, is a signature initiative of the institution’s Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. The San Francisco pilot is open to Babson College students and alumni, and will run simultaneously and collaboratively with the annual main campus program. Up to 10 teams will be selected to participate in the first San Francisco Summer Venture Program, and up to 15 teams will be chosen in Wellesley.
“The expansion of Babson’s Summer Venture Program will allow students to take advantage of, and connect to, the Silicon Valley and Bay Area startup scene,” said Lynn Santopietro. “We’re excited to pilot the program at our west coast campus and help that many more Babson entrepreneurs accelerate their ventures.”
The site is staffed by four individuals including Lynn Santopietro. The others are Alex Trempus, Associate Director for West Coast Graduate Admissions, Eiko, Assistant Director for the Undergraduate Programs, and Gloria Balderas, Coordinator for Campus Orientation and Events. For more information about the west coast site, visit http://www.babson.edu/admission/visiting-babson/san-francisco/Pages/default.aspx