Together We Lead: FAMU School of Business and Industry Earns UNCF Faculty Torchbearer Award
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Faculty members in Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry (SBI) are earning national recognition for helpings students build confidence, gain professional experience and prepare for the workforce.
The School of Business and Industry received the Faculty Torchbearer Award during this summer’s UNCF UNITE Conference. The UNCF Institute for Capacity Building presents the award to faculty members who collectively advance teaching, research, mentorship, innovation, student success and institutional advancement.
Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry, accepts the UNCF Faculty
Torchbearer Award on behalf of SBI during the UNCF UNITE Conference. The award recognizes
the collective impact of faculty in teaching, research, mentorship, innovation and
student success. (Photo courtesy of FAMU School of Business and Industry)
The conference theme, “Together We Lead,” reflected the collaborative approach SBI faculty members say drives their work and supports FAMU’s broader mission.
“The UNCF Faculty Torchbearer Award is a tremendous honor for the School of Business and Industry because it recognizes what has always been at the heart of SBI — our faculty’s commitment to our students,” said Ira W. Bates, Ph.D., interim dean of SBI.
“Our faculty do far more than deliver instruction in the classroom. They mentor students, connect them with professional opportunities, engage corporate partners, support experiential learning and prepare our students to compete and succeed at the highest levels.”
Inger Daniels, Ph.D., a professor in SBI, represented FAMU at the conference on behalf of Bates.
“We don’t do the work to be recognized, but it does feel good to be recognized because we do believe that we are putting in an exceptional amount of effort to build our students,” Daniels said. “The fact that it was recognized by the UNCF shows that our efforts are making a difference.”
Daniels has been involved in several FAMU-UNCF collaborations. She advised the FAMU team that won the UNCF HBCU Stock Pitch Competition, helped prepare the University’s successful application to join UNCF’s Work-Integrated Learning Community of Practice and servesas program director for UNCF Project ACCLAIM.
Team of faculty who took students to UNCF Stock Pitch 1st place: Inger Daniels-Hollar & Kenyatta Rosier. (Photo courtesy of FAMU School of
Business and Industry)
“The strongest faculty work creates opportunities, builds institutional capacity,
and expands what is possible for students,” Daniels said. “Individual faculty contributions
accumulate. Over time, they become institutional capacity.”
Preparing Students Beyond the Classroom
SBI puts that philosophy into practice through case competitions, corporate engagement, experiential learning and career preparation.
“We’re all working together to develop a well-rounded business student from the knowledge base to the professionalism,” Daniels said.
For Sabrina Jean-Marie, a senior business administration major specializing in finance, that preparation has translated into confidence.
Sabrina Jean-Marie, a third-year senior business administration student specializing
in finance at Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry, attends a
Wells Fargo event during her summer internship. (Photo courtesy of Sabrina Jean-Marie)
A Miami native and transfer student, Jean-Marie said SBI faculty and staff helped her prepare for interviews, pursue professional opportunities and enter unfamiliar spaces with greater confidence. This summer, she interned with Wells Fargo gaining a deeper understanding of finance careers.
Sabrina participates in the Bloomberg HBCU Academy of Excellence, an experience designed
to expose students to professional opportunities in finance and business. (Photo courtesy
of Sabrina Jean-Marie)
“They’re helping me prepare for interviews, helping me be on track for what’s going
on, who’s coming on campus — just putting us in front of these doors that open the
way for us,” she said.
Economics sophomore Chandler Destra has also experienced the impact of SBI faculty mentorship.
Chandler Destra, a second-year economics student at Florida A&M University, credits
School of Business and Industry faculty mentorship with helping shape his professional
development and creating opportunities to pursue his interests in finance and investing.
(Photo courtesy of Chandler Destra)
“The professors that I’ve met have been some of my biggest advocates to continue pursuing my goals, unlocking potential that even I didn’t know I had,” Destra said.
Destra credits Daniels with recognizing his interest in finance and trading recruiting him for FAMU’s UNCF HBCU Stock Pitch Competition team, which won first place.
“From putting me in front of legendary investors and professionals, to recruiting me for the UNCF Stock Pitch Competition, which we went on to win, she laid the way for me to contribute more and more toward SBI,” Destra said.
Daniels said that commitment to students is evident across SBI’s faculty. She pointed to Johnny McCaskill, an SBI instructor who was named FAMU’s 2025 Teacher of the Year, as another example of faculty whose teaching and mentorship have made an impact on students.
Recognition like McCaskill’s and the accomplishments of SBI students, Daniels said, reinforce the collective nature of the work behind the Faculty Torchbearer Award.
Creating Opportunities Through Partnership
SBI’s partnership with UNCF connects classroom learning with professional experience.
Through Project ACCLAIM, FAMU students receive hands-on experience while engaging with industry professionals and developing career-ready skills, industry engagement and professional development.
FAMU was also selected as one of 15 HBCUs participating in UNCF’s Work-Integrated Learning Community of Practice, which helps participating institutions align classroom experiences with the work students will encounter in their careers.
Daniels said that mission is increasingly important as artificial intelligence and other technologies change how students access information.
“Knowledge is easy,” Daniels said. “But can you do? That’s what we have to try to train the students more of. Can you do the actual work that you need to do when you get on the job?”
Faculty and staff from Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry (SBI)
gather for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the school’s Investments and Analytics Lab,
which provides students with hands-on learning opportunities and access to Bloomberg
technology used in the financial industry. (Photo courtesy of FAMU School of Business
and Industry)
Bates said continuing that work will require SBI to build on its legacy while adapting to a rapidly changing business environment.
“Business education is changing rapidly, particularly with advances in artificial intelligence, analytics and technology, and our responsibility is to ensure that our students are prepared not simply to enter that future but to lead it,” Bates said.
Together We Lead
Daniels hopes the awardwill encourage faculty members across FAMU by highlighting how their combined efforts strengthen students and the University.
“At FAMU, we have a deep love for our school, and we have a deep love for one another and for our students,” Daniels said. “So, it feels like we are all on a common mission to help to support and uplift members of our family. We don’t say family for no reason.”
Inger Daniels, Ph.D., professor in Florida A&M University’s School of Business and
Industry (SBI), and Ira W. Bates, Ph.D., interim dean of SBI, represent FAMU at the
UNCF UNITE Conference in Atlanta, where FAMU was announced as a participating institution
in Project ACCLAIM, an initiative aimed at increasing HBCU student participation in
the asset management industry. (Photo courtesy of Inger Daniels)
According to Daniels, faculty contribution should expand opportunities for students, strengthen programs, deepen partnerships, and leave the institution stronger. Daniels said.
“I am proud to contribute alongside faculty across FAMU who do that work every day, and proud to see our University recognized for it,” she said.
Media Contact:
Ashley Flete
Senior Communications Specialist
ashley1.flete@famu.edu
