Students
Activities and Organizations
Activities sponsored by the Center and its corporate partners offer you meaningful retail-related experience, teach you about the industry and retail careers, and build excitement about retailing.
The Kelley Retail Association
The Kelley Retail Association (KRA) is an undergraduate student organization that links Kelley students to the retailing industry. Students are welcomed and encouraged to participate, learn more about the retailing industry, and take ownership to build a student association that they can be proud of! Join us and contribute to case team competitions, take field trips to corporate headquarters, and network with representatives from the industry’s leading retail firms such as Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gap, Macy’s, Target, and others.
KRA Corporate Sponsorship 2011-2012
Kohl's will be the official corporate sponsor for the KRA during the 2011-2012 academic year. Kohl's has been a long time partner with the Center for Education and Research in Retailing at Kelley so it is very exciting that this industry leader will extend this relationship to the Kelley Retail Association. While student members of the KRA will be working with all the corporate sponsors of the Center for Retailing, this specific sponsorship will allow key representatives from Kohl's to partner with members of the association in a unique manner during the coming academic year.
For more information regarding leadership and general membership opportunities now available please contact, Prof. Theresa Williams at thdwilli [at] indiana [dot] edu, Prof. John Talbot at jstalbot [at] indiana [dot] edu, or KRA student organizer Janna Fuller at jlfuller [at] indiana [dot] edu.
Kelley Bstore
The Kelley Bstore, sponsored by the Center and aligned with the KRA, is a student-run retail store offering a variety of Kelley-branded apparel that gives students an opportunity to apply their Kelley education in operating a real business.
Target Excellence in Business Leadership Program
To ensure that all Kelley students receive leadership training, the Center facilitated a generous grant from Target to establish the Target Excellence in Business Leadership Program. This program provides an organized framework to help all Kelley undergraduate students develop, hone, and highlight their leadership skills.
With the help of Target, the Center sponsors Bstore Leadership Awards, up to six $500 awards offered to dedicated Kelley Bstore Club members each fall and spring semester. Nominees must submit an application and 1,500-word essay specific to their Bstore experience—complete details, including the application deadline, are available from Prof. Theresa Williams at thdwilli [at] indiana [dot] edu.
Educational Activities
Our corporate partners participate in sponsored classroom activities in courses such as M419 Retail Strategy. Typically lasting between a day and two weeks, these activities have included case studies, business simulations sponsored by Bridgestone/Firestone and Sears Holdings, and lectures by executives from American Eagle Outfitters and Kohl’s. In the 10-week stock project Abercrombie & Fitch sponsors for M419, students manage a $500,000 portfolio to learn how shareholder value affects retail strategy and vice versa.
Select Kelley students have also gone on fully paid field trips to the headquarters of some of our corporate partners—such as Macy’s in New York City and Gap in San Francisco—where they researched a case project and presented their findings and recommendations to executives. In addition to gaining valuable experience, they got to explore the company and the city.
The Center’s Executive Speaker Series brings an executive from a leading corporation to Kelley each year. In fall 2008, the CEO of Zappos.com told Kelley students about the importance of Twitter and customer service.
Kelley students also participate in competitions such as the ACRA Charrette.
Career Events
Kelley’s Marketing Blitz Week includes a panel of retail professionals—from retailers such as Best Buy—who talk about their careers and companies and answer your questions. Marketing Blitz Week also includes a retail, marketing, and sales career fair.
Executive Education and Team Building
The Center periodically invites students to day or weekend seminars that focus on developing professional skills, such as teamwork, written and oral communications, time management, executive manner and dress, interviewing and resume writing, and how to market oneself. These seminars typically are held at Bradford Woods or a corporate headquarters.
Other Events
To generate interest and excitement about retailing and help our students get to know each other, the Center has participated in events for new and prospective IU students and hosted a flag football tournament and lunar bowling.
