- Oxford Academia at:
- 2025 Sessions:
July 19–August 1
- Eligibility:
Completing grades 9–12
Motivated rising 9th graders will also be considered
- Typical Seminar Size:
What makes a business succeed in today’s market and what are the steps between identifying a need and opening your doors? In recent years, larger-than-life characters like Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk have dominated headlines and raised questions about leadership, charisma, and risk-taking, all while cornering their markets. This hands-on course begins by examining the economic players and the playing field where firms operate, with discussions of supply and demand, regulations and free trade, international trade, and currency flows. Learn about the conditions that create fertile ground for businesses to thrive, from 19th-century industrialists to modern Silicon Valley, and glean insights from the individuals who succeed in these environments. With role-playing, guest speakers, and lectures, consider the practical aspects of business, including management, finance, marketing, advertising, public relations, organizational psychology, corporate leadership and culture, and business ethics. Examine profiles, strategies, successes, and failures of the famous and infamous as you develop and present your own “formula for entrepreneurial success.” Then, working together as a team, put what you have learned into practice as you research, develop, and pitch your own business.
FEATURED FACULTY
Loyola University New Orleans, B.A., Mass Communication
Since earning her M.B.A. from Tulane, Ashley has devoted her career to higher education as a professor and administrator both locally and abroad. As a business student, she studied in Paris and Santiago, Chile. She later oversaw the development of an M.B.A. program in Puerto Rico and co-led the Jamaica M.B.A. While teaching marketing and management courses, she served as director of Graduate Programs. She went on to create and manage online graduate programs at Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University, helping expand access to graduate business education. Ashley previously spent seven years as marketing director for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. She and her husband Tim have two daughters who are proud Putney alums. Ashley and Tim share a passion for art, live music, sporting events and food, which is why they love living in New Orleans, where she serves on the board of Isidore Newman School and the Audubon Institute.