Celebrating 20 years of STAR students solving business challenges

Ask Professor Karin Cochran (MBA ’99) about the inspiration behind the Student Teams Achieving Results (STAR) program at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, and she doesn’t skip a beat.

“Leadership,” says Cochran, STAR executive director. In particular, she credited STAR founders Valarie Zeithaml, professor emeritus of marketing, and Mindy Storrie, now associate provost for student leadership.

“From the beginning, STAR’s founders cast a vision that leadership skills are best developed by doing,” Cochran said.

For 20 years that mindset has powered STAR, an experiential learning course. Teams of Undergraduate Business Program and MBA students work together with corporate partners to help solve business challenges while earning class credit.

While internships offer invaluable experience, STAR provides students with the unique opportunity to solve real-world problems with a group of their peers, under the guidance of faculty advisers.

“Our students who come in are already great, and we want to make them even better,” says Cochran. “You’re going to get a deeper industry experience than you would with an internship. We give them the methodologies, tools, support and coaching in a safe environment where their jobs aren’t on the line, and it’s OK to make mistakes. The students are able to really grow in their confidence as well as their competence.”

While UNC Kenan-Flagler was one of the first business schools in the U.S. to lead the way in experiential learning, STAR started small.

In 2005, a group of MBA students worked with Beard Hardwoods in Greensboro, North Carolina, to consult on its business challenges. Nearly 500 projects and more than 2,880 students later, STAR now includes online MBA and executive MBA students and is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

STAR project teams, comprised of about six to seven students, have collaborated with hundreds of companies like Royal Caribbean, ESPN, Procter & Gamble Co. and Red Hat.

Throughout the semester, students work with their corporate partners to develop solutions and recommendations to tackle complex challenges. They present their proposals to their corporate partners at the end of the academic year, and in many cases the companies implement the students’ proposed solutions soon after.

“It’s probably been the highlight of my first year from a learning and development perspective,” says Alex Jeske (MBA ’26), a STAR project team lead. “It’s great to experience what consulting, team leadership and client-facing relationships look like in the real world. It not only adds skill sets, it’s also a great way to supplement what we’re learning day to day in the classroom.”

MBA project team lead Hanna Rush (MBA/MEM ’26) worked at a small consulting firm before coming back to graduate school but had never led a team. “That was something that I was looking for, especially here at UNC. You have great guidance from faculty advisers, and the program is really set up for you to succeed.”

While the program often partners with global brands, STAR keeps many efforts close to home, working with multiple schools and units at Carolina like the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and UNC Health.

Students have taken on challenges to help North Carolina industries, too, through the state’s Sweetpotato Commission and Christmas Tree Association, and economic development in the Albemarle Sound. After Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina last fall, Cochran says the program is focused on partnering with businesses in that region to help as they rebuild.

As she looks ahead to the STAR program’s 21st year, Cochran welcomes Carolina alumni and the local community to send an email and connect about new opportunities to partner.

“We love to have companies who have business challenges that we can solve,” she said.

This story was written by Kristen Grant of University Communications and Marketing.