9 minute read
Paying It Forward
Paying It Forward
By Kirsten Shaw
If Angelia Knight had found a niche as a business student, she might not be the College of Business’ Director of MBA Programs today.
The Pontotoc, MS, native enrolled at Mississippi State in 1983 with initial thoughts of pursuing a business degree. Through early courses and friendly advice, however, she learned that business might not be where her academic strong suit lay.
“A friend in the dorm said, ‘Everybody in the dorm comes to you to talk about their problems. You know you can get paid for that, right?’” recalls Knight. “I said ‘Well, no, I didn’t know that.’ I changed to psychology and wow, my GPA went up!”
Knight graduated from MSU with a BA in psychology and an MS in counselor education. She began her career with several years as a University Counselor at Northwest Missouri State, followed by a move to Mississippi University for Women, where she became Director of Counseling and Career Services. After a time, she and husband Dr. Frank Adams, who is now a COB Professor of Supply Chain Logistics and Marketing, decided to accept positions with the University of Alabama.
“I had been working with survivors of things like rape and sexual abuse. Those are heavy topics,” she shares, noting that the burnout rate for counselors in such areas is high. “When I was at MUW, I noticed that the career counselor who reported to me didn’t get called out for the 2 a.m. hospital visits. So I took a position as a career director in the College of Engineering at Alabama, and it was a lot of fun.”
She eventually moved to the University of Alabama’s MBA program, where she did career counseling with students and coordinated corporate relations with employers. In this role, she often worked with human resources professionals, which led to her decision to earn Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification.
“I thought it would help to understand their hiring practices and the laws they’re responsible for during the hiring process, so I could coach my students,” she says. “I sat through the class twice and took the test. I was thrilled that I passed it the first time, because it was a bear. I even threw myself a party!”
She has maintained certification ever since and finds that the “PHR” next to her name garners notice and credibility among the MBA program’s corporate partners and employers.
Knight and Adams returned to MSU in 2012, and she became Director of MBA Programs in 2014. In this role, she works with COB department heads to plan each semester’s schedules for the oncampus and online courses. A full review of the MBA curricula started in the fall, addressing areas such as data analytics, a generational shift in leadership styles, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
“We have to look at every single course,” she observes, offering an example. “We have projects [for companies] where students have to sign nondisclosure agreements. If they do, they can’t use ChatGPT to fancy up their wording because it breaks their nondisclosures. So, we’re delving into those areas to ensure we’re doing things appropriately and protecting the privacy of the companies who use us for consulting projects.”
Those projects are often part of the capstone Strategic Business Consulting course, a standout feature of the MBA programs. Each year, Knight and staff find companies that want a team of MBA consulting students to work with them to recommend solutions or improvements in a given area. Each team – on-campus and online – has its own project.
“We’re pretty excited about the wide variety we have this year,” she notes. “Some of the clients lined up so far are C Spire, Green Mountain Technology, Georgia-Pacific, Community Bank, Republic Finance, Magnolia Health, several family businesses, a Boy Scout Council and even an office here on campus.”
Currently, there are 250-plus students in the online MBA program, many of whom are well into careers and looking for the degree to help them move into managerial positions or improve their prospects as military officers. The on-campus program has 107 students. Most were MSU undergrads, and as many as half came from non-business areas like engineering, forestry, agriculture, psychology, philosophy and sports. It is the largest class Knight has seen, which she attributes to strong recruiting and a steadily growing reputation.
“Over time, we have built up word of mouth across campus that this is a great program, and it’s worth it to spend that extra year on campus and get that extra degree,” she says.
Knight’s team helps their younger students prepare not only for careers but also for life.
“The on-campus MBAs are mostly straight from undergrad, so they’re going through a lot of transition,” she comments. “They’re figuring out how to do a job search, what independence means. We’re teaching them how to budget and what their credit score means and how much it costs to live in the places where they’re headed. All that may sound basic, but a lot of students haven’t thought about it yet. It’s a passion of mine that they graduate with the knowledge they need, because I didn’t. My dad worked at a factory; there was no such thing as a credit card in our family – I didn’t know what that was. So I don’t want to send them out into this world without having at least that basic knowledge.”
Knight’s empathy for students is fed by her own experience. When she was in high school, her father was in a work accident that limited the funds available for college, and she became determined to pay all her own expenses. The first-generation college student received financial aid and did work-study – which included a stint in the Department of Finance and Economics – throughout her time at MSU. At one point in graduate school, her week included 20 hours of work-study, 20 hours as a graduate assistant, four nights as an aerobics instructor and Saturdays as an administrator for exams like the ACT, GRE and LSAT.
“There were people here at Mississippi State who really looked after me – they knew I was putting myself through school,” she shares. “I always felt like I needed to pay that forward. Staying in education was what I needed to do because they had done so much for me.”
Years later, she is still profoundly grateful to the late Dr. Leland Fager, then Director of the MSU Counseling Center, and his assistant Susie Latham, who saw to it that she had work on campus and even provided home-cooked meals and babysitting jobs.
Currently, Knight and her staff are in a time of transition, adjusting their approach to recruitment as a shift takes place in the types of employment students are seeking. There is less interest now in traditional corporate eight-to-five jobs and more in smaller startups that can provide a broader range of experiences.
“Work-life balance is a huge thing for this generation, and I totally agree with that,” she notes, adding wryly, “Sometimes they want a little more life than work, but we’re trying to help them navigate that.”
There is no “typical day” for Knight. Any given day might involve an advisory board meeting or hosting an event like the SEC MBA Case Competition or recruiting companies as employers or case clients. It may bring a line of students to her door after their first round of exams or find her leading a session to resolve an internal team conflict or offering a student guidance about electives. Most rewarding is when she can offer advice to help a student see what path to take.
“I’ve had students who had to decide between two different jobs, who were so busy looking at the salary they weren’t necessarily considering what they were passionate about. I could tell from their faces which job they really wanted, but they were trying to talk themselves into something else. Talking them through that is amazing,” Knight shares. “Others know an offer is the one they want, but there’s something about the benefits they don’t understand, so I’ll go through it with them. Or a student will bring in a spouse or fiancé, and we’ll walk through how to do a job search together or balance family and career expectations.”
One of her favorite occasions was when a student from the class of 2017 was talking with her about jobs.
“I looked at him and said, ‘You’ll be absolutely miserable working for somebody else. You need to just continue with your own business,’” she recalls. “He had started a business called CampusKnot - it’s educational software. He’s still doing it, and he and the company are doing amazingly well. I’m very proud of him.”
That student was Rahul Gopal. As an international student nearing graduation, he needed a job that would help him secure an H-1B visa.
“I vividly recall sitting in Angelia Knight’s office that afternoon,” he shares. “I had just completed interviews with an insurance company and a paper company. The prospect of working for them filled me with anxiety, compounded by my immigration challenges. Angelia, my mentor and advisor, was someone I trusted for her honest, unfiltered guidance. She encouraged me to trust in my abilities and find a way to address my immigration needs through my startup.”
He continues, “That conversation changed everything. Her words gave me the courage to fully commit to my vision. Today, in 2024, I am the Co-founder and CEO of CampusKnot Inc., an edtech startup solving the student engagement problem, serving thousands of customers nationwide and backed by over $2 million in funding. That defining moment taught me the power of selfbelief and the importance of trusting your passion.”
Knight has also been there for students going through tough times like divorce or loss of a parent.
“To share in that moment and help walk them through whatever it is, that’s an amazing gift,” she says.
At most universities, the qualifications to be an MBA program director typically do not include a degree in counseling or professional certification in human resources. As it turns out, those things – along with a heart for students – are exactly what’s needed. And in Angelia Knight, the College of Business has the perfect person for the job.
