Experiential Business Communication course wins AACSB Innovations That Inspire award

The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s Business Communication MBA course was among AACSB’s Innovations That Inspire for 2025. AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, is the leading accreditation organization for the world’s top business school. Its annual awards program recognizes institutions and programs that serve as champions of change in business education.

As Senior Director of Experiential Learning and Global Programs Daniel Sheats explains, Carey’s full-time MBA Business Communication course leverages project-based learning to provide students with essential management and interpersonal skills that employers demand. Throughout the course, student teams work directly with start-up companies sourced through the Johns Hopkins Pava Center for Entrepreneurship.

“This course is innovative as Carey developed a new approach to how business schools introduce graduate students to project-based learning while addressing real-world communication skills,” said Sheats.

Students gain practical experience developing executive summaries, infographics, and pitch decks for their partner start-ups. The skills they develop are applied to the experiential courses to follow, including the Big Data Consulting Project and the Innovation Field Project.

“It's a foundational course that challenges students to communicate their ideas with conviction and improve their capacity to lead,” said Professor Steven Cohen, lead developer of the Business Communication course. “You don't typically see a standalone business communication course, especially not like this one in a full-time MBA. We've designed our course to introduce students to project-based learning, enabling them to work with a real client as they apply these skills in their very first term.”

Innovation ecosystem

Working with the Johns Hopkins Pava Center for Entrepreneurship, Carey’s experiential learning team taps into the university’s innovation ecosystem to connect students with start-up partners for students. The Pava Center works with students, alumni, and the local community to build impactful, sustainable ventures.

Juan Fernandez, CEO of SmartTIVA, said, “Each [team] delivered an outstanding product, and I’ll be using material from all of them. Thank you for this opportunity.” SmartTIVA is developing an intravenous delivery system for surgical anesthesia.

“We presented our work to classmates, faculty members, and our project sponsor, and the experience was nothing short of exhilarating. Collaborating on a project that bridges business innovation and social impact was deeply fulfilling,” said Chika Nzekwe (MBA ’26).

“I want these students to feel empowered from the very beginning that they have something important to contribute to the business world,” said Cohen. “This project will give them the ability to do that. If they can harness the power of this course, they’ll have both the skills and the confidence to communicate effectively and inspire others.”

This isn’t the first time Carey Business School's full-time MBA program was recognized for its innovation. In 2021, the experiential learning curriculum received the Innovator Award for General Excellence from MBA Roundtable. MBA Roundtable, now known as the Graduate Business Curriculum Roundtable, is a global association of business schools dedicated to the advancement of graduate management education through curricular and co-curricular innovation. AACSB also recognized Carey’s Community Consulting Lab with an Innovations That Inspire award in 2022.