Student chapter revival builds pipelines

Students at Stony Brook University revived a dormant National Association of Black Accountants chapter and turned it into a route to mentors, internships and alumni contacts. (insidehighered.com) Temitade Adeyemi, a fourth-year business management and finance major, said he and a small group of students brought the chapter back in 2025 after noticing a gap in support for underrepresented business students. Zachary Adams, a business management student, helped rebuild the group’s programming and membership. (insidehighered.com) Stony Brook said Adeyemi, Ashton George and Adams attended the National Association of Black Accountants national convention in 2025, where members met recruiters, joined workshops and secured internships. The university said the chapter then expanded its campus presence through networking events and professional development programming. (stonybrook.edu) The National Association of Black Accountants says it serves more than 22,000 members and focuses on Black professionals and students in accounting, finance, business and entrepreneurship. A campus chapter gives students a direct link to that national network instead of relying only on local contacts. (nabainc.org) Stony Brook already runs alumni mentoring through Mentor Connect, a platform that pairs students and recent graduates with alumni for one-time career conversations and guidance. The revived chapter adds a student-run layer built around a specific field, with accounting and finance employers, alumni and peers in the same pipeline. (stonybrook.edu) The university has also built other career programs aimed at underrepresented students, including the Diversity Professional Leadership Network, which has matched Black and Latino students with mentors for more than 15 years. The chapter revival fits into that broader effort, but this one started with students rather than an administrative office. (stonybrook.edu) Adeyemi is listed by the College of Business as the founding president of the chapter, where he has worked to build a community of “career-ready business students of color.” That role gives the effort a longer runway if younger members keep recruiting after the founders graduate. (stonybrook.edu) For alumni and employers, the setup creates a clearer on-ramp: one student organization, one national brand and a defined pool of candidates looking for accounting and finance roles. For students, it means the chapter is no longer just a club on a roster but a place where introductions can turn into jobs. (insidehighered.com)