Economics graduate student Adarsha Piya and computer science senior Santhosh Paramasivan shake hands during a 180 Degrees Consulting meeting. Photo by Pavan Tauh | Mercury Staff.
UTD’s new
chapter of an international consultancy group is working alongside Dallas
nonprofit organizations to provide pro bono advice.
Mechanical engineering junior Logan Harless first learned about 180
Degrees Consulting — an organization that works globally as a university-based
consulting service — while studying abroad in 2018 in Australia. He brought the
idea back to Dallas, and UTD’s chapter was integrated into the larger
organization in January. As the chapter president, Harless oversees two project
teams: one working with Camp Kesem, an organization providing year-round
services for children whose parents are living with cancer, and another
partnering with sustainability education conference EarthX.
“I’m most looking forward to
seeing the impact we can have on the Dallas community and the network we can
build,” Harless said. “We want to connect students and (not-for-profit)
partners who are passionate about social impact so they can help each other maximize
their potential.”
Physics junior
Benny Rubanov, the consulting director for 180DC at UTD, said his long-term
goal includes giving back to Dallas as well as building a presence for
professional consulting on campus.
“180DC has a
real chance to be one of these premier organizations on campus because it does
have a meaningful impact, and at the same time, you’re increasing the profile
of the consulting bloc at UTD,” Rubanov said. “You start bringing better people
into the organization and because they’re vetted and organized into this strong
team creating really cool projects, we start to attract the attention of
industry professionals.”
Both Rubanov and
Harless plan to pursue professional consulting after graduation. Harless said
he sees this organization as a training ground for both people interested in
consulting and for those exploring the possibility.
“I also enjoy
working with nonprofit organizations,” he said. “180DC combined these interests
in the best possible way.”
More than 50
students applied to join 180DC’s nine-person project team. Harless said he
wanted creative, personable members with strong communication and diverse skill
sets, as well as for those nine students to have majors ranging from biology to
computer science to finance. The team working with EarthX is developing
marketing strategies, while the second team, partnering with Camp Kesem, is
focused on fundraising for an increased sponsorship goal of 50%.
180DC is the
world’s largest university-based consultancy, with approximately 2,500
completed consulting projects throughout 30 countries. UTD’s chapter is one of
more than 100 global branches.
“I’ve enjoyed
seeing how much help we can give them even with a semester-long project,”
Harless said. “It’s crazy to see how much impact we can actually make.”