UIC Business Celebrates CMBA Summer 2026 Class

On Friday, August 14, 2026, UIC Business faculty, students, and staff came together to celebrate the Corporate Master of Business Administration (CMBA) Summer 2026 Class—another strong and accomplished cohort of students.

Many members of this cohort entered the CMBA program with already impressive academic and professional backgrounds. Some joined UIC Business with Ph.D. degrees, while others brought years of professional experience, significant leadership responsibilities, and remarkable career accomplishments.

Among them are medical doctors and nurses who have dedicated years to caring for others; executives and managers leading operations at Fortune 500 companies across Asia; and entrepreneurs who have built and managed multimillion-dollar businesses in Asia and South America. The cohort also includes investment bankers, financial professionals, technology experts, and experienced business leaders from a wide range of industries.

Yet what makes this cohort truly special is not simply what these students had accomplished before joining the CMBA program. It is what they have continued to accomplish while studying at UIC Business.

Approximately 10% of the students achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA. Eight students secured internships after the CMBA program introduced Curricular Practical Training (CPT) opportunities for eligible students in Summer 2026. CPT is a temporary work authorization for international students, allowing for off-campus internships or part-time jobs while they are enrolled in academic programs. One student purchased a home in Chicago, proudly calling the city a second home. Several students have already secured full-time employment, and one has received H-1B visa approval.

“Coming here was worth it. Not because everything was easy. Not because I became good at everything. But because my world became bigger. And so did the way I see myself.”

–Dafang Zhou, 2026 Graduate

For graduate Dafang Zhou, the CMBA experience was about more than academic and professional growth. Reflecting on her year in Chicago, Zhou described how challenging coursework, travel and connections with classmates helped reshape how she viewed learning and herself.

“Coming here was worth it. Not because everything was easy. Not because I became good at everything. But because my world became bigger. And so did the way I see myself,” Zhou said in her graduation speech.

Perhaps most remarkably, 50% of the cohort have been admitted to additional graduate programs, including those offered by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and UIC Business’ CMBA/MS joint-degree programs.

These accomplishments are a testament to the students’ determination, hard work, and ambition. They also reflect the strength of UIC Business—its leadership, strategic planning, dedicated faculty and staff, and commitment to creating opportunities for students to achieve their academic and professional goals.

The accomplishments of the CMBA Summer 2026 Class reflect the students’ determination, ambition and commitment to growth, as well as UIC Business’ dedication to creating opportunities for students to achieve their academic and professional goals.

When I came to Chicago to join the CMBA program, I had three goals in mind: to rediscover myself, to reshape myself, and to rediscover the world. One year later, I think I achieved all three. But the process was very different from what I expected.

Before I came here, I did not think studying would be the biggest challenge. My English test scores were good, and throughout my career, I had always been a strong performer. I had worked for many years, taken on senior leadership roles, and was used to being confident in what I did.

Then my first semester began. Several courses were much harder than I expected. For my accounting class, I sometimes spent eight hours on homework over a single weekend. By winter, I was exhausted and frustrated. There were nights when I cried alone in my apartment. I called my friends and questioned my decision. I had left a well-paid job and a career I knew well. At one point, I seriously thought about dropping out. Even worse, I began to question myself. For the first time in many years, I wondered whether I was simply not as capable as I had thought.
After the first semester, I took a twenty-day trip by myself, the longest solo trip I had ever taken. I did not have some dramatic realization during that trip. But when I came back for the second semester, something had changed.

I started to rethink what “learning” actually meant. In the past, I often measured learning through results: an exam score, a grade, or whether I was good at a subject. Grades still matter, of course. But I began to realize that they are only one part of learning. Learning is also about the willingness to explore. A lecture is not simply something to memorize for an exam. Sometimes one comment from a professor can lead to a completely new topic. A conversation with a classmate can introduce you to another culture, another experience, or another way of looking at the same problem.

I also began to see difficult courses differently. The subjects I was good at helped me recognize my strengths. The ones I struggled with showed me ways of thinking that I had not developed enough. Instead of asking, “Am I good at this?” I started asking, “What can I learn from this?”
Eventually, I realized that my classroom did not have to be limited to the classroom. Chicago became part of my education. Travel became part of my education.

Living in the United States also changed the way I see the world. I became more aware that the same issue can be understood from very different perspectives. Diversity, openness, and different ways of thinking became something I could actually experience, not just read about.

As my world became bigger, something else also changed. I started to see myself differently. In my previous career, even when I became a senior executive, I rarely looked at myself and thought, “I’m amazing.” But in Chicago, strangely, I started having that feeling over much smaller things. The first time I successfully made Baozi by myself, I thought, “Wow, I’m pretty amazing.” I cut my own short hair for almost an entire year, and somehow nobody seemed to think it looked strange. I thought that was pretty amazing too.I traveled alone to many places, met people I would never otherwise have met, and learned that I could handle much more on my own than I had expected. When professors and classmates thanked me for something I shared in class, I felt proud. When a teammate messaged me after a course and told me that he had learned something from me, I felt proud. I even taught an American classmate some Chinese, and she went home and shared it with her son, who was learning Chinese. For many years, I had measured myself mainly through work: my performance, my responsibilities, my title, and what I achieved professionally.

This year gave me many other ways to see myself. A grade can tell me how I performed in a course. A job title can tell me something about what I achieved professionally. But neither can fully tell me who I am. They cannot tell me what I am curious about, what I can learn, what I can share with other people, what kind of relationships I can build, or what kind of life I can create for myself.

I also know that I did not make this journey alone. I am deeply grateful to the professors and staff of the CMBA program for their support, patience, and encouragement. Without their help, I would not be standing here today. And I am also grateful to the friends and classmates I met here. Studying far from home can sometimes feel lonely, but you made Chicago feel much less lonely. We studied together, struggled with assignments together, shared ideas and meals, and became part of each other’s experience.
During my first winter in Chicago, I kept asking myself, “Did I make the wrong decision?” Almost one year later, I think I finally have my answer. Coming here was worth it. Not because everything was easy. Not because I became good at everything. But because my world became bigger. And so did the way I see myself.