This week the School welcomes the 528 women and men who make up the September-entry entering MBA Class of 2007. Drawn from one of the most academically talented pools in history, the class represents more than 60 countries and professional backgrounds ranging from banking to hip-hop. The class includes consultants, marketers and media producers as well as those who have worked for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Coach and New York City. There is also a scuba diver who was featured in National Geographic Magazine, an army platoon leader from Korea, Pfizer’s “Top Viagra Sales Rep for 2005” and a student whose band was featured on the TV show Dawson’s Creek. The majority of the class is bilingual, and 26 percent are minorities. “These students enter the School in a period of exciting opportunity and important change, capitalizing on our strengths as a connector of ideas and practice and as a place that prepares them for a lifetime business career,” Dean Glenn Hubbard said in a message to the School community. During this week’s orientation, faculty members and peer advisors are introducing new students to the foundations of the Columbia Business School MBA curriculum. Their initiation includes work in the Program on Social Intelligence, a pioneering new curriculum that blends empirical assessment, experiential learning and executive coaching; and discussion of a new multimedia case focusing on corporate social responsibility, values-based leadership and corporate governance — the inaugural Columbia CaseWorks case.