 The BuffBusiness eNewsletter No. 3 February 2009
Among the many things happening is the nearing completion of the Classroom center. Very soon we will return to our home...and all of you can regain the feeling of hanging out in your very own College of Business the way it's supposed to be.
In this issue of the Buff Business Newsletter you will read about:
If you'd like to correspond with us, feel free to email us.
Classroom Center Nearing Completion
The remodel of the Classroom Center is progressing on schedule and should be ready for Fall classes. All College of Business faculty and administrative offices will be housed on the second floor of the building. The remodeled Classroom Center will be loaded with smart classroom technology. In addition, the College of Business is in the process of obtaining donations for the naming of special use classroom space. The College has already received pledges for the Arthur J. Glover Accounting Classroom, Drs. Neil and Anne Macy Terry Economics Classroom, and the Stan and Greta Liles Business Classroom.
The College hopes to name four to eight additional dedicated classrooms, including a finance trading room with a ticker actively tracking the performance of the WT Student Managed Investment Fund and a computer lab that doubles as a video game center. The remodeled building will also have numerous windows that will give the building an open feeling with significant natural light. The tentative completion date for the Classroom Center remodel is July of 2009.
Online BBA Debuts
The College of Business started offering online courses back in Fall 1997. An online MBA option was quickly offered, along with numerous undegraduate courses. No formal method was established for earning a BBA online, though, until now. Starting with the Summer 2009 term, the COB is offering a BBA General Business Online option. This option is designed to provide the final 57 hours of a student's undergraduate degree online (19 courses), and is effectively a "finishing degree." Students can complete the first 63 hours at WT or elsewhere.
Students will be able to select three concentration areas from five that are currently available with sufficient inventory of online courses: Marketing, Management, Economics, Finance and IDM. The program consists of only 3000- and 4000-level courses. All Business Core courses and sufficient concentration area courses will be offered such that the 57 hours can be completed within two full academic years.
For a copy of the degree planning sheet, please email Debbie Merrill, MMGB Administrative Assistant.
IDM Heads to HP
Each year during the Spring semester the IDM department offers the opportunity for a trip to a major industry leader in the field of computer information technology. This year they are inviting CIS students on a trip to Hewlett Packard in Houston, Texas on March 30th. This great opportunity will provide students with knowledge of the inside workings of HP leadership in Information Technology while experiencing first-hand how they operate. Anyone interested is encouraged to speak with departmental faculty in the IDM Department for more information. Students may also stop by the Department in Room 223 in the Old Fine Arts Building, call 651.2444, or email April Martin, Administrative Assistant.
Qualtrics Launches MMGB Online Surveys Into Orbit
The Management, Marketing & General Business Dept. recently acquired a site license for Qualtrics, an online survey tool that makes all the other freeware pale in comparison. Students in a graduate Market research class are already using it, as are selected faculty in their research. Qualtrics allows faculty and students to utilize cutting-edge software to develop and deploy professional online surveys, and then export the data for analysis in SPSS. The department plans to use Qualtrics in undergraduate Market research classes in the future, as well as encourage graduate students and faculty to leverage the tool for their own research. The site license covers everyone in the department, faculty and students alike.
Pjesky Assumes Director of Continuous Improvement Post
Rex Pjesky, Assistant Professor of Economics, is the new Director of Continuous Improvement in the WT College of Business. Pjesky takes the reins from Nick Gerlich, who has moved internally to other duties (see below). Pjesky plays a critical role in the COB's accreditation efforts with AACSB.
"When I was in graduate school looking my first job, a mentor told me to favor jobs at AA accredited schools. AACSB accreditation is extremely important for everyone involved with WT. At the heart of AACSB accreditation is assessment, the process that of ensuring and measuring the quality of schooling WT gives its business students. I am glad to be a small part of the process of WT's College of Business reaching this important milestone."
COB classes will gradually have an array of assessment exams and written and oral exercises that are all designed to measure the degree of student learning. The process functions like a never-ending loop. Once the assessments are done, the data will be analyzed. Efforts will then be made to shore up areas in need of improvement, followed by more assessments the following year. This "Assurance of Learning" is a major part of the accreditation process with AACSB. Without this assurance, accreditation cannot occur. The result is a better degree for our students.
Back in the USSR
There's still time to be part of the students at WTAMU who will have an opportunity to complete six intensive hours of class work in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, the fourth largest city in Russia. A course in Russian Business Perspectives will be taught by Nizhny Novgorod faculty while Dr. LaVelle Mills will teach a course in Culture Shock! Russia: A Survival Guide to Understanding Current Business Practices.
Students who travel to Russia this summer will experience a country with a rich and colorful history and unique culture. The city of Nizhny Novgorod has tales of intrigue all its own. Even the translator and foreign exchange program director tells of being put in jail as a youth for reading a "forbidden book" about Russian prison camps. It seems a construction worker smuggled the book into Russia and Alexander was caught reading it!
Those interested in learning more about this study abroad opportunity and want to complete six hours credit in a unique and fascinating setting need to contact Dr. LaVelle Mills (651-3866 or email) or Lynsee Womble (651-2500 or email).
SIFE On A Roll After 14 Years
My, how time flies. It seems like yesterday that the SIFE team was formed in the COB. During that time many things have changed. E-mail...internet...online classes...all of these are things that were little more than concepts for most people in 1994. But two things have not changed in those 14 years: Jean Walker is still leading SIFE, and SIFE is still Number One in the region.
Amassing an unbeaten streak of that order is no small order, but Walker has managed to continually recruit new SIFE team members in order to keep the streak alive each year. And it is a streak that started in the group's first year of existence. SIFE will vie for victory #15 at regional competition next month in Arkansas.
Gerlich Fills MMGB Department Head Position
OK, since I am the voice of the BuffBusiness e-Newsletter, it is rather pointless for me to write in the third-person. Switching gears, let me just say that upon Dr Barry Duman's retirement last month, I became Department Head of MMGB. To be perfectly honest, I never saw myself in an administrative role, but I can say with all candor that I am enjoying it immensely. It is not a position to be taken lightly, and it is certainly more challenging than I expected.
My plans are to lead the Department into new opportunities in Business education, leveraging technology to the hilt. We will provide a nice mix of classroom, hybrid, online and ITV courses that make use of all the technologies available to us and our students.
FREE online resume and
Like monster.comTM only better -
Go online to www.wtamu.edu/career
Career Services Mock Interview Program
Practice interviewing with a REAL employer BEFORE the real deal! Offered one evening per month. Pre-registration is required through the BuffJobs database.
Spring 2009 dates are Jan. 26, Feb. 19, Mar 12, and Apr 20.
Visit our website for registration details.
Quick Links
The COB now has some easy-to-use URLs for quick access to relevant web pages. No longer do you need to drill down through several pages to find what you are looking for. Now you can go directly:
Thanks for reading this far. On behalf of the College of Business, welcome back to the Spring 2009 semester! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop me a line.
R. Nicholas Gerlich (The views expressed herein are those of the individual author, and do not necessarily represent the views of West Texas A&M University, its faculty and staff, or its students. Feel free to distribute this as you wish.) |
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Welcome to the third edition of the BuffBusiness eNewsletter. There's a lot happening already this year, and our goal is to keep all of our students informed and engaged.
