The School of Business Administration is looking at continuing improvements in curriculum and focus to meet the emerging trends in industry.
Last year we approved a minor in Business Analytics, and this year we are looking to change some of our Bachelor of Arts degrees to Bachelor of Science. In addition, we are using faculty retirements and transitions to hire skills that are increasingly in demand. As one of our advisors likes to say, today every business is a digital business. We will increase our technology integration and sharpen our technical focus; the minor in business analytics is only the beginning.
We are also looking at how we can reconstitute an entrepreneurship and business incubator capability within the SBA and Cedarville. In an ideal world, this capability would allow alumni involvement (advising, investing, and idea generation). But we need your feedback. What would you like to see in any entrepreneurship and incubator program at Cedarville University?
Finally, we want to create a model where the SBA continues to be a value-added part your life, rather than simply being a place where you spent (hopefully) a wonderful four years, but become a place that will continue to support your ongoing business development. Not just curricular (although the M.B.A. could be a part), but where we create an ecosystem to facilitate alumni growth in their business context. Providing streaming services of powerful business speakers that address pressing business topics might be one example. Or providing a mechanism for you to bring your entrepreneurial ideas into our incubator process for help getting a business off the ground. Or creating a network with other alumni that share your concerns and development needs, as well as students that need your professional counsel. This last idea is the most amorphous, but could ultimately be a very powerful way for us to serve you well.
I’d love your thoughts on any of these aspects of our strategic plan. We hope to have a survey out in the next few months, and I’d greatly appreciate you filling it out. If you have any ideas in the near term, you can send them to our school email, sba@cedarville.edu; just put Strategic Plan in the subject line. I’d love to hear from you.