Dean's Welcome


Welcome to the College of Business Administration's web site. I hope you have the time to make a careful review of the information we have provided for you. If you do, you will come to recognize that this College of Business is not just a good or even a great College, but that it is truly a special place.

There are many factors that will contribute to this conclusion. First, I encourage you to look at the mission of this college. You'll see the mission is grounded in two important principles: efforts toward our students are learning-centered and business-connected.  Take the time to develop a better understanding of these two principles because they are at the center of why we do an outstanding job educating our students.

As you look through our six departments (School of Accounting, Business Information Systems - BIS , Economics, Finance and Law, Management and Marketing and Hospitality Services Administration), pay particular attention to our institutes and centers (e.g., Center for Supply Chain Management, Hospitality and Tourism Institute, Institute for Management Consulting, LaBelle Entrepreneurial Center, and Marketing Research and Planning Council). You will see each one of those is designed to provide students with the opportunity to be involved with practical applications in their chosen field. These options that students are provided demonstrate the learning-centered and business-connected philosophy that is present throughout the College.

Probably the best example of how this College is different in a very special way is our new BSBA curriculum. This new curriculum was developed after an eight year pilot test.  A particular strength of the curriculum is that it includes integrated classes.  Students are assigned to a block of classes and are also assigned to small group (4 - 5 students) that stays consistent across each of the classes in the integrated group.  This student group will be assigned a comprehensive project that is referenced in each of the integrated classes.  This helps teach our students to effectively work in the team environment and that decisions made in one area of business (e.g., marketing) can have a dramatic impact on other aspects of the business (e.g., finance). Another important difference of this new program is that our undergraduate students start taking College of Business Administration classes in the first semester of their freshman year. There are several aspects of this new curriculum that should appeal to the serious student. For example, all students in this curriculum must have completed their college algebra, calculus and statistics classes before they will be allowed to enroll in junior level classes. We believe students should have a sufficient quantitative foundation in order for us to adequately prepare them to quickly add value when they embark in their professional careers. I encourage you to carefully examine the new BSBA curriculum; I hope you will see why we believe it will put our students in a particularly effective learning environment.

In addition to providing an outstanding general curriculum, we have excellent specialized training as well. In each one of the six disciplines that comprise the College of Business Administration, we have individual specialties in which our lead professor has established a national reputation. If you have interest in a particular specialty, I would suggest that you contact the chairperson in that department. The department chair will be happy to correspond with you regarding how we can prepare you to assume a career-oriented position upon graduation.

Among our areas of specialization is enterprise resource planning (ERP) programs. Specifically, we introduce all of our students to SAP, the leading ERP provider in the world. SAP programs are used by a majority of Fortune 500 companies. Students who desire certification in SAP can take courses to achieve certification that are a part their degree program. When they graduate, students who achieve this advanced understanding of SAP are in very high demand by some of the nation's leading companies.

Finally, this College is special because of the faculty who teach here. They are a talented and experienced group. In the most recently completed semester, the College's 81 full-time faculty had a total of over 1,500 years of teaching experience. Not only is this group outstanding in the classroom, but they have established a lifetime of contacts with the business community, in general, and with corporate recruiters, specifically. These relationships, based on mutual respect, are a part of the reason why 91 percent of all of our graduates have professional employment within three months of graduation.

I encourage you to take a close look at the CMU College of Business Administration. If you do, I think you will conclude that this college is, indeed, a special place. Ultimately, I hope I have the opportunity to greet you in the halls of the College of Business Administration.



Sincerely,


Dean Mike Fields
College of Business Administration
Central Michigan University