CBA provides fertile ground
for future business leaders

Real-world projects
prepare outstanding students for careers

Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is all about the students – from the college’s dynamic faculty members to the programs and events that help students make business connections. The college’s growing reputation attracts the best students and employers.

The newly revised B.S.B.A. curriculum aims to build on this strong foundation, with classes designed to mold students into highly capable and sophisticated professionals.

This spring, as the school year was drawing to a close, students were getting the chance to show off everything they had learned.

For instance, management information systems senior Jimmy Dickinson designed in his visual basics class the software that troubleshoots tracking and ordering for a pizza place. Along with his other impressive achievements – designer for 10 university Web sites, award-winning graphic designer, volunteer raising more than $15,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network, and CMU’s 2004 Homecoming Gold Ambassador – this project helped Dickinson garner internship offers from the National Charter Schools Institute and The Dow Chemical Company.

Honoring the year’s best students

Spring semester also is the time of year when CBA honors its crème de la crème with its annual Outstanding Students of the Year Awards. The panel of judges had a tough time this year – so tough, they named six finalists instead of the usual five.

One judge, Ricardo Resio, CMU alumnus and human resources director for the Rehmann Group, said he looked for the most well-rounded student.

“CMU is fortunate to have some of the best and brightest students representing us in the community. I know these students will be great ambassadors of our university, whatever the next chapter in their lives will be,” Resio said.

The winners

• Jennifer Smith – $1,000 award
• Heidi vonDaggenhausen – $500 award
• Katie Bien, Jessica Wojciechowski, Carrie Skillman, and Mary Pudell – $250 awards

The CBA Outstanding Students of the Year, from left to right: Katie Bien, Jennifer Smith, Heidi vonDaggenhausen, Jessica Wojciechowski, and Mary Pudell. Not pictured, Carrie Skillman.

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