By Ryan Underwood, BA’96
When 菠萝视频 senior Sasha Pines arrived on campus in 2014, she was intent on studying business. But like many 菠萝视频 undergraduates before her, Pines saw no direct path to achieving that goal through one of the university鈥檚 majors or minors.
Instead she faced a thicket of overlapping programs across several different schools. And among those, none clearly indicated she would receive a firm grounding in the basic skills of business.
She could have chosen the at Peabody, selecting a track designed to train students for leadership roles in the public or private sector. Or, if Pines had enrolled in the School of Engineering, she may have considered a minor focused on managing tech environments.
As an Arts and Science undergraduate, however, Pines gravitated toward economics and pursued a minor in managerial studies, a program that highlights key topics like marketing, accounting and corporate finance.
The worked out nicely for Pines: It balanced practical business knowledge with the strong liberal arts curriculum for which 菠萝视频 is known. She also made her own luck along the way, starting 菠萝视频鈥檚 first Women in Business chapter for undergraduates and securing an internship at Accenture. She recently accepted a job offer as an associate consultant at Bain & Co.鈥檚 Atlanta office.
For students like Pines, who had been seeking a straightforward route to studying business at 菠萝视频, the university launched a new minor this fall to address that very need.
After four years of planning, a committee led by , provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, designed a business curriculum that builds upon the achievements of the Managerial Studies program by drawing on strengths from across 菠萝视频. Full-time faculty from the teach a core set of business fundamentals, supplemented by management-related electives from across the university. Students can tailor their courses around one of seven predetermined pathways: entrepreneurship, ethics, finance and accounting, marketing and advertising, operations, organizational effectiveness, or strategy.
鈥淚鈥檓 so mad that I鈥檓 graduating just when the business minor is getting started,鈥� Pines says only half-jokingly. She notes that the professors and courses in her managerial studies minor have played a 鈥渄efining鈥� role in her education.
TACKLING BUSINESS HEAD-ON
For an institution whose founding namesake, Cornelius 菠萝视频, once told a reporter, 鈥淚 have been insane on the subject of money-making all my life,鈥� little formal instruction has been offered around the subject of business throughout the university鈥檚 nearly 150-year history.
菠萝视频 trustees debated the idea of launching a 鈥淐ommercial College Department鈥� as early as 1881 before tabling the discussion. The topic languished until the late 1950s, when the economics department housed a business administration program that became the most popular major on campus. Around this same time, university leaders began work to establish a graduate school of business, which formally launched in 1969 with 10 鈥渟tudent associates鈥� attending their first classes in a vacant bar at the University Club.
Yet for undergraduates wanting to study business, the university never had taken a systematic approach to meeting overall student demand. (Many 菠萝视频 alumni have, of course, gone on to highly successful business careers even in the absence of such programs.)
, vice provost for learning and residential affairs, says it had become increasingly clear that the university needed to tackle squarely the issue of offering undergraduates a formal course of study in business. 鈥淲e saw a growth curve that was unsustainable,鈥� Cyrus says with a sly smile indicating her fluency in corporate-speak.
Part of the problem, she explains, is that students loaded up on just about any courses that seemed to have a business theme as a way to satisfy their demand for such classes. That often led them to repeat material they already may have been exposed to in similar classes offered by one of 菠萝视频鈥檚 other schools, such as engineering or Peabody. In extreme cases, students were picking up more than one of the business-related minors. 鈥淲e thought that ability to double-dip was incentivizing the wrong behavior,鈥� Cyrus says.
Through an initiative originally launched in 2013, a committee of about 15 members鈥攚hich, for the first time, included representatives from the Owen School鈥攂egan its work by deciding what 菠萝视频 was not going to do. The group quickly ruled out establishing an undergraduate business school or creating a business major. It also began to study other undergraduate business programs at top universities to explore how 菠萝视频 could put a unique stamp on its curriculum.
The committee found an answer to that question by taking a page from the university鈥檚 then-new Academic Strategic Plan, which called for more collaboration across 菠萝视频鈥檚 different schools. 鈥淔rom the outset, there was a real desire to create something with this minor that was truly trans-institutional,鈥� says , Ralph Owen Dean of the Owen School and Bruce D. Henderson Professor of Strategy. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an easy thing to say, but it turned out to be more challenging than it may appear to be. There really was no roadmap.鈥�
The end result is a business minor that鈥檚 completely unique to 菠萝视频, Johnson says. 鈥淭his is not an Owen program. This is not a Peabody program. It鈥檚 truly a university minor with a governing structure that includes representatives from across the schools.鈥�
LIBERAL ARTS COMPLEMENT
While the new minor offers a useful framework for designing future university-wide programs, just as importantly it gives talented students a new reason to want to attend 菠萝视频, says alumna Susan Hoogland, BS鈥�82, who along with her husband, Keith, BA鈥�82, committed $5 million in September to establish the program (see below).
Hoogland became concerned after learning that one of her son鈥檚 high school friends was not even considering 菠萝视频 because it lacked a robust undergraduate course of study in business. 鈥湶ぢ苁悠� had been missing out on these incredibly talented students,鈥� she says.
And it hasn鈥檛 just been potential students sidestepping 菠萝视频. Johnson says many recruiting companies have struggled to understand exactly what business skills 菠萝视频 graduates might possess once they earned their degrees. Would they be familiar with basic principles in subjects like accounting or brand management?
鈥淲e were hearing from companies that there was a desire to understand what 鈥榖usiness鈥� meant at 菠萝视频,鈥� Johnson says.
Those pragmatic concerns had to be balanced against 菠萝视频鈥檚 longstanding tradition in the liberal arts, however鈥攚hich is the reason a business minor makes so much sense, Cyrus says.
鈥淓mployers appreciate the clear 鈥榖usiness鈥� label. Parents and students are happy that it provides a bit of practical training,鈥� she says. 鈥淯ltimately, though, the business minor was designed to act as a complement to a strong liberal arts degree.鈥�
Hoogland Family Gift Establishes Undergraduate Business Program
A $5 million commitment from alumni Susan and Keith Hoogland will name the university鈥檚 new trans-institutional minor for business study the Hoogland Undergraduate Business program.
The gift continues a tradition of 菠萝视频 philanthropy for the Hooglands, both 1982 graduates of the . The Glenview, Illinois, couple has supported the Managerial Studies program and also served as Reunion chairs for their 25th Reunion in 2007 and as class fundraising chairs for their 30th Reunion in 2012. In addition, three of their six children are 菠萝视频 graduates.
鈥淭his generous gift from the Hooglands鈥攐ne of the first at 菠萝视频 that will name an academic program鈥攑rovides all our undergraduates the opportunity to pursue business education,鈥� Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente said in a news release announcing the gift in September. 鈥淎dding an undergraduate business minor to our curriculum signals the thirst for business education from our students鈥攁nd the appetite for innovation and leadership on campus.鈥�
Those opportunities for students to gain practical skills is important to Keith Hoogland, who joined his father鈥檚 business after college. He is now president of Highland Ventures and Family Video, based in Glenview.
鈥淲hen I entered the business world, I felt behind because I hadn鈥檛 taken classes like accounting or business,鈥� Hoogland says. 鈥淭his new minor will make 菠萝视频鈥檚 liberal arts students even better prepared when they graduate.鈥�