The mission of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) is to educate undergraduate students in business administration and economics. The SBE will draw students primarily from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and its surrounding region or from transfers and dual majors within MTU. The educational experience will be distinguished by personal attention and guidance to students; a commitment to quality education and continuous improvement; as well as an emphasis on teamwork, information resources, and the link between business and technology. Faculty are expected to emphasize quality teaching and the development of excellence in teaching methods, while maintaining a strong commitment to research and service.

Vision Statement

To be recognized as a standard of excellence in the education and development of future business leaders uniquely qualified to manage in a technologically oriented workplace.

Historical Overview

The SBE’s activities since the last NCA review in 1988 have been strongly influenced by its decision in 1993/4 to seek accreditation from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Because the AACSB, like NCA, has a mission-driven process, the SBE has been engaged in self study for several years. The 1996 AACSB Candidacy Report [6.4A] includes the results of this self-study process, the AACSB Accreditation Plan [6.4A, Appendix D], and a timetable for AACSB accreditation [6.4A, page14]. This Candidacy Report serves as the full self study of the SBE on which this NCA self study is based. The SBE’s mission and vision statements (above) have been revised since the Candidacy Report was completed and are based on a review by the School’s stakeholders [6.4A; Activities 1 and 2, page 19].

In 1994 a new Dean was appointed after a national search. This Dean provided unity and stability after a period of rapid turnover of three deans from 1988–1994. The new Dean reorganized the SBE, eliminating the division into three areas with area chairs, and appointing an Associate Dean. Another important change occurred in 1997 when the School changed its name from School of Business and Engineering Administration (SBEA) to School of Business and Economics to reflect the refocusing of the School’s activities and more accurately communicate the School’s mission.

University Goal 1: Sustain and Enhance the Quality of Undergraduate Programs.

Subgoal 1: Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate Education.

A major goal of the SBE is to improve the quality of its undergraduate programs. As a result of the AACSB accreditation process, during 1994/5 the SBE decided to use its limited resources to focus on the undergraduate business (BSBA) degree. Consequently, the master’s degree in operations management (MSOM) was suspended [see 6.4A, page 31, and Goal 3 below]. At the same time, the undergraduate business degree has been completely redesigned with guidance from the SBE’s stakeholders (see the new SBE Student Handbook, Attachment 2, which includes the new BSBA curriculum on page 28). As part of this redesign, the BS in Engineering Management (BSEM) degree, which was aimed primarily at engineering students at MTU who wished to pursue a second degree in business, is being suspended at the end of the current academic year. In its place, MTU students in other degree programs at MTU can now, simultaneously, obtain the BS in business administration degree by taking approximately one additional year of course work. This dual degree (see Attachment 2, page 60) offers a stronger business curriculum than previously found in the BSEM program, while extending the offering to a broader student population.

One goal of the revisions in the SBE’s BSBA curriculum was to take better advantage of the technological environment and reputation of MTU, which had been a weakness of the School’s earlier offerings. The new undergraduate business curriculum therefore requires a rather unique "technological core" for all students (see Attachment 2, page 49). This revision to the BSBA degree emphasizes the linkage between the technology and business functions of an organization. It is intended to:

• provide students witha deeper appreciation for the issues and constraints associated with technological projects, operations, and systems;
• enable business students to communicate with experts in selected technological domains;
• prepare business students for work in cross-functional teams on problems that require both technological and business expertise; and
• provide students with an understanding of business opportunities that emerge from technological innovations.

In cooperation with other departments and schools, this core gives students an interdisciplinary experience and an opportunity to understand business problems within an industrial context of their own choosing.

As this new curriculum is put in place, the SBE must address a historical weakness of coordination among courses, inadequate assessment of both student learning and teaching effectiveness, and deficient student advising. The new curriculum has been designed to improve coordination, limit inappropriate duplication among courses, and provide more structure for student advising. The SBE has established a new teaching seminar series along with a workshop series on teaching effectiveness and teaching methodologies, as recommended by the new Teaching and Professional Development Committee in the School [6.4A, page 22]. These series should improve faculty discussions about teaching, learning, and course content. The SBE plans to actively participate in MTU’s current efforts to improve the measurement of teaching effectiveness. The SBE has also initiated a requirement, recommended by the Teaching and Professional Development Committee, that faculty must provide a yearly teaching portfolio which explains, for all courses, the instructor’s teaching philosophy, course goals, implementation and innovation plans, and assessment methods.

The new BSBA curriculum includes two new, one-hour courses specifically aimed to assess the SBE’s curriculum-revision effort The two courses (BA250 and BA450) are taken at the end of students’ sophomore and senior years (see Attachment 2, page 65). These courses will address three issues:

• Are students learning?
• What is their evaluation of the curriculum?
• What do they need to do to plan for their academic and professional careers?

These courses should help students in their advising and in their job search activities. In addition, the SBE has established a full-time advisor for students, and the Dean receives feedback from students through a student advisory board. Finally, a newly established executive-in-residence program should improve student contacts with business leaders, which has been a weakness, and enhance students’ understanding of their need to plan for their academic and professional careers.

In addition to addressing the needs of its BSBA students, the SBE also provides a significant service role to the University. As shown below in Table 1, student credit hour generation in SBE courses by non-majors exceeded student credit hour generation by majors for the 1996/7 academic year.

TABLE 1. Student Credit Hour Generation in SBE Courses
by SBE Majors and Non-majors

Term	Student Credit Hours for SBE majors	Student Credit Hours for Non-majors
Fall	2212	3149
Winter	2058	3248
Spring	2305	3718
Totals	6575	10,115

Table 1 includes student credit hours generated by economics courses, which represents a major part of the SBE’s service role to the University. In addition to the economics which is required in the BSBA curriculum (see Attachment 2, page 40) and the service load borne by economics courses, there is a Bachelor of Science in Economics (BSE) degree program (see Attachment 2, page 45). This program has also been revised recently. Because this program has been small compared to the BSBA program (see Table 2 below for degrees conferred), it represents an opportunity for expansion within the SBE.

TABLE 2. BSBA and BSE Degrees Conferred
by the SBE by Year

Year	BSBA Degrees Conferred	BSE Degrees Conferred
1988/9	54	1
1989/90	90	0
1990/1	80	2
1991/2	78	2
1992/3	72	4
1993/4	98	8
1994/5	73	6
1995/6	103	7

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