Strategic Plan Update 2013-2016
Version: September 2013
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Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
a. Positioning Strategy
i. Mission
ii. Strategic Initiatives
2. Strategic Priorities
a. Strong Academic Departments
i. Undergraduate Programs
1. Critical Thinking
2. Flipping the Classroom
3. International Focus
4. Curriculum
ii. Graduate Programs
iii. Faculty Development
1. Recruiting
2. Research
3. Teaching
b. Applied Learning Opportunities
i. Classroom
ii. Extracurricular
iii. Internship
iv. Centers of Excellence
1. Center for Entrepreneurship
2. Center for International Business Education & Development
3. The Ralph and Luci Schey Center for Professional Sales
4. Center for Sports Administration
5. The Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership
c. Integrated Career Management
i. Student Career Management Orientation
ii. Corporate Recruiter Partnerships
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Executive Summary
Positioning Strategy
Mission:
The mission of Ohio University’s College of Business is to provide a transformational learning experience
for our students. We want to prepare our students to succeed in their chosen fields. The new
competitive global labor market is demanding that graduates be ‘ready now,’ that is have the discipline
knowledge, competencies, and experiences to make an immediate contribution to the organizations
they join. Our objective is to develop not only ‘ready now’ graduates but also graduates who can
develop into the next generation of leaders, professional practitioners, and academic business scholars.
Our target students are those with above average academic ability (primarily in the range of 25-30 ACT),
high leadership potential, and a strong desire to be successful in their careers. We will provide students
with support in terms of advising and coaching to assist them in meeting their potential.
Strategic Initiatives:
To accomplish this we will focus on four key strategic initiatives.
1) Reinforce academic excellence through strong academic departments and outstanding faculty
members who understand the balanced mission of the College. That includes the importance of
excellent undergraduate teaching.
2) Continue efforts to strengthen academic curriculum through academic department efforts and
building out five Centers of Excellence. Focus is on helping our students to develop competencies
that corporations are demanding in the areas of critical thinking, innovation/entrepreneurship,
leadership development, global awareness and professional development. The Centers will offer
increased student opportunities to learn how to apply their classroom knowledge in real business
situations, participate in professional development workshops, meet and be coached by major
executives and entrepreneurs.
3) We will implement an integrated career management program that both better prepares our
students academically and professionally and develops a formal corporate relations program to
develop more internships and placement opportunities. This will require us to change our recruiting
message, sets higher academic performance standards, and integrates professional career
management skills and planning throughout student’s four year academic experience.
4) To finance these investments we will continue to develop a portfolio of high quality net revenue
generating graduate and executive education programs that provide faculty development
opportunities and investment funds to continue to improve the learning outcomes of our
undergraduate students.
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Strategic Priority: Strong Academic Departments
Undergraduate Programs
Consistent with our mission to create ‘ready now’ graduates, we continue to have major discussions on
how to revise our core and major curriculum to enhance the student learning experience.
Critical Thinking:
We are implementing three initiatives to focus more consistently on critical thinking. First in the cluster
we are more clearly teaching our students the processes that enhance critical thinking. Secondly, we
will continue to sponsor on site faculty workshops and support faculty attendance at conferences.
Thirdly, beginning in the fall, 2012 we instituted a program to measure improvements in student’s
critical thinking. Freshman students and graduating students are completing standardized critical
thinking tests.
Flipping the Classroom:
We have identified five faculty members who are interested in moving lectures out of the classroom and
providing more opportunity for students to spend in-class time on concept discussion and application of
the knowledge. The Teaching and Learning Continuous Improvement Team is finalizing a formal process
for faculty development around this idea.
Core Curriculum:
We have also added new courses to our undergraduate program and improved others. New courses
include BA 1100, Introduction to Business. BA 1100 will introduce key concepts in the study of business
ranging from financial basics, to the role of business in society, globalization, diversity, and career
planning. This course will strengthen the idea of integrating the business disciplines.
Quantitative Reasoning: QBA 3710, Business Analytics was added to the core to ensure that students
were equipped with quantitative reasoning skills, i.e. how to use, analyze, and interpret data to drive
effective decision making. We have a task force currently reviewing the learning objectives for the
following four courses to better enhance students quantitative reasoning skills. The courses include
MTG 3200, Operations Management, QBA 2010, Quantitative Business Analysis, ACCT 1020,
Foundations of Accounting, and MIS 2010, Introduction to Information Analysis and Design.
Cluster-Integrated Core: We continue to have a task force assigned to better meet the learning
outcomes of this experience. The Integrated Business Cluster that encompasses FIN 2400, MIS 2020,
MGT 2100, and MKT 2400, is being enhanced by emphasizing application of content, standardizing
project structure, adding greater emphasis on problem structure and integration of content, focusing on
team dynamics and effectiveness, and providing additional emphasis on consulting skills.
Specialized Course Tracks: We will be investigating the development of specialized tracks such as talent
management, supply chain management, business intelligence, and management consulting. We want
to offer students interested in careers in these areas more in-depth content knowledge as well as
specialized internships so that they can be better equipped to develop permanent placement in these
areas.
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Sport Management: Beginning in fall, 2014; new students accepted in this program will be taking the
core business classes. The Bachelors of Science in Sport Management will become an AACSB accredited
business program. We will be raising the academic standards of the entering freshman over time to be
equivalent to the College. We will have to manage this transition carefully to ensure that we maintain
enrollment levels (student credit hours) for the department. To maintain the current level of student
enrollment in this department, a new minor in Sport Management was created and approved for
implementation in the fall 2013.
Management Information Systems: The Department is integrating SAP throughout the MIS curriculum
and offering TERP 10 industry level certification by SAP to students by the fall of 2014. In addition, MIS
is exploring new course opportunities and specialization in high demand information systems areas like
business intelligence, mobile application development, and enterprise systems configuration.
Other Initiatives: We will offer new minors in marketing, sports management and finance to better serve
non-business students. In addition we are developing a degree completion program, partnering with
Scripps College and E-Learning for students who live outside of the region. Certificate programs will be
offered to non-business students in the following specialty areas: strategic leadership, entrepreneurship
and international business.
Graduate Programs
The College’s strategy has been to expand our graduate enrollment to achieve a secure financial base
for the College. We have grown graduate enrollment from fewer than 250 students to about 600
students. At this stage we are putting in place the faculty and student support systems to continue to
provide our students with a high quality learning experience. For the future, our objective is to maintain
our graduate enrollment at about 700-750 students.
Department of Sports Administration – We will continue to operate the MAA, MSA and PMSA programs
at the current level of enrollment. The department has expressed an interest in working with CIBED to
investigate international opportunities. At this time we are uncertain what financially viable options
exist but we will begin to investigate.
PMBA – We expect to offer this program to students throughout the state of Ohio. Our goal is to be able
to have enrolled somewhere around 150 students annually in cohorts of about 25-35 students. We will
be re-designing the curriculum and student experience to include a major component on personal
leadership development.
OMBA – This is our newest program. Our projection is that it will continue to grow from the current level
of 240 to a sustainable level of approximately 350 student. Our focus will be to continue to develop the
curriculum – designing the concentration classes and the residential professional development
workshops.
Residential Fulltime MBA– This program will be reinstated beginning in fall, 2014. A director for this
program has been named and we will recruit a relatively small class of 15 additional students to be
joined with the first year dual degree MSA students.
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International Programs– We will continue to investigate and operate relatively small niche programs in
South East Asia and Brazil. These experiences offer attractive opportunities for our faculty to interact
with professional adult students from other countries. It is expected that we would only operate one or
two cohorts at the same time.
Faculty Development
Recruiting:
To be successful in creating strong academic departments, we must recruit and retain outstanding
faculty and support their development. Faculty members need to be passionate about student learning,
involved in service in their profession and/or college, and be excellent researchers, particularly in
applied areas that relate to the classroom.
Recruiting outstanding faculty is a priority for the College. As the process for recruiting continues to be
refined, all candidates will make research and teaching presentations as part of the interview process.
In addition, current faculty members, both inside and outside the department, will be integrated into
the search process.
Additional support will be supplied for new faculty members for both research and teaching. New
faculty will have a reduced teaching load, no service requirements beyond department and College
meetings, and summer research support provided. New faculty will also be provided with teaching
workshops during their first two years to hone teaching effectiveness. This additional support will
ensure that new faculty are quickly aligned to the goals and mission of the institution.
Research:
As a College we appreciate and reward all forms of research; contributions to theory, practice and
teaching/learning. We will also try to stimulate collaborative research around our five Centers of
Excellence. A critical issue is improving the visibility and value of our research. A greater interaction is
needed between practicing managers and business research. To address this issue, we are hiring
additional executives in residence with relevant and substantial executive experience and contacts. In
addition, new initiatives are being undertaken to provide funding through the Centers of Excellence to
develop and collaborate on research projects across disciplines. Specific support programs include:
1. Continued provision of research seed grants to cover research costs.
2. Continued provision of appropriate databases for research.
3. Reinstate the provision of competitive summer research grants for faculty tied to specific
outcomes.
4. Provision of money through the Centers to develop collaborative research projects with multiple
faculty members – for example international entrepreneurship.
5. Continued support for faculty members in the College and at other universities to visit and
present their research.
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6. Investigate ways to recognize faculty who are able to publish in elite, top and high quality
journals.
Teaching:
We will continue to provide faculty support to enhance our teaching through encouragement of faculty
to attendance at conferences focused on teaching and learning and bringing nationally known experts to
campus to meet with our faculty.
We continue to be focused on enhancing the critical thinking of our students, which is widely accepted
as one of the major objectives of a university education. We are trying to more consciously teach
students processes, elements, standards and a disposition that will enhance critical thinking.
In addition, we want to continue to have as a focus of our teaching the use of active learning approaches
in the classroom. One approach that we are testing on a larger scale this year, is promoting team based
learning that increases student engagement and thereby enhances critical thinking. We are committed
to assessing the results and continuously trying to improve the learning outcomes of our students.
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Strategic Priority: Applied Learning Opportunities
A strategic advantage to Ohio University’s College of Business is our focus on providing our students the
opportunities to apply concepts learned in the classroom to real-world business settings. Our overall
philosophy is one of application – to leverage experience with learning. It’s not enough to learn in the
classroom; students must learn how to apply knowledge appropriately in real life work situations. The
College facilitates knowledge application in several ways including practical, applied learning
experiences in the classroom, extracurricular activities like student groups and associations, a required
internship experience, and our five innovative Centers that all provide rich, hands-on experiences and
programs.
Classroom:
While all classes are transitioning to a more application-focused teaching style, several departments will
begin to use tools of industry to teach students how to solve problems. The Finance Department will
employ the Bloomberg terminals and access to the FactSet software suite to demonstrate how to solve
financial problems with tools that students will encounter after graduation. The MIS Department is
launching an initiative for students in the classroom to work with Hyland Software to simulate an IS
project by analyzing, designing, and developing an IS solution or a key business area.
Extracurricular:
The College encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities to increase the quality of
education. Students can participate in groups for nearly every discipline and new groups are being or
have been recently formed in various disciplines.
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New groups focused on finance include the Foreign Exchange Trading Group, the Derivative
Management Group, and the Financial Management Association.
The MIS Department provides educational opportunities to increase student recruitment and
awareness of MIS professional fields through short workshops outlining career paths for MIS
majors carried out in partnership with corporate partners like Deloitte, Hyland Software,
Goodyear Tires, and Cardinal Health.
Extracurricular activities focused on entrepreneurship including three entrepreneurship clubs,
the Venture Café Series, Start-Up Weekend, and a Pitch Competition to help students hone skills
in entrepreneurial activity.
The Center for International Business Education and Development has organized a new chapter
of AISEC Cross-Cultural Leadership Development – the largest international student-run
organization in the world – to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and the development of
global leadership skills through internships in more than 110 nations.
The Strategic Leadership Center provides several outlets for students to develop meaningful
leadership skills through mentorship and coaching including the Select Leadership Development
Program, Leadership Series of executive and academic speakers, and Leadership Summits,
offered annually to address a major topic facing leaders today engaging corporate partners,
MBA students, alumni, small business partners, faculty, and select undergraduate students.
In addition to the current organizations available, the Schey Sales Centre is implementing five
new student learning opportunities including a Women in Sales club, ExSell Team, Blog Team, a
Facilitation Team, and a Sales Competition Team.
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Internship:
To further strengthen the ability of a student to apply business knowledge and demonstrate
professional skills, the College now requires all students to complete an internship before they can
graduate. This requirement will ensure that every student graduating from the College of Business has
practical experience they can leverage to be ready for the workforce upon graduation.
Centers of Excellence:
A distinct advantage of Ohio University’s College of Business are the five Centers of Excellence. These
Centers will help our students to develop competencies that corporations are demanding in the areas of
innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership development, global awareness, and professional
development.
Center for Entrepreneurship
As a partnership between Ohio University’s College of Business and Voinovich School of Leadership and
Public Affairs, the Center for Entrepreneurship aims to contribute to Ohio University’s entrepreneurial
eco-system by enhancing entrepreneurial education, university based technology commercialization,
and regionally focused business development in southeast Ohio. The Center provides College-specific
and University-wide entrepreneurship education at the undergraduate level, and is expanding into
entrepreneurship programs at the postgraduate level allowing students and graduates to engage in the
process of starting a business or participating in alumni led entrepreneurial activities.
Center for International Business Education and Development
The Center for International Business Education and Development was established in response to
increasing trends in globalization in business. This shift provided an opportunity to transform
educational activities and experiences to provide graduates the skills and perspectives necessary to
function effectively in an increasingly diverse, complex, and changing global context. The Center
coordinates and implements an ever-growing number of valuable programs that enable students to gain
relevant work-related experience associated with international business and offers similar opportunities
to an international network of partners by incorporating them into domestic programs. These include
the Global Consulting Program, the Global Consulting Program in America, Ohio International Consulting
Program, the International Business Semester in Ohio Work and Study Program, the China Summer
Program, CIBED and Study Abroad Student Scholarship Programs, and OHIO Visiting Scholar Programs.
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The Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Centre
The Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Centre provides a transformational, student centered sales education
experience. The Centre differentiates tomorrow’s sales leaders by teaching real sales readiness in the
classroom, fostering self-discovery via a triad of assessments, providing professional development by
ten outside the classroom workshops/activities and involving students in running the self-funded
Centre. Ohio University students accepted into the selective program graduate with a sales certificate
recognized on their official university transcript. The Centre averages 200 students during the school
year. Today, the Schey Sales Centre has approximately 50 students actively engaged in helping run the
Centre as a self-funded business. The Candidate Advisory Council is comprised of 35 students and the
Account Management Team is comprised of 15 students that manage the relationships with the Centre’s
35+ corporate partners. The Centre plans to increase student participation to 100 by offering a variety of
new opportunities for students to get engaged and have ownership.
Center for Sports Administration
Forty years ago when the idea for an academic program built around sports administration came to
fruition, one could hardly predict the level of complexity that the sports industry has become today.
Through the years, the sports industry has continued to evolve, becoming increasingly global and
complex in its approach to business. As such, Ohio University’s Center for Sports Administration was
founded to serve as a resource to solve the increasingly difficult issues facing the sports industry. The
Center for Sports Administration functions as a corporate partnership with the Department of Sports
Administration, providing revenue generation and undergraduate experiential opportunities. The
Center develops student internship and learning opportunities through their incredibly strong and
successful alumni network. The Center is investigating the possibility of offering a certificate program
for other majors and exploring international opportunities for student development.
Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership
The purpose of the Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership is to dramatically transform
graduates’ leadership potential and ability using a model for strategic leadership and a development
process based on research and practices of top companies. Today’s organizations need talent that can
quickly assimilate and deliver value to be identified as future leaders. To that end, the Center is focused
on integrating strategic leadership competencies into the core curriculum, and providing the networking
and mentoring to allow students to graduate prepared to be high-performance, potential leaders.
Additionally, the Center will lead efforts across the University in understanding and fostering good
leadership practices.
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Integrated Career Management
Our objective is to develop not only ‘ready now’ graduates but also graduates who can develop into the
next generation of leaders, professional practitioners, and academic business scholars. To that end, we
are implementing an integrated career management program that starts with a new recruiting message,
sets higher academic standards, and integrates career management skills through the student’s four
year academic experience. In addition, we will implement a more formal effort to retain current
corporate partnerships and cultivate new ones.
Student Development:
As a College, we are working to change student attitudes about how they prepare for their careers;
encouraging students to perform at their highest academic level and helping them understand the need
to develop a portfolio of professional experiences coupled with academic excellence that allows them a
competitive edge in the market. As of fall 2013, we have reinstituted the freshman drop policy and
students need at least a 2.5 GPA after their first year to continue in the College of Business.
The Office of Student Services will be expanding their role and becoming focused on career
management. Our professional staff will be counseling freshman and sophomore students, helping them
to develop their own portfolio of experiences through involvement with student organizations,
leadership programs, certificates, and internships. Students are being counseled to maintain a GPA of
3.0 and higher to be marketable for internship interviews and placement with national firms.
Perhaps most importantly we are adding career management curriculum throughout the business core,
particularly focused in the freshman and sophomore courses. This includes learning communities, BA
1000, BA 1100, and the Business Cluster. In addition, beginning fall 2014, all students will be required to
take a one credit career management course during their sophomore year. This approach ensures that
all students understand their obligations to career readiness and the expectations for professional
conduct and performance, while ensuring they are equipped to identify and achieve, their career goals.
Corporate Recruiter Partnerships:
Today we have a core group of companies who actively recruit College of Business students. We
understand our corporate partners need for talent and we continue to fill the talent funnel with highlyqualified, skilled, and talented prospects. Going forward, we recognize the need to grow additional
partnerships and we will do that through our advisory boards, alumni groups, and a new position at the
College that will manage corporate relationships. Additionally, we will continue to expand our career
fair and recruitment opportunities. We will also continue to seek out staff, faculty, alumni, and mentors
that can provide students with experience interacting with professionals and networking opportunities.
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