College Of Business:

The College of Business serves 1,550 students in eight undergraduate degree programs and in the MBA program. It employs 35 full-time faculty members in four departments: Accounting and Business Law, Economics and Finance, Information Systems and Analysis, and Management and Marketing. Non-academic programs within the college include the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Small Business Development Center. Overall, the College has experienced a 48 percent increase in enrollment in all its academic areas over the past five years and anticipates further growth of its programs to coincide with that of business and management generally. Although current teaching loads are heavy but manageable, the college cites increased shortages of faculty to support its anticipated enrollment increases as potentially problematic. Additionally the college emphasizes its need for mediated classrooms and technology for faculty and students. The college identified three programs which it considers its strongest in terms of either faculty or students, but only one--the Economics program--strongest in both faculty and students. Although the college did not identify any of its programs as Programs of Nationally Recognized Excellence, it did recommend the following programs as Programs Targeted for Enhancement:

Priority 1: Master of Business Administration. The M.B.A. program has perhaps the greatest potential for attracting students to the college, but with this anticipated growth comes the need for additional funds for recruitment travel, brochures, and advertising, as well as for scholarships. Additionally, the program seeks faculty research course load reductions and a senior professorship in Entrepreneurship to lead undergraduate and M.B.A. curriculum development.

Priority 2: Master of Information Systems and Analysis. The M. I. S. program also has strong potential for growth. The program needs a department chair and terminally qualified faculty. The program seeks additional funding to convert two non-doctoral positions into tenure-track doctoral positions, to create two additional labs (a hardware/operating system lab and a specialized instructional lab), to create additional research assistant support, and to reduce faculty teaching loads for research.

Priority 3: Accounting. The program has need for additional terminally-qualified faculty, particularly a faculty line in auditing (approved for FY03 but “frozen” by budget cuts) and one in general accounting and systems. The program also needs increased funds for research assistant support and faculty teaching load reductions for research.

Priority 4: Finance. The program has need for additional terminally-qualified faculty, including a faculty line in general finance. The program also needs additional funds for research assistant support and faculty teaching load reductions for research. breadth of faculty in the areas of Marketing, Management, Economics, and Human Resources Management. Overall, the college cited the general need for more doctoral-level faculty, for mediated classrooms, and increases in available technology for faculty and students. However, the college’s non-departmental units—the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Small Business Development Center—are not in need of academic support resources, due to their funding from private sources.