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News_______________________________
Reorganization of the College of Business and Public Affairs
As a result of on-going reductions in the State appropriation to UT Martin, the University asked deans to develop a plan to save on administrative costs. At the same time, the College chose to make some long-desired strategic changes so while we reduced the number of academic departments from three to two we were able to implement a strategy to increase the globalization of the College.
Effective July 1, the two academic departments in the College will be: the Department of Accounting, Finance, Economics and Political Science; and the Department of Management, Marketing, Computer Science, and Information Systems.
Also effective July1, the Center for Global Studies will become part of the College. The Center is the focal point for globalization on campus and spearheads efforts to increase the number of UTM students participating in the study abroad program (where students spend anywhere from two weeks to a semester at one of our international partner institutions) and in the travel study program where faculty led groups of students focusing on a particular social, cultural or economic aspect tour domestic or international locations. Students receive academic credit under each program. Current study abroad opportunities exist with partners in Quebec, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, and Japan.
One of the lesser known groups within the Center for Global Studies is the Tennessee Intensive English Program (TIEP). For over thirty years TIEP has brought students from countries around the world to UT Martin to improve their English speaking skills. Many of these students complete the program and enroll in one of our undergraduate or graduate programs to finish their education while simultaneously increasing the cultural and ethnic diversity of the University. International students are a true gift to a campus located in a largely rural area and add to the depth and breadth of our efforts to provide UTM students with an outstanding education that prepares them to function in the world economy.
The final addition to the college will be the Office of International Programs which oversees the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in international studies. In this interdisciplinary major students have the opportunity to concentrate in over one dozen fields ranging from agriculture to travel and tourism (global finance is currently the only business related concentration within the program). The Office will also promote the College's BSBA program in international business.
As a result of these additions, the College name will change to the College of Business and Global Affairs.
Major Gift to the Accounting Program
A gift, spearheaded by long-time supporter, Art Sparks, of Alexander, Thompson, and Arnold in Union City has established the Alexander, Thompson, and Arnold (ATA) Professorship in Accounting. As a direct result of the gift, the College was able to hire Dr. Mary Geddie as the ATA Assistant Professor of Accounting. Dr. Geddie holds the PhD in accounting from the University of Houston and was teaching at California State University Chico. She is both a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and brings a wealth of experience to the accounting program having served in the profession, primarily as an auditor, for over twenty years. AS part of her duties, Ms. Geddie will serve as the liaison between the accounting program and regional accounting professionals.
Financial Literacy Program
Tennessee has one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the country and increasing numbers of college students report holding multiple credit cards which are ‘maxed' out. Even students without credit cards (including high school students) report problems managing their money. As a result, the finance program has partnered with the Tennessee JumpStart Program and the Tennessee Bankers Association, and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Memphis Branch) to develop programs for students in personal finance and money management. At the university level, finance faculty members teach basic money management and budgeting to almost 1,000 students enrolled each year in the First Year Initiative course. In addition, university students are encouraged to enroll in Finance 160, Personal Finance and Money Management, a three semester hour course specifically geared to teaching life long money management skills.
At the High School level, Dr. Philip Young (Tom E. Hendrix Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise) and Dr. Tom Payne (Horace and Sara Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking) developed a personal finance training program for high school teachers. Teachers spend a minimum of sixteen hours under the supervision of one of the chairs doing ‘hands on' exercises designed to teach the basics of personal financial management. After completing the program the high school teachers are qualified to teach a personal finance course for their students. Students who successfully complete the semester long course can receive college credit for their efforts. The program started with two high schools participating and has grown to fifteen high schools this spring. Nine of those schools have students enrolled for college credit.
On-Line MBA Launched
In January, 11 students joined the MBA Program as the first cohort in the new on-line MBA for banking and financial services professionals. To qualify for the cohort, students had to have at least two years (most had many more than two years) experience in banking or a related financial services field plus meet the usual entry requirements for the MBA Program. Professors and students in the on-line program at UTM have benefited from the explosion of new technology designed to facilitate on-line courses. Professors regularly use BlackBoard, where students can participate in discussion boards, receive and drop off assignments, review PowerPoint slides, find additional readings, work on group projects and even view class lectures. Lectures can be recorded live in the special Apreso classroom in the BA Building either with students present or with the faculty member alone in the room. Classes are set up so that students take two courses each semester (and during the summer). Students work on only one course at a time so that during the first spring semester the graduate management course (taught by Dr. Overby) ended in mid March and the required finance course (taught by Dr. Haddad) began in March and ended in early May.
Maintenance of Accreditation for Business Programs
For most of us it seems hard to believe that we are again talking about an accreditation visit, but it is that time again. The AACSB International accreditation process calls for a review of all accredited programs every five years. Our last review was during 2004 – 05 so our next review will be in 2009 – 10. The “Maintenance of Accreditation” (as it is called) process assumes that a school's business programs have kept the commitment to quality and continuous improvement that earned the school its initial accreditation. However, visit teams still find problems during on-campus reviews. The major problems discovered tend to fall into two categories: qualifications of faculty and lack of a robust assurance of learning (assessment) program. The CBPA has spent much effort in attracting and keeping an excellent faculty (90% have doctoral degrees) and we have expended a great amount of energy to ensure that we use data from our assurance of learning process to make changes in how we teach, course content, and curricula. We are quite confident that those efforts will be rewarded with another five-year extension of our AACSB accreditation.
If you have not made a gift this year to your university, college, department or program, would you consider this as an ask for your financial consideration. Click here to make a gift online.
This electronic newsletter is produced by the Office of Alumni Relations and electronically distributed to alumni of the College of Business and Public Affairs.
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