Winter 2023 Dean's Message

As I reflect on my first semester as Dean of the Schmidthorst College of Business, I would like to start by thanking all of you who have reached out over the past semester to welcome me to this wonderful community. Your insights, guidance and support have made this transition so much easier and have confirmed my initial thoughts on the special environment that I have been granted the opportunity to lead. I know many of you have been able to attend some of the many events we hosted this fall, but for those who were not able to make it to campus, I will share some of the highlights.

Although both the graduate and undergraduate enrollments are slightly smaller this year, we enrolled just under 3,000 students (full and part-time) in the college. This includes a headcount of approximately 1,000 graduate students and 2,000 undergraduate students. The faculty taught over 30,000 student credit hours across our in-person, blended and online offerings.

The Schmidthorst College of Business has invested a significant amount of time and resources to the recruitment of our next cohort of students. We have been working on updated messaging to interested students and participated in two BGSU preview days, including hosting open houses in the Robert W. and Patricia A. Maurer Center with our faculty and student leadership organizations. We also hosted our own Schmidthorst College of Business Day, welcoming almost 100 potential students and their families.

The results of these efforts are a significant increase in our first-time freshman and transfer student applications. We have already seen a 7.41% increase in first-time students and a 57.5% increase in transfer student applications. Not only are applications increasing, but the quality of our applicants is outstanding! Our admitted students are up almost 11% for first-time students and 40% for transfers. We are focused now on outreach and engagement to support our yield initiatives as we plan for a great fall 2023 class.

Our students are taking advantage of the transformational learning environment our community has to offer, both inside and outside the classroom. Working with campus partners, faculty and staff, student leadership organizations and our community partners, we were able to host many activities on and off campus. This fall, across classroom speakers, student organization and college events, we welcomed over 115 different alumni and corporate speakers, representing 72 different organizations. Students had the opportunity to hear from these executives and community leaders about different career paths, including starting their own ventures, and industries as they explore their own professional aspirations. The business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi, inducted it largest class ever, and our Schmidthorst College of Business Student Ambassadors also have a wonderful new cohort.

The college and Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership hosted our first women entrepreneurs’ day luncheon, welcoming community members from across the region. Near the end of the semester, we also served our local community partnering with the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce for their annual holiday parade providing over 50 student volunteers to help ensure the parade logistics ran smoothly.

Student engagement was also enhanced through the three Dean’s Professional Skills Workshop series hosted this fall. The first series focused on change management with 21 students and one staff member earning their Lean White Belt. The second series focused on the business of cybersecurity during national cybersecurity awareness month, with over 40 students participating. This included a panel of senior executives sharing their insights that was open to the entire community. In November, the series focused on the initial Microsoft Excel Certification, even increasing the size of the workshop, the series was sold out with over 20 students on the wait list. To support this series, the college has invested in becoming a Certiport certification site, which will enable us to cost effectively offer the Microsoft certifications to our students and integrate these into our curriculum.

In this newsletter, I will introduce you to the new faculty and staff who joined the college this fall, share with you a small selection of research accomplishments, and a summary of our spring activities that I hope you will be able to enjoy. As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback on ideas and how we can engage to further enhance the learning experience and our impact on our community. Thank you for your continued support, and I can't wait to see you at one of our many spring events!

Dr. Jennifer Percival
Dean, Schmidthorst College of Business