Culture of Engagement Provides Educational Experiences that Go Beyond Business As Usual

By Donna Greenwald

The College of Business has a culture of engagement where students develop and sharpen essential business skills such as critical thinking, communication, presentation, collaboration and teamwork inside and outside the classroom. We continue to go beyond business as usual compared to other traditional business programs. 

Our curriculum has a focus on engaging students through hands-on, experiential learning through a unique series of Applied Business Experience lab courses, making us one of the only undergraduate programs in the country to offer this type of curriculum. 

Business faculty are adopting a more interactive and innovative style of teaching called “the flipped classroom” where students review reading materials and listen to lectures outside the classroom and in-class time is spent on collaborative projects, exercises, and discussions. The College of Business is taking the lead to educate other faculty about this innovative teaching style by hosting a flipped classroom conference at BGSU, featuring award-winning author and flipped classroom expert Dr. Jose Bowman. 

Outside the classroom, the College offers co-curricular activities that help our students develop professionally and also connect with alumni. Over 1,300 students attended the dean’s two workshops, class dinners, the College of Business Student Organization Fair, the Dean’s Picnic on the Green, the Dean’s Homecoming Tailgate, Women in Leadership conference, and the Business Analytics Symposium.

Our business students are also actively engaged with employers. Half of our business students attended the BGSU EXPO Job and Internship Fair this fall with 69% of participating employers seeking business students to fill their positions. One hundred percent of the August 2015 graduates participated in an internship and 80% of all business internships turned into permanent job offers.

A program to encourage and reward engagement in the College of Business is the CBA Rewards Point Program which is in its fourth year. Ninety-one percent of the undergraduate students have engaged with the College so far this semester by earning CBA Rewards Points. Two hundred and thirty-nine students have accumulated enough points to earn CBA “swag” prizes.  The top three students at the end of fall semester earn two tickets to Cedar Point.