Business Administration and Accounting Program Review Year 2 Report. Introduction

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1 Business Administration and Accounting Program Review Year 2 Report Introduction Due to the sea change brought on by the launching of the Schneider School of Business and Economics and the establishment of a Masters in Business Administration, this report may be a bit atypical. First, while we did submit a Year 1 report following a discipline retreat, events over the past year have conspired to force us to re-open a discussion as to our basic mission, vision, and strategy going forward. Thus, we will be supplying a report that will, in part, resemble a Year 1 report once again. Second, at this point it is rather difficult to disentangle disciplinary matters from school matters. We will be focused on discipline while looking at OIE data, but (for now) make little distinction between discipline mission/vision/strategy and School of Business and Economics mission/vision/strategy. Finally, in practical terms, we are very focused on all of the activities required as we prepare for the launch of the MBA program and going down the path of seeking AACSB accreditation. One of the most important and time consuming of these activities is the search for new faculty. These will be critical decisions to the success of the business programs going forward on all levels. We need to hire people that simultaneously meet a need in the MBA program AND contribute to the enhancement of the undergraduate programs. Between replacing retiring faculty and new positions, we will be adding seven new faculty members over the course of a three-year period (providing that all of the searches are successful). Thus, we are living in a situation where we need to be very mindful of our overall mission and vision while we are actively managing the implementation of a vision for our basic direction that was decided by the overall College community. Taking all of these forces into consideration, this portion of our program review will give the CEPC a look at the draft of the Schneider School of Business Strategic Plan. Following that, we will provide analysis of some of the more standard elements called for in the second year report of the program review process.

2 Program Mission and Vision Donald J. Schneider School of Business and Economics Strategic Plan ***DRAFT*** September 9, 2014 Vision: St. Norbert College s Donald J. Schneider School of Business and Economics will be the intellectual hub of business in Northeastern Wisconsin. Mission: The Donald J. Schneider School of Business and Economics serves its students and the Northeastern Wisconsin community by providing academically rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Business Administration and Economics along with other non-curricular programming. Built upon the Norbertine heritage and its traditions, the Schneider School teaches and employs a wide variety of analytical tools used in business and economics via the integration of innovative teaching, state-of-the-art scholarship, and service to the community. As a result of their involvement with the School, graduates and others will be moved to become ethical citizens in a complex society whose work contributes to the global common good. Core Values: The Schneider School embraces the Norbertine ideal of communio and draws upon the College s three principal traditions the Catholic intellectual tradition, the liberal arts tradition, and the Norbertine tradition in all of its programs and activities on behalf of its students and the Northeastern Wisconsin business community. As a part of St. Norbert College, the School should contribute to the betterment of the institution as a whole. Strategic Priorities: The strategic priorities for the Schneider School are intended to align closely with those of St. Norbert College and the institution s current Strategic Plan, as follows: Enhance overall academic excellence at St. Norbert College, and expand opportunities for the intellectual, spiritual and personal development of its undergraduate and graduate students by offering appropriate academic and cocurricular programs Strengthen the College s unique identity and value as the only Catholic liberal arts college rooted in the Norbertine tradition specifically by building on the College s history and heritage of contributions to the Northeastern Wisconsin business community Employ state-of-the-art facilities, technology and other tools Contribute to the enhanced financial viability of the College Foster civility, equity, diversity and inclusive excellence within the School, at the College and in the greater community

3 Engage and serve local and global communities with appropriate academic and co-curricular programs Broaden visibility and recognition of the Schneider School and of St. Norbert College Major Initiatives: The Schneider School s two main long-term areas of focus are: (1) Provide high-quality undergraduate and graduate academic programs in business and economics that generate resources for the rest of St. Norbert College: (a) St. Norbert College s current undergraduate degree offerings in Accounting, Business Administration and Economics, and their attendant programming, will now be under the umbrella of the Schneider School. (b) A Masters of Business Administration program with concentrations in Supply Chain Management and in Health Care Management, as well as a non-concentration option, will be added. Other concentration areas may be considered as future offerings. The MBA program will have as its primary objective to provide the formal graduate business education necessary for the next generation of business leaders in Northeastern Wisconsin. It will attract highly motivated and capable students who seek leadership positions and will emphasize the understanding of one s business career as a vocation that can make life better for others. (2) Serve as a resource to the Northeastern Wisconsin business community by initiating the following programs: (a) A Schneider School Advisory Board composed of senior business leaders in Northeastern Wisconsin will help shape the School and its activities, and help direct resources both people and monetary toward those activities. (b) An Executives in Residence program will be aimed primarily toward enhancement of undergraduate students experiences in the undergraduate business and economics programs. The School will house local business professionals who will be available to advise and mentor students and to help them network. In addition, this group will initiate and run a Business Plan Competition open to all St. Norbert College undergraduate students. (c) A Business Leaders Speakers program will provide a forum for current senior business leaders to share with undergraduate and graduate students their perspectives of what is required of future business leaders.

4 (d) A Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship will provide expertise and services specifically targeted to assisting small and family business in the region. This would be led by a new faculty member financed by an endowed chair. (e) A Business Consulting Services arm will harness the expertise and connections of the Schneider School faculty to provide to the business community for-fee advice and analysis on a project basis. Milestones: The following are the dates by which the above would be accomplished: Fall, 2014: Higher Learning Commission grants approval to offer MBA program SSBE branding and identity plan outsourced and completed Course development for pre-req and Core MBA courses to be offered by existing SSBE faculty completed Public launch of the School to the Northeastern Wisconsin community Recruitment of the first class of 25 MBA students begins Call for course ideas for MBA elective courses from SSBE and non-ssbe faculty and from local business leaders Initial effort toward AACSB accreditation begins via contracting with an appropriate consultant Begin work on development of instruments and processes that needed for assessment of the programs of the School Spring, 2015: SSBE Advisory Board assembled Recruitment of Business Ethics, Supply Chain Management and Health Care Management faculty positions successfully completed Recruiting for Business Leader Speaker series begins Summer, 2015: Assessment plans for Schneider School and MBA program completed and integrated with existing Business Administration and Economics disciplinary assessment plans Internal processes and procedures related to the MBA program set to begin functioning Executives in Residence assembled Recruitment of new Finance faculty member begins Development of core and upper-level MBA concentration courses to be offered by new faculty initiated

5 Fall, 2015: MBA classes begin SSBE Advisory Board begins meeting Executives in Residence program begins Development of core and upper-level MBA concentration courses to be offered by new faculty completed Development of plan to endow a faculty chair in Family Business and Entrepreneurship Recruiting for Spring and Fall 2016 entering MBA classes begins Spring/Summer, 2016: Additional group of MBA students begin classes First Schneider School and MBA program assessment reports created Planning begins for Schneider School Consulting arm Fall, 2016: New group of 30 FTE MBA students begin classes First Business Plan Competition led by Executives in Residence gets underway Spring, 2017: First cohort of MBA students graduate Programmatic Assessment: The undergraduate Accounting, Business Administration and Economics major and minor programs will remain part of the College s assessment and program review processes. The MBA program will be subject to the same processes and procedures, and will be added to the schedule of program reviews at the College. The Business Administration and Economics faculty will be provided with the same set of information given to all programs at the College by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. This includes annual and longitudinal information concerning numbers of program graduates at the College and relevant peer and aspirant programs, course enrollments, grade distributions, enrollment profile (by gender and race/ethnicity), course and instructor evaluation, postgraduate data. It also includes survey data reflecting student satisfaction with various aspects of the program and student self-reported learning outcomes. The development of the non-degree major initiatives indicated above will include identification of specific outcomes and a means by which progress toward those outcomes can be quantified and measured.

6 Program Data Analysis Learning Outcomes Analysis While we have a number of desired program outcomes, our assessment efforts have largely focus on determining whether our graduates have the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful business professionals. Our primary means of assessment has been the Major Field Test in Business. This test allows us to see how our graduates stack up against graduates from other higher education institutions. We see results broken down my different function areas of business (Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing), as well as areas of skills or specialized knowledge (such as International Business, Quantitative skills, and Legal). In the past, assessment results from the MFT have helped inform hiring decisions and curricular changes. Our goal is for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills such that their scores would rank above the median and hopefully significantly above the median. Recent MFT data were shared last year. Mostly the data tell a good story about our work with students as our students score above or well above national norms in all of the functional areas of business. One alarming trend, however, is that student scores in Quantitative Analysis have gone in the wrong direction. We will be looking at our curriculum to see whether we can provide more and/or better interventions so as to better prepare our students for the increasingly data-driven, analytical world that they will confront when they leave the friendly confines of St. Norbert College. A significant aspect of any solutions is likely to be a champion of all things quantitative in business. We need such a champion to teach a business analytics course in the MBA program; this person should also be a great asset to the undergraduate program. A final note on the assessment of student learning outcomes is in order. After our year one report, the CEPC s comments indicated that a more coherent plan starting with a statement of learning outcomes and including an overall assessment plan should be worked on. While we take these comments to heart, our primary effort in the past months has been on the mission/vision/plan thing. Once these are solidified, we can do a sort of assessment reset in the months to come. In part, that effort will also be informed by what we learn from our AACSB consultants (who are scheduled to come to campus later this semester). Since that accrediting body has much to say about assessment, we will concentrate on changes to our assessment approach once we are more fully informed about their guidelines. Analysis of Majors, Minors, and Course Enrollments Analysis of the OIE data indicates that business related majors continue to make up a substantial portion of the students who graduate from SNC. Over the last five years of data provided, 28.3% of graduates majored in a business related field (ACCT, BUAD, or IBLAS). Further. the variability is not surprising or indicative of any particular trend getting only as low as 25.1% and as high as 30.6%. Another 3% of

7 students have graduated with a minor in business administration over the same time period. Largely, course enrollments tell a consistent story with the number of majors and minors over time. When and where we are fully staffed, courses required of all business related majors consistently enroll students per section. For us, being fully staffed for the core of the undergraduate program means that we can offer 5 or 6 sections of each core course per year. With the number of majors and minors in the range, this allows for course sizes that average in the mid 20 s. The exception is in our BUAD 485 course, where we have a seminar course with normal enrollments of students per section. There are several areas where we have not been fully staffed and our courses are larger. In recent years, sections of statistics have averaged close to 35 students, and that number is closer to 40 for sections of Corporate Finance. This is due to only offering four sections per year due to being somewhat short-handed. Advanced elective courses have a wide range of enrollment. In the most popular concentrations Finance and Marketing normal enrollment ranges between 20 and 30 students for elective courses, with a few sections beyond this range. In the other areas, course enrollment varies between the high single digits to the 20 s. Accounting and IBLAS numbers show some variability over time, but without any particular trend in recent years. Analysis of Student Satisfaction Current Student Survey Business students are not drastically different than the overall student population in terms of their satisfaction across many areas. If anything, they seem slightly less satisfied than average. That said, they show a slightly higher propensity to be highly satisfied with their major than other students. Perhaps this apparent disconnect stems from business students being more vocationally focused than most other students, and less enamored with core curriculum coursework outside of the major. Also, current business students report to being less certain regarding their preparation for life outside of SNC both in terms of their careers and graduate school. Whether this says something about the differences between students or between student experiences is not clear. Senior Survey Mostly, senior business-related majors report to having similar experiences as other SNC students on the senior survey but with an important caveat. They seem to be less strong in their positive responses (for example, more Agrees and fewer Strongly Agrees ) than others. Some of the later items on the survey might be a proxy for the closeness of faculty-student interactions. The higher response rates of

8 occasionally rather than frequently could stem from larger class sizes in business leading to less formation of close mentor/mentee relationships. Alumni Survey Alumni of the business program respond in line with other alums in terms of their SNC experience if we pool the responses Very satisfied and Satisfied, though business alums favor the weaker response. In terms of differences between more and less recent graduates, the alums who graduated 6 years ago (as of the gathering of the data) were generally less satisfied than recent graduates and more in favor of responding satisfied than very satisfied compared to other alums of the same vintage. Alums of 6 years ago were particularly dissatisfied with the range of courses offered, both compared to their contemporaries and compared to more recent business graduates. Since we started offering concentrations, and more options with the hiring of several new faculty, perhaps we have partially addressed some of that concern. Analysis of Peer and Aspirants This area is a bit of a challenge for us in some ways. Most of our peer and aspirant institutions do not have substantial business programs, and none graduates a percentage of undergraduate students close to our percentage. That said, there are 6 institutions 3 in the peer group and 3 in the aspirant group that graduate at least 10% of their students in the business area. One of those schools, St. John s, has a very atypical program that is hard to compare to any of the others. Thus, our analysis will focus on five schools Central College (IA), St. Michael s (VT), Stonehill College (MA), Augustana (IL), and Illinois Wesleyan (IL). We will focus on the similarities and differences in curriculum. Common Courses Across All Institutions All programs have the following as part of a business core (though the names might be slightly different): Financial Accounting Managerial Accounting Principles of Management Principles of Marketing Financial Management Business Policy/Strategy We also require all of these courses. Areas of Divergence Mathematics: Aside from a statistics class, two of the five schools require a course in either Calculus or Finite Math. We require a course in Calculus. Economics: Three of the five programs require both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. One requires only Microeconomics; the other offers a single hybrid course. We require both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

9 Computer Applications: Two schools require a course in either computer applications or computer science, while the others do not. We require a course in Computer Applications. Statistics: Three of the schools require a single course in statistics, while the other two require two courses in statistics/quantitative methods. Business Law: Four of the five schools require a course in Business Law. We require a course in Business Law. Ethics: One of the five schools requires a course in Business Ethics. Starting next year, we intend to require a half course in Business Ethics. Concentrations: Four of the five schools offer concentrations, either optional or required, that entail three additional courses in a particular field of business. The other school offers majors in the same areas as others offer concentrations. We offer concentrations, and with the most recent catalog have gone to a plus three courses model in each area in line with the practice of others. Previously we had a plus four model. Odds and Ends: Some programs have more and less emphasis on providing Internships, but none requires it of majors. Some have special areas of emphasis and require atypical courses examples include Business Writing, Critical Thinking and Communication, and Operations Management. Analysis This is an interesting exercise, which might provide for some ideas for adjusting our curriculum, especially in light of our assessment results. Our coverage of statistics and quantitative analysis may be a bit light as reflected by relatively low student scores on the MFT and our variance in offerings with some of these institutions. But our major is fairly large, and we would surely need to subtract something from our requirements if we were to add a required course in statistics or data analysis. Some questions for us to consider: Should we stop requiring calculus? Should we (with the math department?) consider a new course that would cover some of the current statistics course, allowing for greater coverage of quantitative analysis through the two courses? Should we stop requiring Computer Applications in Business? Should we require students to show proficiency in the requisite computer skills in some other way? On-line courses with exams to show proficiency? Conclusions For the most part, our program is fairly typical, and in no way is terribly out of step with common practice as defined by our peer and aspirant institutions. However, our four credit hour courses, along with the fact that we tend to require courses that some others do not, creates potential problems in terms of the size of the major. We made a step in the right direction when we scaled back the concentrations by one course. But we are also adding in a required half course in Business Ethics. Further, we need to address declining performance in terms of quantitative skills.