School of Business Administration

Strategic Initiatives from the Strategic Plan 2005-08

(Detailed plan is available upon request)

In support of the overall strategic directions of the College and taking into account the needs of the stakeholders, the School of Business has developed five strategic themes in response to the opportunities and constraints that it faces in its present situation. These themes encompass academic initiatives, actions in support of faculty research and scholarship needs, student support and learning, improvements in physical surroundings and outreach to external stakeholders. These themes are outlined below:

AE: Academic Excellence:

In order to continue to remain the leading business school in the region, the School must improve, and enhance its academic program, provide innovative instruction and assess how well it is doing its main activities.

  • AE1. Program Offerings and Curricular Enhancements: The School intends to capitalize on its current reputation for providing high quality academic programs and continue to improve the quality of its existing curriculum and to deliver the programs in innovative ways. Strategic initiatives related to this theme include revision of the undergraduate curriculum, creation of additional minors, creation of specializations within the M.B.A curriculum, and additional joint graduate degrees with Engineering and the Medical Schools.
  • AE2. Enhancement of Faculty Competency in Instructional Delivery:A plan to provide training to faculty on new pedagogies and information technologies for the classroom is developed.
  • AE3. Assessment and Accountability:The School of Business Administration plans to develop learning goals and other assessment procedures to determine how well prepared our students are for the work environment upon graduation. The principle of accountability will be applied in the other areas as well.

RS: Research and Scholarship:

As a member of the Penn State family, the School requires its faculty to engage into research and scholarship of its faculty. The School wishes to work closely with the office of research and graduate studies and enhance support to faculty in their research activities.

  • RS1. Research Infrastructure and Support:The School intends to better exploit the myriad of intellectual resources it has among its faculty by upgrading its research infrastructure and research support for faculty.
  • RS2. Research Center:Another initiative is to explore the possibility of establishing a funded research center that will facilitate interaction between faculty and business and industry and the larger community.

LS: Learning and Student Support:

The School faculty consider instruction and student learning as its one of primary activities and students as its most important stakeholder. The following initiatives are developed to improve student learning inside and outside the classroom.

  • LS1. Support to Enhance Learning: The School of Business Administration intends to provide better support of student learning by enhancing accounting, math and statistics labs within the Learning Centers. Similarly, it hopes to enhance writing labs and workshops where students can receive individual assistance. Additionally, support for improved communication and presentation skills will be provided to students.
  • LS2. Support for Outside the Classroom Learning : It is well known that learning takes place inside as well as the outside the classroom. For that reason student clubs, honor societies, and other similar venues are vital for the overall development of our students. Students will be encouraged to participate in national competitions. The School, therefore, plans to provide more staff support and necessary funding to the faculty advisors and student clubs and similar groups so that such activities can be increased.
  • LS3. Internship Program: The School will review its internship program to benefit students and assist businesses.

F: Physical Facilities:

Physical surroundings play an important part in the accomplishment of personal routine tasks and long term goals. For that reason, special attention will be given to the physical environment of classrooms, and the faculty and support staff work areas.

  • F1. Classroom Facilities: Due to ever-evolving information technologies, the School of Business Administration intends to upgrade classroom facilities to provide faculty additional opportunities to integrate the latest technology in the classroom and facilitate student learning.
  • F2. Faculty and Staff Work Place: The School intends to invest in upgrading faculty offices and work places.

O: Outreach:

The School faculty are enthusiastic about reaching out to the external stakeholders, particularly the practitioners of business.

  • O1. Non-credit and credit Programming: The School of Business Administration intends to expand its offerings of credit and non-credit programs, particularly in the areas of IST, project management, and supply chain management.
  • O2. CEO Round Tables: The School intends to establish CEO round tables where area CEOs and others will discuss current business practices and important issues.
  • O3. Faculty Lecture Series: The School will re-launch its popular faculty lecture series on current business issues. This is a forum where faculty members present their research and expertise that is relevant to the major business issues of the time.

The above listed initiatives are well blended into the College initiatives. A complete description of School of Business Administration strategic plan accompanied by associated goals, action plans and strategic performance indicators are available from the School on request.