Spotlight
Summer 2009 Back to Spotlight home page
Putting the Buzz in Business
The gradual transformation of the School of Business
A shift to three simple words, a quarter century ago, enabled the School of Business to push toward elite accreditation and expanded opportunities for students. Now the school has even loftier goals in its sights for the next quarter century.
The school was formally renamed in 1983, no longer titled the Division of Business and Business Education. In 2002, the school earned accreditation through the Association to Advance College Schools of Business, or AACSB – standards met by less than a third of U.S. business school programs and only 5 percent of the business school programs worldwide.
This year, as the school marks the 25th anniversary of its first graduates, its dean, H. Joseph Wen is mapping out ambitious goals: strengthening the school’s reputation within five years, having a reputation on par with the Teachers College in 15 years, and becoming the business program of choice in the region in 25 years.
In his office this summer, Dr. Wen produced, not surprisingly, a business plan for achieving these goals. “I am a business professor,” he said with a smile. Charts, diagrams and data followed, such as his recognition that many ESU applicants are also applying to Kansas State University’s business school. If they’re the competition, they’re the target, Wen said. However, recognizing that ESU doesn’t have Division I resources, the School of Business is banking on its potential to deliver life-changing experiences via high-quality programs. He calls it “value innovation” – going beyond the product of a degree and a solution (method of delivery), ESU offers an experience.
It’s the student experience – the trust the experience
builds between the institution and each student– that so
heavily factors into the dean’s formula for success:
[ Vision + Strategy + Execution ] x Trust = Results. “Trust – that’s why I put it so heavily in the formula,
because it’s a multiplier,” Wen said. “You can have
strong vision, strategy and execution, but if you have
zero trust, you have zero results. That kind of trust is not
built in one day. If people trust that quality, you will see
tremendous outcomes.”
In marketing terms, many universities say they’re
centered on the student experience, but Wen isn’t
worried about originality. “It’s not a matter of
uniqueness. It’s a matter of whether we do the job
better,” he said. “Enrollment is a byproduct of doing
something right.”
Doing the right thing began a long time ago – 141 years, to be exact, when the first bookkeeping classes were offered at the Kansas State Normal School. In 1983, when the business school was officially formed, it was a move that gradually opened doors for the business program’s growth, said Dr. John Rich, a long-time faculty member who began at ESU before the change and is now the school’s associate dean. The added importance of the “school” descriptor changed the dynamics over time – more resources for classrooms, professors, and students, Rich said, recalling former President John Visser’s decision to rename the business division. It all paved the way for AACSB accreditation.
The school’s very first dean, Dr. Sajjad Hashmi, arrived at the beginning and spent his entire tenure pushing the school toward the elite standards. He retired in 2003, successful in his pursuit. “He was really a high-powered person,” Rich said.
“The whole idea was to go for accreditation,” Hashmi
said, describing his move to ESU. “Not to be accredited,
but to do those things that accredited schools do,” such
as acquiring accomplished faculty members, assessing
student learning, and earning funding from state and
other sources. He said that accreditation meant much
broader opportunities for students when they complete
their programs, as it forces a school to intensively
evaluate and improve their educational practices. “The
school the day I arrived and the day I left? They were not
the same school,” Hashmi said.
Dr. Alexis Downs, an associate professor at the school,
joined the faculty in 2005 and cites the accreditation as
the deciding factor in her decision. “It ends up providing
more opportunities for students, because they come
from an AACSB-accredited school,” Downs said. “And
it’s a better environment for the faculty – there’s more
professional development.”
At the end of the day, students receive the benefits of those three simple words – School of Business – with accreditation as an elite stamp of approval, mixed with the personal touch that defines the ESU experience. “One of the advantages of a smaller school is that you see the same students in multiple classes. You get to know them,” Downs said. That same connection represents a part of what she hopes she can give her students. “I think it’s my job to make sure that the students graduate with the skill and the knowledge that they need to succeed,” Downs said. “They need to have what we promised them.”
A quarter century in, the School of Business is
fulfilling that promise, and surely will for the next 25
years.
by Dirk Mcbratney (BA 2007, MA 2009) and Jesse Tuel
Last Updated July 29, 2009