Changes being made in the business department
Because of the major changes being made across the state of Utah in higher education instituted by business deans of various schools and articulated by UBAAN (Utah Business Academic Advising Network), The Huntsman School of Business will be assimilating business law. USU Eastern will continue to teach this class and it will still transfer to Utah State. But, it will no longer, after this year, be a requirement for an associate’s degree in business at USU Eastern. It will remain a requirement for any business degree at the main USU campus; located in Logan.
This archived article was written by: James Justice
Because of the major changes being made across the state of Utah in higher education instituted by business deans of various schools and articulated by UBAAN (Utah Business Academic Advising Network), The Huntsman School of Business will be assimilating business law. USU Eastern will continue to teach this class and it will still transfer to Utah State. But, it will no longer, after this year, be a requirement for an associate’s degree in business at USU Eastern. It will remain a requirement for any business degree at the main USU campus; located in Logan.
Russell Goodrich, associate vice chancellor for professional & technical education | associate professor of business, says, “the changes being made really don’t have a whole lot to do with USU Eastern per say, but they have to do with the bachelor’s program… they [USU] used to offer four majors: operations management, entrepreneurship, human resource management and business.
“The change’s that they [USU] are making has to deal with wanting their bachelor’s degree over seen by the Huntsman Business Department on the Logan campus… So they’re changing it at their RCDE campuses to just one-business degree with either a minor in entrepreneurship or a minor in travel and tourism. Those are the two most requested areas in business.
Goodrich said, “The main change that affects us, going forward, is that business law was a required class in the first two years here at Eastern. But, after this year it will no longer be required. It’s being moved to upper division… it’s no longer part of the associates in business degree here [USU Eastern]. Though we are still teaching it.
“Most of the other schools in the state have moved it [business law] to an upper-division class; it’s the main change we’re facing. One other, minor change is they [USU] might be taking business communications to an upper level too. This is so they [USU] can have both a lower and upper division business writing course… In my opinion we need more writing.
“Nothing more is changing… We’ll still have financial and managerial accounting. We’ll still have micro and macro economics. You’ll still need to take all the required computer courses.”
Goodrich emphasized that it’s important to stress the fact that this change in the business department has nothing to do with the teaching staff at USU Eastern. It has all been mandated by the business deans across the state and articulated by the UBAAN organization.
“We have a great teaching staff… The only place that affects us [Eastern] directly is accreditation. The Northwest Commission is the broad accrediting agency that accredits [USU] as a whole. But, The Huntsman School of Business has a specialized accreditation called AACSB [The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business].
“The place where it affects us; we can still teach lower-division 1000-2000 level courses. But, unless professors have a Ph.D. in the discipline, called being academically qualified, or if they can demonstrate that they’re professionally qualified, our faculty won’t be teaching the upper-division courses…
“So, our professors will continue to teach the lower division classes that they always have. It’s just if they don’t have a Ph.D. in the discipline, especially in the business field: accounting, finance, economics we won’t be having them teach any upper-division courses; The Huntsman School of Business could lose the AACSB accreditation,» he said.
To keep this AACSB accreditation for The Huntsman School of Business, there must be a certain percentage of Ph.D.s on staff, teaching in the business department.
