If the Commerce School is the number one undergraduate business school in the nation, as we are frequently reminded these days, why can’t they handle a providing an academic minor for College students?
The answer, as it turns out, is much more nuanced than a cursory evaluation might provide. Leadership at the Commerce School frequently attributes the school’s success to a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach, the advantages of a two (versus four) year program and Integrated Core Experience (ICE). If truly dedicated to these principles, the administration should work to provide a commerce minor in general business practice with an application open to all undergraduate students at the University.
The first surprise, for me at least, was learning that there already is a minor in the Commerce School open to all undergraduate students: Leadership.
I had no idea this even existed (and doubt many others do) — the minor is not even listed under the academic programs offered on the Commerce School’s web site. While this program succeeds in serving those who want a minor in leadership, it doesn’t provide what students want from the Commerce School — an opportunity to minor in general business practices. Other programs, such as the MS in Commerce and the summer Business Institute are held up as options for College students seeking business expertise, but the problem remains: what if students don’t want to spend a summer, or another year for that matter, paying to attend school?
According to Michael Atchison, Associate Dean for the BS in Commerce Program, one reason the Commerce School does not provide a minor in commerce is because other programs in the College already seem to supplement (or supplant) the material that would be provided in a commerce minor. While this may be true for areas such as financial economics, it is not true for management, marketing, and a host of other basic commerce material covered exclusively in the Commerce School. When all of this is added into the course load, however, Atchison said “you might as well major in it.”
Although this argument has merit, I’m confident that if students and faculty worked together, they could create a program that would cover these aspects in the appropriate depth and breadth to constitute a minor in commerce. In fact, simply adding a modified six credit/semester ICE block to round out the minor on top of COMM 1800, 2010, and 2020 might round out an acceptable 21 credit minor.
The next logical question, however, is if the Commerce School would even have the resources to run such a program. Atchison said this would be a major concern because ICE programming works in sets of blocks. Instead of adding just one cohort, the school would have to add two, putting additional strain on faculty and facility resources.
When the typical entering class only has 300 students, adding two blocks of forty students each does seem a bit extreme. However, if the modified ICE program teaches half the students for half the time and credit of a normal ICE block, the school could essentially teach two blocks for the price of one! The model would retain its basic structure, but would cost half that of a normal block.
Furthermore, two slightly more pointed motives for not providing a minors program must be addressed: (a) the desire to limit the number of students in Commerce School programs to keep student satisfaction high, and (b) the desire to maintain a reputation for excellence in academic programming. Student satisfaction with the Commerce School is one of the main reasons they have vaulted to the top of business school rankings. Atchison said part of this satisfaction comes from the cultivating a sense of community that is only possible on a smaller scale. Additionally, the ICE experience is the differentiating factor in the Commerce School’s academic programming, and any initiative that would dilute its reputation for quality would again threaten the Commerce School’s reputation in general.
First, the argument that adding a minor might sacrifice a lack of community feel is not tenable. It is not the small number of students enrolled, but the fostered sense of belonging to small groups within the classroom that creates student satisfaction. Adding an academic minor would not harm this competitive advantage. Furthermore, bringing in outside students might actually help close the gap between commerce students and those enrolled in other schools, fostering a greater sense of belonging to the University in general. Secondly, the threat of a sub-par commerce minor on the school’s academic reputation is simple to solve: don’t make it sub-par! Instead of merely cutting half the material out of the ICE experience, give students the “cliff-notes” version of the original class material and cases. Take the outline of ICE’s normal syllabus and hit the highlights.
In addition, the Commerce School wouldn’t have to sacrifice the level of excellence expected of students entering their academic programs. Just as every other major and minor has an application, so would this one — and the school would retain full jurisdiction regarding who is accepted and who isn’t. Moreover, a minors program would actually benefit the academic environment of the Commerce School by making it a truly interdisciplinary environment. Adding a student majoring in Environmental Thought and Practice to the roster is going to add more value than another accounting major when a class moves to discuss a case on a petroleum company. These students would offer diverse perspectives that the the Commerce School would be foolish to pass up.
Matt Dickey’s column runs Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at m.dickey@cavalierdaily.com
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