BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Richard C. Thompson, PhD
Hello to all Business Administration students, both BBA and MBA.
I have some exciting news to share with one and all as we start the third quarter of the year. We have four new specializations that will add variety to your electives selection; give you possible alternatives to your current choice of specializations; and attract more students to both our bachelor’s and master’s programs.
The new degree specializations are:
Bachelor of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
ACCOUNTING
Accounting has been added as a specialization of both the BBA and MBA programs. Accountants assume numerous roles in todays organizations, including budget analysis, financial and investment planning, information technology consulting, and even limited legal services. And these are add-ons to their traditional duties preparing, analyzing, and verifying financial documents.
The CPA is the predominant certification process for accountants, and the education requirement for CPA certification differs from state to state. Some states require only 120 credit hours of higher education, while most have adopted the newer, 150-credit-hour requirement. For a list of states with the 150-hour requirement, go to: http://www.aicpa.org/download/states/150_Hour_Education_Requirement.pdf.
An accounting specialization is offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to give students the greatest flexibility. The BBA in Accounting is designed to serve students in the states that still require only 120 credit hours. For students in the states that have adopted the 150-credit-hour standard, BBA accounting students can complete the additional 30 hours at JIU and have the option of completing an MBA at the same time.
Finally, students who already possess a bachelor’s degree in accounting can select the MBA in Accounting. Even students with a bachelor’s in business who did not major in accounting but wish to change fields can take the five bachelor-level accounting courses and the MBA-level courses to meet AICPA education standards.
The accounting specializations are for students who are looking to work in public, management, and government accounting, as well as internal auditing. Students can also structure their studies to focus on budget analysis, financial and investment planning, and information technology consulting.
SALES AND MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Sales and Marketing Management is a natural fit in the BBA program. While sales and marketing are separate business functions, each contributes equally to the success of a business. These two areas complement one another and, when combined, can mean higher levels of success for the firm. Finally, because these functions play a crucial strategic role, the overall focus is on the integration of Sales and Marketing with the other functional areas of the organization.
This specialization is for students who are interested in developing careers in either sales or marketing or who already hold current positions in either area. Sales managers and directors who take this specialization learn how to coordinate two types of business functions that often work separately, leveraging each to increase bottom line performance.
INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT
The ISM specialization focuses on security assessment, security planning, and effective and rapid response to security breaches. These courses will enable students to compare basic organizational security concepts to a companys current security posture to determine the security gap; apply basic technical security concepts to the current state of security within an organization using a layered security model; develop a risk management plan for an organization; and develop a disaster recovery plan that enables a company to recover rapidly and implement lessons learned from previous disasters as improvements to the plan.
Who is this for? While the central focus of the program is on the general manager, this program also applies to all those in the IS profession with security experience who find themselves in a managerial role.
Well, as you can see it has been a busy second quarter here and I’m looking forward to the next half of the year. Good luck in your courses and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Respectfully,
Richard C. Thompson, PhD
Academic Chair
Business Administration