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National magazine profiles ‘big payoffs’ of IU Kokomo business education
June 14, 2004 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—In the article “Small Schools, Big Payoffs,” the May/June 2004 edition of BizEd magazine touts the advantages of attending smaller schools of business, including that of Indiana University Kokomo. Author Sharon Shinn interviewed IU Kokomo Dean of Business Niranjan Pati, Ph.D., for the article, which focused on five schools with 35 or fewer full-time faculty. IU Kokomo’s School of Business offers a Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s degrees in five concentrations—accounting, e-business, finance and economics, management and human resources, and marketing and distribution. Like the small town settings where they are commonly located, Shinn wrote, most small schools of business “offer a distinct experience, defined by . . . a deep sense of community and a chance to develop close personal and professional relationships. Most important, small schools present an opportunity for deans and professors to make a real difference in a defined world.” In the article, Pati described how the IU Kokomo School of Business “courts working professionals” as students, by offering evening classes and flexible course scheduling that accommodates those wanting to finish [an M.B.A.] in a year’s time. Business classrooms can be configured for lectures and small group discussions, he said. One room even features a financial ticker so students can engage in investment simulation. Although a small school, the Kokomo campus offers all of its 3,000 students the significant advantage of being “part of the larger IU system, with access to the full university’s libraries, IT (information technology) facilities and other resources,” Pati said. Another hallmark of outstanding small schools of business, according to the article, is the high visibility of their deans and faculty members. “Pati encourages his faculty to make presentations to community organizations, to participate in corporate open houses and to write articles for local newspapers,” Shinn wrote. “IU Kokomo students participate with the [North Central Indiana] Small Business Development Center to promote downtown revitalization.” This and other community outreach add “value to the learning experience,” Pati said—value not taken into consideration by current systems that rank institutions of business education. “Students are at certain levels [of business knowledge] when they come to our schools, and we need to look at how much we have added by the time they get out,” Pati said. Rankings should measure whether students receive a good “rate of return” on the time and money they invest in education, he said. The article also quoted representatives of schools of business in Maryland, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and the Republic of South Africa. All of the schools are members of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, which publishes BizEd. The November/December 2003 edition of BizEd profiled the IU Kokomo School of Business, highlighting its small class size and student achievements. IU Kokomo has “one of only a few programs of its size to earn AACSB accreditation at both undergraduate and graduate levels,” according to the article. “It is clearly an honor to be mentioned twice in AACSB International’s flagship magazine in less than a year’s time,” said Pati.
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