Overview
Mission Statement
The Department of Business, Accounting, and Economics fosters a comprehensive world-view in each of our students through an interdisciplinary integration of the liberal arts and business studies. Based on this foundation, it is our mission to pursue excellence in business education and to prepare students for successful professional careers, graduate studies, and a lifetime of learning, service, and personal growth.
Broad-based Goals
In order to accomplish its mission, the Department of Business, Accounting, and Economics pursues a set of broad-based goals. They are as follows:
- to promote a dynamic environment of academic excellence that emphasizes student learning in all programs of study
- to enhance operational effectiveness and measure excellence in business education through comprehensive programs of outcomes assessment and continuous improvement that are fully integrated with strategic planning
- to engage in continuing curricular review and development
- to develop ethical leaders who excel in a variety of organizational environments through contributions to the personal and professional development of students
- to promote and engage in a variety of faculty development activities
- to provide significant opportunities for international study, experiential education, and co- curricular activities
- to foster a stimulating and effective learning and teaching environment for all students and faculty
- to establish and sustain internal and external collaborative educational relationships and partnerships
- to enhance visibility, reputation, and service presence by developing and sustaining community, regional, state, national, and international outreach initiatives
Assessment
The Department of Business, Accounting, and Economics affirms the importance of continual and comprehensive assessment of student learning outcomes in all of its programs as a method of measuring excellence in business education. Consequently, the department is committed to the use of outcomes assessment results as a means to achieve its stated purposes and educational goals and to improve student academic and personal achievement. Therefore, all students who pursue majors offered by the department will be required to participate in its ongoing outcomes assessment program, which includes a national standardized test in business.
Study Abroad Opportunities
The Department of Business, Accounting, and Economics currently offers students the following opportunities for international study:
- In cooperation with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the British Council, and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, the department participates in the Irish/American Scholars Program. This program provides students with the opportunity to apply to study for either one semester or a full academic year at one of our partner institutions in Northern Ireland: Queen’s University-Belfast, University of Ulster-Coleraine, University of Ulster, Magee College-Derry, University of Ulster-Jordanstown, University of Ulster-Belfast, or the Belfast Metropolitan College.
- University of Jamestown is a member of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), which is the world’s largest network of colleges and universities cooperating to provide international educational experiences for their students. Through the ISEP network, students have access to affordable, high-quality study abroad programs in any discipline, including business, economics, and accounting. The reciprocal exchange program is designed so that students pay all of their normal fees, including tuition and room and board, to University of Jamestown and then study abroad for a semester, a full academic year, or a summer. Programs in business, economics, and accounting are available in universities throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, and North America.
Requirements
In addition to the areas of business concentration in the business administration major, students may also choose a liberal arts concentration by completing eighteen credit hours from any one of the liberal arts minors listed here: Biology, Chemistry, Christian Ministry, Communication, English, French, German, Global Studies, History, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Sociology, Spanish, Theatre.
Note 1: The eighteen credit hours must be selected in consultation with and approved by the chair of the department in which the concentration is chosen. If eighteen credit hours are selected from a minor that consists of exactly eighteen credit hours as previously specified by that department, then the student would have the option of choosing either a liberal arts concentration in that area or a usual minor in that area. If students choose to complete an entire liberal arts minor that consists of more than eighteen credit hours, then they would earn the normal minor designation as is currently the case.
Note 2: Various courses in the areas of concentration are offered on an alternating year basis. Consequently, students must work closely with their academic advisors to ensure that the courses are taken in a timely manner for degree completion in the normal four-year time span. (See Course Descriptions for timing of course offerings.)