‘We're finally getting the recognition we deserve'
BY RACHELLE COOPER
U of G officially launched its seventh college in May, and B.Comm. students then adopted the College of Management and Economics (CME) affiliation, but enthusiasm has been building with the recent arrival of the first class, says Dian Chaaban, a fourth-year B.Comm. student and president of the College of Management and Economics Students' Association.
“It's a big deal — we're really excited about it,” says Chaaban. “We're finally getting the recognition we deserve as a business school.”
Before the creation of CME, the B.Comm. program was offered through the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS) and the Ontario Agricultural College.
With 2,600 students and eight different majors, U of G's B.Comm. program is among the country's largest business programs, but it's been a bit of a secret because it hasn't had much of a profile, says CME dean Chris McKenna.
“The creation of the new college helps with recruitment and with the sense of identity students have while they're here,” he says, “and I think it also helps with employment prospects.”
Chaaban agrees. “Even though the classes aren't changing, the new college of management label helps give us more credit for the work we're doing.”
With U of G's strength in commerce, special MBA programs and the new MA in leadership, CME will help develop the University's profile in management and leadership programs, says McKenna.
“The hope is that CME will be a much better mechanism for moving management and commerce programs forward. We plan on making the best use of our resources to improve student experiences.”
Traditional business schools are self-sufficient, tend to be isolated from the rest of their campus and have a reputation for being very aggressive, he says.
“That just wouldn't work here, so we see this moving forward in a highly collaborative way, as all the colleges behave at U of G.”
CME incorporates the Department of Economics, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, and the new Department of Business, as well as some contributions from the Department of Psychology, the Department of Political Science and the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
The departments of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, Geography, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology and Anthropology remain in CSAHS, which has moved on quickly from the creation of CME, says CSAHS dean Alun Joseph.
“We're in the middle of a very constructive and rewarding revisioning process that is bringing into focus a wide array of exciting opportunities for the college.”
CME faculty will continue to contribute to interdisciplinary programs and projects, says Prof. John Livernois, chair of the Department of Economics.
“Administratively, we're going to be housed in the new college, but economics is a social science, and many of us do social science research and will continue to collaborate with faculty in the other colleges.”
The strong social science background gives B.Comm. students at Guelph an advantage over those at other universities, says McKenna.
“It's a broader commerce program than you find at other universities. There's a delicate line to tread between making sure students acquire the core business competencies and giving them some breadth of experience.”
That breadth is one reason Guelph's B.Comm. enrolment has risen 88 per cent over the past nine years, he says. Another is the fact that students like the direct entry into the major.
“At other schools, you're admitted to the B.Comm., then don't actually get to choose your major until the end of the year, so you might not get into the major you wanted.”
Adds Chaaban: “Here, you're in the college from day one and can identify with the people in your major right away.”
Because B.Comm. students are currently scattered across campus, McKenna says CME is hoping to find a donor to help fund a building dedicated to the college.
Students, staff and faculty will have an opportunity to recognize their new college and meet the newly formed CME board of advisers at a celebration Oct. 25.
