November 18th, 2020
A Message From The Department of Management, Marketing, & Law
Ch-Ch-Ch Changes
In the words of David Bowie, 2020 has been about “Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Turn and face the strange.” We have all certainly faced the strange this year. In the spring, due to the Corona virus, Limestone went completely online where students could either stay on campus and take classes online or go home. Faculty quickly moved all face-to-face classes to online using video conferencing and/or lectures to teach the final 8 weeks of the semester. Additional adjustments were also needed in the fall. While Limestone students were fortunate enough to have face-to-face classes in the fall, due to Corona contract tracing, there always seems to be several students in each class that are quarantined as a precaution. To adjust to this new reality, most professors have adapted by teaching face to face while also being on video with students in the class that are quarantined. As with all of you, we certainly hope that in 2021 things will get back to “normal.”
While this has been a strange year, I did want to update all our stakeholders on what we’ve been doing along with other, more positive changes, that we’ve been initiating.
Accreditation and Student Achievement
Limestone’s business department received specialized business accreditation by the Accreditation Council of Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) in 2017. ACBSP accreditation follows the Baldrige model and is focused on teaching excellence, student learning outcomes, and continuous improvement. As part of our accreditation requirements, we submitted our most recent ACBSP Accreditation status report to the ACBSP Board of Commissioners this semester.
Alumni, parents, and prospective students should be proud of our academic achievements. For those that have graduated in the last 15 or so years, you may remember taking a standardized test in the Business Policy course. Every year, students take this standardized test, and we compare our student’s achievements to those of all other ACBSP accredited schools. During the 2019/2020 academic year, Limestone business students scored in the 88th percentile when compared against all other schools! The highest area was Business Finance where our students scored in the 93rd percentile and the lowest area was a tie between management and accounting; however, even in our lowest areas, our students still achieved the 75th percentile when compared against all other ACBSP schools. Each year we post our results on the Limestone website (https://www.limestone.edu/business-programs).
Diamond Resorts
In addition to a significant number of local internship opportunities, a couple years ago we entered in a relationship with Diamond Resorts to give our students unique internship opportunities world-wide. In this program, Limestone students work in a designated field depending on their interests and major (accounting, finance, legal, marketing, sales, etc.) for an entire semester (students may also complete the internship over the summer). Each is a paid internship and students stay on a Diamond Resort property for the semester. In addition, students are offered a position with Diamond Resorts after successfully completing the internship. While Covid has put a hold on these internships due to travel restrictions in the industry, we are looking forward to reigniting this program in 2021. If you’d like to find out more about the program from some of our students click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luLex9gwxnY
Limestone Going Global - We are ready to take back the world in 2021
Unique seems to be an overused term; however, for the past few years, I’ve been working to implement a “unique” study abroad program for Limestone University students. Most colleges and universities do a great job highlighting their study abroad programs to prospective students and most parents and students may walk away with the misconception that most students at a school participate in the study abroad programs. The reality is that only about 6% of college students in the U.S. participate in a study abroad program during their 4 years. The largest impediment to more students participating is cost. While schools throw around words like “free,” their definition of that word is different than mine. Free at many schools means the course is covered by tuition but flights, hotels, meals, or other expenses are not. Because of this, study abroad is not financially feasible for any but the most affluent. We wanted to change that. We wanted ALL students to have to opportunity to participate in a study abroad program regardless of family finances. With that, we designed a program whereby EVERY Day Program student could participate in one short-term study abroad program during their 4 years at Limestone covered by the tuition they already pay. This includes meals, flights, hotels, transportation - everything. The only thing a student needs to pay for is for their individual passport and spending money. That’s it. To find out more about this program visit: global.limestone.edu.
Covid, like everything else in this world, has also delayed our Global Experience Program. Our trips for both May and December of 2020 have had to be postponed due to safety concerns and worldwide travel restrictions. We are hoping to restart the program in the May of 2021 with trips to Peru and Europe (England, France, & Germany). In addition to those trips, students will have the opportunity in March to register for one of our 2021/22 programs. We have courses/trips planned to Costa Rica and Amsterdam in December of 2021 and Spain/Portugal and Greece/Greek Isles in May of 2022.
I look forward to updating all our stakeholders in future newsletters, but if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Dr. Michael Scharff
Professor of Management
Chair, Department of Business
mscharff@limestone.edu
864.488.4531
