BGSU Schmidthorst College of Business: Q&A with the Dean

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for this Schmidt Horse College of Business Session with the Dean. Part of our virtual Presidents Day weekend, one of our early events, so this might be your first or you might be tagging along after attending a couple others, so we'll start off real quick by just explaining how this will work.

Below me you'll see a chat option throughout this presentation. Go ahead and if you have any questions, enter them in the chat and we'll do our best to answer them in the chat or will host a live Q&A at the end of the presentation, so I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is David Johnston. I work in the Office of Admissions here at BGSU, and I'm joined today by two very important people in this management course. College of business. I have season kossakowski. Who is the recruiting manager for the College of Business.

And the Dean, Raymond Braun, who will be giving this presentation? Like I said throughout the presentation, if you have questions for us, please put them in the chat. Or if you'd like to hold on to them until the end, that works as well to start off to make sure you're comfortable with using the chat, I'd like to everybody to introduce themselves. Tell me your name where you're from, and maybe what you're interested in pursuing as a business major here at BGSU.

Season any remarks before we head on into the chat.

Now just bring those comments coming or anxious to hear your questions and listen to the Dean 'cause he knows everything.

No price.

Alright, Dean Brown. We're passing it off to you.

Thank you David and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Virtual Presidents Day Weekend edition of the Schmidt Horse College of Business show.

My name is Ray Braun and I have the privilege to serve as Dean of the Schmidt Horse College of Business as Dean. I'm similar to your high school principle and I'm responsible for achieving the mission of the college.

I'm also an alumnus of the Schmidt Horse College, but unlike most Business School Deans, I do not have an academic background. I spent 10 years practicing corporate law.

With the national law firm and 20 years as a as my slide moving, I'm.

Within 20 years as a corporate executive with publicly traded companies, including as President and CEO.

I've been at Bowling Green for almost 9 years and because of my non traditional background, the Schmidt Horse College is different from the traditional Business School and I'll highlight some of those features during today's show.

Schmitt Horse College of Business is one of the top ranked business programs in the world. We have dual accreditation in both business and accounting from AACSB, which is the gold standard for accreditation and it places us among the top 2% of programs worldwide. Poets and Quants ranks our program a number, not number 30. Four among public institutions, our supply chain management program is number 16 in North America and our student Orgs are highly ranked as well.

Beta Alpha psi. The National Accounting Honorary ranked number 2 and the American Marketing Association ranked among the top 5% in the country.

Let's take a brief tour of our recently open modern purpose built building the Maurer Center. The Mauer Center is designed to facilitate our innovative teaching. Here you see, one of our innovation laboratories where faculty use hands on discovery based learning to actively engage with students.

The Power Center is also designed to prepare you for the workforce.

This is our visualization lab where students can see data on a giant wall to improve their understanding of statistical and financial data. The visualization wall is comprised of 27 monitors and can be operated as one or 27 different monitors.

Here you see one of our more than 30 collaboration spaces where students work on projects and learn critical teamwork and presentation skills. The collaboration spaces have become quite popular with students and are usually occupied, but not to worry. We have a digital scheduling system where you can reserve a collaboration space. At the time you want.

This is an image of our atrium and it resembles a modern corporate office space. The atrium is also a place to collaborate and prepare students for their future workspaces.

Here is the four hand cafe. Students can enjoy coffee, snacks or even breakfast and lunch without leaving the building.

As you might imagine, the forehand cafe is one of the most popular spots in the power center.

But our program is more than a beautiful new building. Our program is about student engagement.

As a former business executive, I recognize the importance of professional skills for your career success. Students can participate in professional workshops, including dining, etiquette, business travel, networking, dressing for success, and even golf. For those interested in learning business golf.

We encourage students to join one of the colleges 14 student organizations to learn leadership skills and to participate and engage with peers and faculty advisers. The personal and professional relationships you develop outside the classroom will expand your network as you begin your karere

For those of you who want to start your own business, we have the Hatch similar to the TV show Shark Tank. Student entrepreneurs work with mentors to pitch their business ideas to a group of alumni investors at a live event. And just like Shark Tank students have the opportunity to get their idea funded. Over $600,000 has been committed to student startups over the last eight years.

We also proactively work to keep you engaged with your peers. A peer leader will assist you with your transition to college beginning the summer before you start school. Student Ambassadors are a group of select students who represent the college and promote student engagement by hosting events like the Picnic on the Green in the Fall, an the Business Olympics in the spring.

Your college this isn't decision is a significant investment in your future.

By enrolling in the Schmidt Horse College of Business, you will realize four investment outcomes.

Our first objective will be for you to receive a degree and to help you confirm your area of specialization will help you find an internship and a permanent job upon graduation.

Our outcomes are among the highest in the state of Ohio, helping you receive an excellent return on your investment.

And with that, I'll wrap up David an open up for any questions.

Thank you OK Susan, I would like you to join us as well and we're going to open up the chat for any questions to come through that you have for the Dean or for Susan and will be happy to tackle those. So my first one.

Is a pretty broad range, but Zarya asked if or what rather the average salary is for a student that just graduated from the Schmidt Horse College of Business.

2.

So I I'm sorry radio wanna answer that.

OK, I will jump on it. So the average starting salary of our graduates is just over $55,000 a year and he put that into perspective. It is among the very highest average starting salaries of any College of business in the state of Ohio, Ann, about $2000 higher than the national average for a student with a business degree. So yes, your starting salary will be amazing.

Thank you suzan.

Madison wants to know if she plans on starting her own business. What plan should she take at BGSU?

Susan, I'll pass that one off to you. Also, I have a couple for a.

OK, thank you so um, so I would encourage you to minor in entrepreneurship. We have an internationally ranked entrepreneurship program. Is. Matter of fact were among the top 20 programs in the world and we have. It is just an amazing opportunity to learn everything about running your own business from the ground up. I'd also like to encourage you to think about joining the Hatch. Izadi mentioned. The hatches are are Shark Tank version.

Of entrepreneurship here at BGSU. You can apply to participate in that in the fall and the following spring. You'll work with a mentor too.

To develop your plan, an picture idea to actual investors, the Hatch takes place on April 22nd this year and you know what I will forward you information as we get closer. But how to register an view that live while it happens on April 22nd?

OK, Keaton wants to know in what way will you push your students to get a job in their careerfield? So maybe you could talk about internship opportunities and stuff throughout their programs.

Ray, are you able to hear us?

Dean Brown

I'm sorry.

alright? So then I'm going to pass that one back over to you and see if I can get ahold of the Dean on the side.

Absolutely so, um.

I'm sorry were asking about.

Yeah I will.

Oh how I wish students OK to get there. I'm sorry I was lost there for just a moment. I apologize everyone. So um, absolutely.

Um, we have an absolutely amazing business career accelerator here in the College of Business and they will help our students with both internship and career placement. In the end, I think that you need to keep in mind that our success is really based on our students success and so it is as important to us that you are able to participate in internships and have a job when you graduate as it is to you. So internships are open to everybody in the college, including freshmen with an average internship wage. About $16.00 an hour.

That alone might. It might be enough to encourage you to want to participate in the internship program. We work with well over 1000 companies all over the country and provide you with that opportunity, an experience that will help you land your career as a matter of fact, 81% of our internships result in a job offer after graduation, so it's certainly clear stepping down to ensuring that when you graduate you will have a job in your field doing what it is you want to do.

Thank you Susan.

Next question.

Ray, can you hear us yet?

Sorry folks, we're still running into some of these technical issues. We can hear the Dean, but it does not seem that he can hear us.

Um?

So I'm going to keep asking questions to Susan until we can troubleshoot this situation. Susan, can you provide some examples of recent alumni who have landed a good job or career placements after graduation and what that company was?

Good, I'm sorry. I'm there we go. I was just sending a message to the team trying to get him connected. OK so some awesome career placements absolutely so I feel as though in the last year we've all become very familiar with supply chain management and so one of one of the leading supply chain companies. Gardner has recently hired several of our graduates in the last couple of years.

That were certainly standouts in there in their time here at BGSU. The great thing about working for Gardner is that they got to move South and they are in the warmth and sunshine of Florida working at Gardner. But you know what? We're not limited to to those areas as well. We've had students that have gone to work for for Google and Amazon in Seattle. Of course, Amazon is going to be right in our backyard here in Northwest Ohio very soon.

So there is plenty of opportunity. You name the company and we most likely have individuals there. Probably one of our largest recruiters would be Marathon Petroleum, a worldwide company that was recently ranked as the best place to work in America and one of their HR representatives there from Marathon says that the best company in America hires the best employees from the College of Business at Bowling Green State University.

So certainly a great relationship there. Great place to work. Our students really flocked to Marathon as well.

Thanks Susan and checking in Ray can you hear us this time?

Exo.

I can't sorry. I must have had a technical difficulty.

That's OK, it's good to hear your voice again. Um, I'm going to shoot a couple of questions your way.

OK.

Um?

Josh would like to know if you have any book recommendations that he can take up over the summer.

Well, that's a great question.

A very good book is called Good to Great. It's an old classic, but it talks a lot about the characteristics that make a good company and I highly recommend reading that one another old classic. It's called in search of excellence. Very similar. It tells you what it's like to work for companies who are excellent and as you go through your time at our college, you'll be making choices about where to go to work and this will help you understand what to look for in a company.

Thank you.

Um?

This question can be answered by either of you, but.

Clayton wants to know what type of classes would an undecided business major take to help decide what field they would like to pursue.

So that's a great question also, and you're not unusual and not knowing which field you want to pursue, that's very normal. So we have set up our curriculum so that during your first two years you'll get to sample many different business disciplines, and then at the end of the first couple of years after you've taken these courses, my advice is always.

Specialize in that area where you enjoy the course the most.

'cause that means you'll do well.

Thank you.

Just a lot of students in here looking for some suggestions based on some specific.

Degrees. What are some good studies that go along with a finance degree?

So finance and accounting are often Perry students. Accounting looks at the historical cost of a company and recording their transactions and finances forward. Looking where you're trying to identify ways to finance future business activities. So having both in your degree is very helpful.

Is it possible to earn an MBA during my time at BGSU? Good question from Ally.

Yes, that is a good question. Many of our students are now coming in with.

Up to two years of credit on their transcript. So in a four year period, it's quite easy for you to do not only your undergraduate degree, but also to pick up an MBA.

Do.

Julia asked, does everyone in the Business School have the same standard curriculum? When do you start specializing in a specific major?

So the 1st two years are general as I mentioned earlier, annual take common courses with most of the students in the Business School and then starting in your junior year you'll look at more specialized courses for your specialization.

Oh

Cameron asked, is there a high percentage of freshmen getting internships without having a lengthy resume?

So good question Cameron, your freshman year during your fall semester you will obtain what's called a pit certification that stands for finest individual talent.

And when you get that certificate, it evidences the fact that you've completed a resume, a cover letter and had a mock interview. We then encourage students to go to the career fair even during their first semester, and oftentimes students end up landing internships. Companies are very focused on talent acquisition, and even though freshman may not have a lot of content knowledge, they want to get too involved as part of their leadership program.

In a potential future employee.

Um?

Alright.

Ryan would like to know starting out with a business major interested in insurance sales, where should he start out as far as classes or a major?

So Ryan, you also will take our standard curriculum your first year or two. We do offer a one hour course on introduction to insurance. You could look at that and then we do have a specialization and insurance as well as one in sales and services marketing. So given your interest, I would encourage you to look at double specializations with both insurance and sales and services marketing.

This one, this one I love you. What's a good major that pairs with an entreprenuership?

So really, the answer to that is any of our specializations pair well with entrepreneurship.

It's interesting because companies love to see students with an entrepreneurial background. There are many activities inside of a company that involve entrepreneurial skills like new product innovation or selecting new markets to bring your business and having that entrepreneurial thought process is very helpful for companies hiring students who want to work in those areas.

Um, are there any unique opportunities available for students seeking a major in marketing?

I think this would probably be a good time to talk about clubs and organizations.

So we do have the American Marketing Association club. As I mentioned in my remarks, it's in the top 5% of all AMA's in the United States. They give you practical experience in developing marketing plans. They also have a sub group in within that that does sales. So that would be a good place to learn about marketing.

Uh, there's also many internships. I have several interns in my awful who focus on digital marketing because you as students know a lot more about digital marketing than I do. So there's internships all over campus for students or interested in digital as well.

And sorry for circling back, but could you mention those books that you recommended one more time so that we can drop the names in the chat for any students that may have missed that?

Yes, good too great.

And in search of excellence.

Here you go guys.

Um?

Oh, this one's fun. Keaton would like to know how deep do you examine and interact with the stark stock market?

And this is a fun time to plug the features in the power center.

Yes, so we actually have a student managed investment fund and they have money from the Universities Foundation that they manage an they have done an outstanding job. They've actually beaten the benchmark that they had the last couple of years and I believe if you go to our website there's a story on the website about the student managed Fund. It's also great to be able to do that inside the Mauer Center because on our elevators we have tickers.

Where you can follow stocks, currencies and commodities. And as I mentioned, we also have the visualization lab where you can see the stock market and other assets trading in real time.

So real quick, I'm going to pop back to the visual visualization lab, apologize, tongue Twister there for me.

That he mentioned a little bit earlier and then also.

You can see kind of in the back here the that all digital signs that go from floor to ceiling. That's the elevator and those featured live data as well.

Yeah, we have tickers running for currency prices, commodity prices and stock prices, and there's also a news feed so you can keep up on what's happening in the world as well as a social media feed where you can see what's going on on campus.

Once again, if you haven't had the opportunity to tour them, our center here on campus, it's absolutely breathtaking. These pictures.

Even though they are amazing and don't do it justice, it's absolutely breathtaking in person.

Can I jump in there David and say that we that we do do tours and I will drop in the chat the link that you can register to do a tour. It's an individualized tours so it's one family at a time and we check out all aspects of the building and I'll put that in the chat.

Awesome thank you Suzan.

Done.

Jenna would like to know what a first year looks like for a marketing major. Do internships start then or what kind of opportunities happen in the first year as a business student?

So you would start out taking our general business courses, which include some marketing components to them so you can learn a little bit about marketing. I'd also encourage you to check out the American Marketing Association student organization. It's a. It's a great group of students an you can learn a lot of out of class interacting with those students and the faculty advisor. You may also want to check out women in business leadership as well.

They have many marketing majors in that organization.

Thank you, um.

If a student is looking at going into digital marketing, what kind of minors would you recommend they consider?

Well, we're going to have a brand new digital marketing minor in our curriculum starting next year, so I would definitely recommend that you look into that one.

How deep do you look at economic changes around the world asked by Keaton?

Another great question. So there are a couple classes where you'll look at that early on in your career. You'll talk a little bit about the international economy in your principles of macroeconomics class and learn how the international economy interacts with the United States economy as you advance and have interest in international economics, you can actually take a course.

And that and learn about that. We have global strategy courses where you'll also learn about global economic strategies.

This one might be a little bit tough and we might not have the information readily available, but Jake would like to know what the typical salary is for someone that completes an MBA at BGSU.

So that is not something that I have at my fingertips. I would estimate it to be around $60,000.

Um, OK.

Colleen, any other questions lingering out there now is the time to send them. I'm going to ask.

Ray and Susan separately, what is your favorite part of the Mauer Center?

You first season.

Oh no. What is my favorite part? You know, I have to say that when I do the tours, every classroom that I go into, I say this is my favorite classroom because they are all unique. The seating arrangements are different. The lighting is different there. They are all beautiful. So I love the classrooms but from adjust where do I want to hang out? Standpoint the stair steps going up next to the elevator shaft elevator tower.

They're really cool that it's very comfortable there is there stairs there. There's there's furniture there, and I think it's just a nice place to hang out.

OK, right?

So what what I like about the building is it is designed to facilitate interactions an we have. As Susan mentioned, collaboration spaces and common areas where you can hang out as well as individual rooms that you can reserve to hang out. And I think one of the greatest things about them, hours center, is the ability to interact in network with your peers and faculty. With all these collaboration, faces and networking is a very important skill in business.

So you get to practice it right there in the power center.

I'll answer myself for my cooler. It's the floating classroom.

Um?

But you'll just have to see it to believe it.

Um?

Keaton again asked what is the average class size?

So if you look across all the classes in the college, the average size is about 40 three students.

But they'll be some classes you'll take a few classes that are in larger sections and then you'll take many of your specialization classes in smaller sections, so you'll get a mixture of classes. Some will be large, some will be small, but on average it's around 43.

Thank you, uh.

Susan, this might be one for you.

I have the College of Business Scholarships been awarded yet?

Good question. No, they have not been awarded yet. The there were some interviews that took place this week and some of those so there are a group of scholarships that will be awarded based on those. The interviews and then we are fortunate that we still have a little extra money so there will also be some additional scholarships will be awarded based upon the applications that were completed.

So, um, no, they're not all done. They're not out there. The goal is to have most everything on your financial aid packages that you should receive here within the next couple of weeks, but there may be a few extra scholarships that will be awarded even beyond that. So now we're not done yet.

Thank you.

And then.

Well, this is a good question from Justin. What are the greatest effects of covid on programs at the College of Business?

Hi, could you repeat that David?

Sure. What were the greatest effects of covid on programs in the Schmidt Horse College of Business?

That is a great question, so I'm going to answer it a couple different ways. One, during the spring when there was considerable uncertainty about the impact of covid, we, like many schools, went remote, so our faculty had to take their classes from being in person and then do them completely remote. That was a big learning curve for our faculty as well as our students, but we managed through it very well when we knew that we would probably have to be socially.

Distance for this year. We spent considerable time over the summer redesigning courses to have three different types of formats for students.

One is hybrid and that's part of the class meeting live in a classroom and part on remote, and the reason we had to do that is in order to give students the ability to participate face to face, we had to socially distance classrooms. So typically classroom of 43 might have 10 to 12 students in it. Another students will be remote and they'll take turns going to the face to face sections so that that was a big change for us.

But I'm very proud of how our faculty and students have managed through this and done really well.

Thank you, that was a really great question. Justin, thank you, um.

I am also going to ask another question separately for both of you.

What is your favorite hatch memory? Susan, I'll give that one to you first also.

Oh my goodness, um.

So what immediately comes to mind is Anne Anne Anne. I apologize 'cause they don't remember the names of all the participants, but the young lady who brought a pony out on stage, she created a different type of clasping system for the horse. The horses bridle an experience on stage. The investors and their questions, and they they wanted to know exactly what they were investing in. If it was the bridal or the class because.

It's it was such an unique classes class system that they of course wanted on that. But the young lady said, no, I've already got that card. I just want to get my bridal system out there and in the hands of the people that need it.

And we had some audience participation in it. It was really different and unique experience across the board and the good news is that I just saw a news piece on here in the fall that that her that she's out there doing it. Her bridal is really for people that have difficulty with dexterity and putting the bridle on the horse and her company is up and running and it's very exciting. Those really long answer. I was excited.

Uh huh.

So it's interesting, Susan, because that was my favorite memory as well, but for a different reason. We have 7 investors onstage who are interacting with the student entrepreneur that we fondly call a hatchling and she was interacting with the seven investors and they were asking her to give up more of the company than she was willing to give up.

So as they were negotiating back in the 4th, a member of the audience jumped up and said, I will give you $10,000 and I don't want any equity because I love your deal.

So he gave her $10,000 ago. Business started an. Interestingly enough she is going into production. Right now it's taking her a little while to get everything prototyped and proof, but she's starting production this semester.

That's such an awesome story.

Um, OK. I have another really good question. This one is from Jenna.

What specifically are you proud of that makes the BGSU Schmidt Horse College of Business stand out from other colleges?

Suzanne

I have to answer this.

So right you can. You can put your humble hat on, you know what what I see personally and what I hear better feedback from students is that our Dean is very engaged with students. There are lots of universities that you're going to attend that you then you could go off for years and graduate and not even know who the Dean of the college that you attended that you that you are a student in who it was an because the Dean is so involved with the students. He really is clearly concerned with your success.

Ann is very innovative an it's always looking for new and improved ways to offer curriculum an opportunities drove students to be successful and so I across the board our greatest asset in this Midwest College of Business would be our team.

Thank you for that Susan, I appreciate it.

I'm I'm most proud of two things. One is how our faculty and staff or what I call student centric are very focused on the student experience in the classroom and making sure that they are attending to the needs of the students. There are accessible. You'll get to know your faculty member by name and they do an awesome job of engaging students in the classroom. But then outside the classroom, we have what I call a culture of engagement.

And we encourage all students to be actively engaged in some.

Activities outside of the college an I mentioned our student ambassadors when I did the presentation and they are there to help you find those activities that make the most sense for you.

I can learn to understand you much better if I.

So.

My computer does that to Susan.

So so student centric faculty and high levels of student engagement and one of the reasons that's really important is when you go to work. What you'll find out the one thing that most companies want is to see high level of employee engagement because engaged employees are better employees and we start you off in college. Learning how to be engaged.

Yeah, once again, great question, Jenna. Thank you. Um, I'm doing the last call for questions. We still have a few minutes if the questions come through.

If anybody has them.

I'll read out loud Drew's response to that question in case anybody missed it in the chat. Drew is also a College of business graduate.

I would say that the focus is to produce well rounded business individuals. All the other schools that he looked at focused on your major at BGSU. The focus is on making you the best all around business student. So I think that really resonates as a graduate. Saying those things that you kind of heard from. Susan and Ray also really slow.

Yeah, that's that's good to hear Drew, um, it's a very good point. One of the things that most young people today will have to figure out is who to go to. Work for it and they'll change their careers about 7 times.

So figuring out who to work for means you need to understand the business model and how companies make money and and their culture.

So leaving college well rounded helps put you in a position to make good choices with companies.

Thank you well we didn't get any more questions in that time, so I'm going to wrap it up and thank everybody again for attending today. We have a whole lineup of virtual events throughout the weekend or other staying over 40 sessions for you to join, and if you can't make all of them, we will be posting the recordings on the Presidents Day website.

No later than Tuesday next week so you can check back and check the recordings out. I'll ask Drew to drop a couple of links in the chat for upcoming sessions at 1:00 o'clock. We have a rec and Wellness session that you might be interested in, or you can check out the full lineup on the Presidents Day website, which I will also drop in the chat.

And once again, thank you for joining us. Thank you Susan for participating and thank you Dean Brown for joining us and hosting this session.

Yep, thank you David. Bye everyone.

Bye everyone.