Dean's Message May 2023

As I reflect on my first academic year as Dean of the Schmidthorst College of Business, I would like to share with you a few important milestones.  This year, my focus has been on getting to know the college community, including the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners that contribute to our success.

With a strong community of support and culture focused on student success, we have spent these past few months engaging in discussions related to navigating the risks of the reduction in traditional aged student demographics and increased competition while introducing innovative initiatives to increase student recruitment, retention and efficient allocation of faculty resources. We have conducted program vitality analysis at the graduate and undergraduate level and implemented new tactics to continue raising the profile of the College and helping us maintain our reputation as one of the top 25 business programs in the Midwest.

The results of this group effort have been outstanding! We have increased the number of student leadership and professional conferences our students are able to attend, added an internal case competition and professional certificate opportunities, became the Northwest Ohio host of the Ohio Export Internship program, celebrated a first place finish in the international Capsim Challenge competition, hosted our first student oriented BGSU One Day celebration, supported the development of new student leadership organizations and welcomed over 125 individuals representing more than 75 companies to the Maurer Center to share their experiences and mentor our students for their future careers.

Overall BGSU One Day efforts were also a huge success. Special thanks to our Leadership Council for achieving 100% engagement and to our Young Alumni Board for strong engagement in our One Day campaign. We lead the Colleges in supporting a record-breaking day of giving with more than $105,000 from 188 gifts going directly to support scholarships and programs within the Schmidthorst College of Business!

At this time, our first-year class is trending up almost 15% compared to the same time last year compared to BGSU which is up just over 8%. We continue to see strong demand for our online MBA and are exploring new online graduate program offerings to better serve our community. In the recently releases U.S. News & World Report for 2023-24 Best Graduate School Rankings, the BGSU executive master of business administration program rose almost 40 spots in the ranks to No. 125 overall.

We are also collaborating with our deciding student program to welcome a cohort of pre-business students for the first time.  We can’t wait to welcome this new group of students into our community this August.

Although we have seen a lot of change in the College this year, it is important to reflect and recognize those who have helped build the strong foundation for our continued growth and success. I would like to take an opportunity to thank the five faculty members who are retiring this year for their dedication and service to our students and community.

Retiring this year:

Dr. Herb McGrath, Professor and Chair of Applied Statistics and Operations Research
Ms. Donna Greenwald, Teaching Professor in Marketing
Dr. Nancy Kubasek, Professor in Economics
Ms. Barbara Stahl, Assistant Teaching Professor in Management
Dr. Phil Titus, Associate Professor in Marketing

Combined, this group has served the Schmidthorst College of Business for over 127 years and supported the growth and development of thousands of alumni and peers. Their legacy will continue in the College, in their professional communities and in the lives of the students they have impacted.

In this newsletter, you’ll find some highlights from the spring semester, including a focus on Entrepreneurship Week (E-week), our student honors and awards reception, as well as other faculty honors. As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback or ideas on how we can further enhance the learning experience and our shared impact on our community. Thank you for your continued support, and I can’t wait to see you at our homecoming celebration this fall on September 21-24!

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer Percival
Dean, Schmidthorst College of Business