Dean's Message: December 2025

A Semester of Growth and Student Success

This fall, we welcomed 14 new faculty members and more than 2,100 undergraduate students—over 200 more than last year—reflecting the remarkable work happening across our college in recruitment, student support, retention and career preparation. This includes an over 15% increase in the third-year retention rate. We are equally excited by the tremendous expansion of our CFP program, from 18 students last year to over 140 today, made possible through program enhancements, targeted marketing, faculty dedication and the leadership of Dr. Liu.

Our graduate programs continue to thrive as well. Our Doctorate in Organization Development and Change (DODC) enrolled one of its largest cohorts ever and, for the first time in program history, established a waitlist for future cohorts. Our online MBA also experienced growth, supported by its exceptional national rankings for academic quality and value.

I am also very proud to share that our undergraduate four-year graduation rate is 67.3% (for the Fall 2021 cohort); this is a 7.7% increase from the Fall 2020 cohort (our previous record high). This is 13.1% higher than the BGSU average four-year graduation rate for this cohort and demonstrates the exceptional impact of our commitment to our students. This elevation in outcomes isn’t possible without a strategic focus and your involvement in our community of support for student success.

Community and Alumni Engagement at Its Best

This semester brought extraordinary engagement from our alumni and industry partners, whose support continues to elevate the student experience. More than 650 first-year students engaged in Life Design career prototyping within our Introduction to Business course. Over 40 students participated in small-group dinners hosted by over 20 alumni, building early professional connections; and throughout the semester, students completed more than 1,000 conversations with industry professionals across business fields. 

Engagement extended widely across the college with almost 100 individuals sharing their time and expertise that we know of so far:

• Alumni from Owens Corning supported résumé and interview preparation.
• Executives-in-residence and distinguished alumni enriched learning through guest lectures, small-group meals and one-on-one coaching.
• Program advisory boards were more active than ever in supporting curriculum conversations, identifying internship opportunities and providing financial support for student experiences.
• Beta Alpha Psi celebrated 70 years, welcoming back alumni for their fall banquet and hosted its largest Meet the Firms event ever with 40+ companies and 120 students.

We are profoundly grateful for this remarkable community of support that surrounds and inspires our students.

Leadership in AI and Innovation

Our focus on AI and responsible innovation has been a defining priority this semester. We were delighted to welcome Dr. Tawnya Means as our new AI and Innovation Advisor, providing strategic leadership as we integrate AI across curriculum, research, operations and employer engagement.

Highlights from this semester include:

• Strong faculty participation in the Leadership Council AI Taskforce kick-off session.
• Active involvement in Great Lakes AI Week, elevating BGSU’s regional leadership.
• Students in Human Resources and Information Systems courses earning Google AI Essentials and Google AI Prompt Engineering certifications.
• Faculty in CATL surveying student AI literacy and use patterns, generating important insights to guide Spring workshops.
• The College joining a national study on AI integration in business education—a recognition of the innovative work underway at BGSU.

Looking ahead, we are excited to host our second AI Summit in April, a signature event that will bring together students, faculty, alumni and industry partners to explore the future of AI-enabled business transformation through the leadership of our Leadership Council’s AI taskforce.

Advancing Our Academic Programs

Faculty across the college have been deeply engaged in curriculum advancement to ensure our programs remain responsive to the evolving needs of business and industry. College-wide accomplishments include:

• Major revisions to the MBA curriculum (in-person and online), now fully integrating digital transformation and AI.
• Development of BGSU’s first 90-credit-hour bachelor’s degree, the Accelerated Bachelor of Applied Studies in General Business.
• Updates to the general business minor to make it more accessible.
• Enhanced honors pathways for Business Honors students.
• Reduction in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration core to provide increased flexibility and facilitate students completing a second specialization.

Departments also achieved significant milestones:

• Accounting & Finance advanced curriculum modernization, including updates to Risk Management and Insurance, revisions to the Accounting specialization and tremendous growth in the CFP track.
• Business Analytics, Economics & Information Systems (BAEIS) launched revised Economics pathways, transitioned the MA in Financial Economics to an MS in Economics, expanded AI + Economics programming, advanced revisions to the MS in Data Science, updated the Business Analytics & Intelligence specialization, revised the Applied Statistics minor to Applied Analytics and created a new graduate certificate in Business Intelligence.
• Management began collaborative work with Engineering and Innovation to develop a manufacturing-focused minor for Supply Chain Management students.
• Marketing strengthened BA 1500 through enhanced Life Design integration, partnered with Arts & Sciences on a new design major with entrepreneurship and celebrated outstanding success in the RNMKRS sales competition, placing second nationally.

Commitment to Sustainability

I am also proud to share that the Schmidthorst College of Business became the first college at BGSU to earn the Green Office Certification, achieving Gold Tier status, the second-highest level possible. This outcome reflects our commitment to environmental stewardship, operational excellence and BGSU’s mission as a public university for the public good.

Thank you to every member of our community who contributed passion, energy, creativity and care to making this semester’s achievements possible. Your engagement fuels our momentum and strengthens our commitment to delivering the very best experience for our students. The future of the Schmidthorst College of Business is bright—and it is your dedication that makes it so.

Dr. Jennifer Percival