School of Arts
& Sciences

JOHN (Skip) E. CAVE, DEAN
132 Education/Business Hall
247-7294

ROY A. COOK, ASSISTANT DEAN
136 Education/Business Hall
247-7550

Departments and Programs:

Accounting

Business Administration

Economics

Common SOBA Requirements

MISSION

The School of Business Administration's faculty works as a team to provide innovative undergraduate business and professional education that challenges traditional pedagogical models and integrates the business and liberal arts disciplines to prepare students for a dynamic, globally competitive business environment.

VALUES

We provide high quality undergraduate programs with a commitment to developing a liberally educated and professionally competent student. We reach out to attract and serve a culturally diverse community of scholars and students to help them achieve their full potential. We help students gain a maturity of commitment, a sense of social responsibility, and integrity. Our success depends upon maintaining a quality faculty dedicated to teaching and scholarship, a critical mass of committed students, a sense of community focused on our common goals, and adequate funding from public and private sources.

Realizing the need for quality and continuous improvement in all that we do, we strive to maintain a dedicated team of teacher-scholars with concern for our students, for the quality of our faculty, and for the success of our graduates. Additionally, we strive to prepare our students and faculty to meet the needs of organizations and communities operating in a globally competitive environment with diverse economic systems.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Teaching

To be leaders in learning, pedagogy, curriculum, and student-oriented service-delivery systems, we position ourselves as a distinguished value-added undergraduate school by focusing attention on enhancing students' use of information as a competitive tool through life-long learning, knowledge of business content, tools, skills and applications. Achievement of these goals will include developing analytical, computer and decision making skills; leadership/interpersonal, communication, planning and organizing skills; and risk taking, experimentation, and complex-systems-thinking proficiency. Further, we will develop students with responsible/ethical attitudes and actions, and international/multicultural/gender sensitivity.

Visibility And Reputation

To enhance the School's regional and national visibility and reputation for exceptional value-added undergraduate business and professional education and service, we facilitate student employment opportunities, improve graduate school admission opportunities and provide community/regional service. Achievement of these goals and objectives requires continuing research and publication. We will maintain AACSB accreditation.

Resource Support

To provide adequate resources to support the mission, goals and objectives of the School, we seek and maintain sources of both internal and external funding. Achievement of these goals and objectives requires us to be efficient stewards of society's resources.

Commitment To Excellence

To support our goals and objectives, we are committed to developing and maintaining a curriculum that is responsive to society's needs and to increasing learning both inside and outside the classroom. This requires more emphasis on interdisciplinary/industry-focused curricula, creating a more effective physical environment for learning, and focusing our efforts on pedagogical innovations.

The School of Business Administration degree programs are designed to provide a balanced combination of the arts and sciences and professional business education.

The more specific objectives of the Bachelor of Arts degree programs offered by the School of Business Administration are:

To provide, as a base, a general understanding of the principles of modern business and organizational practices.

To develop balanced thinking and understanding of the economic, political, and social environments in which modern business and government are conducted.

To ensure that students are skilled in the use of analytical tools and techniques for decision making.

To develop the capacity for critical thought, leadership and the ability to work with others.

To enhance each student's appreciation for international customs and cultural values, and for one's responsibilities in modern society.

The School is characterized by its professional attitude, the diversity of its largely work-experienced faculty and its close student-faculty relationship. In addition to concern for good classroom instruction, the faculty believe that much learning takes place through personal and informal contacts with and among students.

The Business Club, Students in Free Enterprise, American Indian Business Leaders, Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting professional fraternity, and Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honorary business fraternity, are active campus groups that promote such interactions.

DEGREE PROGRAMS AND OPTIONS

The curricula offered by the School lead to the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Accounting, Economics or Business Administration. Within the Business Administration major, options are offered in Agricultural Business, Business Administration, Engineering Management, Finance, International Business, Management, Marketing, Operations Management, and Tourism and Resort Management.

ACCEPTANCE OF TRANSFER CREDITS

It is recommended that students planning to transfer into the Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration do so by the end of their sophomore year. Students must complete their final 30 credit hours in residence at Fort Lewis College.

Students taking their first two years of work at a junior or community college or at another four-year institution should take only those business courses that are offered at the freshman or sophomore level at Fort Lewis College. To be exempt from the School of Business Administration sophomore-level writing requirement, students should take a business writing or business communications course at their junior or community college. Business courses taught at junior or community colleges may not be used to satisfy upper-division course requirements (courses at the 300- and 400-level) of the School of Business Administration.

PREREQUISITE REQUIREMENT

Students who enroll in a business course without having satisfactorily completed the required prerequisite(s), or received consent of the instructor, are subject to administrative withdrawal from the course.

NON-BUSINESS STUDENTS

Students who are not working toward a baccalaureate degree in business are prohibited from taking business credits that will exceed 25 percent of their total program. This provision is in accordance with the accreditation standards of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

TRIMESTER ABROAD

The Trimester Abroad courses are offered through the Junior Trimester Abroad program (JTA) and are taught by a Fort Lewis College Business School faculty member in Europe during the winter trimester. The schedule provides for two five-week sessions with two courses offered during each session. Spring Break provides the opportunity to travel in Britain or the Continent, or take advantage of a Spring Break short course. The trimester ends around the first week in April, allowing about three weeks of independent travel for those who wish to take advantage of that opportunity before the summer trimester begins at Fort Lewis College in Durango.

Generally, the course offerings include at least two junior-level core business courses, as well as an international business course and either a third core course or an upper-division business elective for a total of 12-14 credit hours. There are additional opportunities to earn credit through Independent Study and Non-Scheduled courses and the Spring Break course.

Costs of this program are kept low through the use of Fort Lewis College faculty and the minimal cost of facilities in Europe. While the program costs for any given year are a function of airline fares, the exchange rate, and room and board charges, in past years, it has cost students an additional $1,600 including airfare, room and board for the trimester. This does not include the student's personal spending, nor costs of travel during Spring Break or at the conclusion of the course. Details for any given year regarding location, cost, climate, travel arrangements, etc., may be obtained from the International Program Coordinator or the JTA faculty.

Students who are interested in this program should contact the Assistant Dean of the School before taking any upper-division SOBA courses to design trimester schedules so they don't conflict with the JTA program of study.

Trimesters in France, Spain, Germany, and Norway

The College has exchange agreements with:

While the studies are completed at the partner school, credit and grades are awarded by Fort Lewis College, eliminating transferability problems. Fort Lewis College tuition and fees are charged so the only additional cost is that associated with travel to host institution and whatever additional living expenses that might be incurred. In addition, the School of Business Administration offers programs in China, England, France, Germany, Ireland, and Mexico.

ACCOUNTING/BUSINESS/ECONOMICS/ MARKETING MINORS

Requirements for minors in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics and Marketing are given at the end of the School of Business Administration section of this catalog.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION FACULTY

THE CURRICULUM

The School of Business Administration (SOBA) offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in Accounting, Business Administration and Economics. The Business Administration degree offers options in Agricultural Business, Engineering Management, Finance, Information Management, International Business, Management, Marketing, and Tourism and Resort Management. These majors provide excellent education in business within the broad context of a liberal arts curriculum. The programs offer a concentration of courses in which the students take a cross section of "Common Requirement" courses and 15 to 25 credit hours in a concentration in one of the areas of business. Programs are designed to meet the needs of students wishing to continue their education in graduate school or to work in their chosen professional area.

Minors in accounting, business administration, economics, entrepreneurship and small business management, or marketing are available for students majoring in other disciplines. Requirements for minors are listed at the end of this section.

A student who majors in one of the three Bachelor of Arts degree programs in the School of Business Administration must complete: