Date: October 26, 2006
Contact: Eric Matanyi
Phone: (708) 534-4044
Fax: (708) 534-8399
Email: e-matanyi@govst.edu
For Immediate Release
University Park, Illinois, October 26, 2006 –The College of Business and Public Administration at Governors State University recently hosted the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) Great Lakes Region (4) Annual Conference. The two day event, held on October 19 and 20, brought together more than 75 administrators, faculty, and staff from university and college business schools throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
The conference, entitled “Global Solutions: Expanding Horizons in Business,” addressed the growing impact of a global economy on business and the need to incorporate global topics into collegiate business curricula.
“It is impossible to ignore the impact of a global economy on today’s business world,” said Dr. William Nowlin, Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration. “Conferences like this one are important because they allow us to debate and discuss the issues business educators face today and then implement solutions in the classroom. Our faculty pride themselves on addressing the most current issues to better prepare graduates to excel in the world in which they work and live.”
Dr. Mary Dentino, ACBSP Region 4 President, added “The annual conference theme of global connections included…presentations on international business, teaching, and learning in a virtual and global setting.” She noted that the conference’s mission was to allow the attendees to “return to [their] colleges and universities with new enthusiasm and techniques to support global business concepts in [their] classrooms.”
Workshop topics included, “Global Education in Action: A Course on China,” “Global Employee Issues in the Organization Behavior Class,” and “Business Emergency Preparedness and Globalization of Risk.” The sessions were taught by Governors State University faculty as well as business professors from throughout the Midwest.
The keynote speaker for the event was Joseph Christofanelli, Jr., who is Board Chairman of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce, as well as a Business Incentives Manager for Ernst & Young LLP. Christofanelli discussed the importance of having an overall regional advocate for the Chicago Southland to identify and promote regional strengths to potential business partners throughout the world. In particular, he described how the Chicago Southland has been leveraging its extensive, world-class logistical infrastructure in highway, rail, and inland water routes to encourage importing and exporting with businesses in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Governors State University President Dr. Stuart Fagan spoke of the importance of preparing today’s business students for a global business. He said, “In the coming years, well trained graduates from ACBSP accredited schools, will not only benefit the global economy, they will make a difference where it often matters most: in small towns, in mom and pop businesses, on rural farms, in our own backyards.”
Fagan also discussed several ways in which GSU is addressing global business issues. “Our faculty members continue to be students themselves, learning the newest business tactics to pass onto their students and add to the curriculum.”
He noted that the College of Business and Public Administration recently signed partnership agreements with Guangdong University and the Charter Management Association to bring Chinese students to GSU. “They have much to teach us, and we have much to teach them as well,” Fagan said
The establishment of GSU’s Global Trade Center has allowed regional, small and medium sized businesses the ability to access business resources specific to international trade under the auspices of the College’s already successful CenterPoint Business Development Center.
Business degree programs in the College of Business and public Administration are accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) The association is a leading specialized accreditation association for business education. Each of GSU’s programs has earned appropriate professional accreditation, wherever such accreditation exists and is recognized by the profession. Programs that do not have a recognized accrediting body are put through an intensive external review by expert evaluators.
