With a new state-of-the-art business building and advanced digital learning tools, the College of Business Administration is already helping UT Knoxville become a top 25 public research university.
UT Knoxville has set a six-year graduation rate goal of 75 percent and a retention rate goal of 90 percent as part of its Top 25 strategy. The College of Business Administration already has cleared the first hurdle and is virtually on top of the second one.
"Over the past three years, the college's six-year graduation rate has averaged 85 percent," says Fred Pierce, director of the college's undergraduate programs. "Our freshman-to-sophomore retention rate for students declaring business as their major has averaged 88 percent since we began tracking in 2003. We're extremely proud of those accomplishments."
Much of the credit goes to the college's top-level instruction, but other factors are important, too.
"In 2009, we opened the new James A. Haslam II Business Building," says Jan Williams, dean of the college. "We're using the latest in technology to enhance the learning experience, such as global teleconferencing, webcasts, podcasts, and technologically advanced classrooms and team rooms. Our state-of-the-art Masters Investment Learning Center, with its cutting-edge technology, is teaching investment skills to students campus wide. Yet, we've only scratched the surface of the building's resources."
Curriculum improvements—including classes in technology, business ethics, and leadership—also are making a difference. The most popular new areas of study are international business and entrepreneurship.
"The college's new Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is fostering creativity and providing students across campus with the skills necessary to identify and create business opportunities," Williams explains. "Dozens of businesses have been launched so far."
But Williams believes that the college's undergraduate advising program is the top reason it has such high retention and graduation rates.
The college's 17-person advising staff establishes relationships with each student to help them graduate on time, support their international study experiences, and provide career and personal counseling.
"We're committed to helping students emerge as confident graduates, prepared to succeed in the workplace," Williams says.
Once students have decided to major in business, they work with an advisor to choose courses.
"Each semester, they sign an agreement saying they understand the course load they'll need to graduate on time," Pierce says.
Another element contributing to the college's strong advisor/student relationship is the First-year Seminar, taught by the advising staff. Students taking the seminar participate in a business plan competition, which helps them learn teamwork and creative thinking. They also learn academic and professional skills and develop bonds with their advisors that keep them engaged in their studies. The seminar is an elective, but 70 percent of first-year students wanting to major in business take the introductory course.
The Venture Living Learning Community, now in its second year, has also helped retain college freshmen. Participating students live on the same floor of a residence hall, take core courses together, and take part in workshops, field trips, and community-based service projects.
"Our success in Venture has been so dramatic that next year we're forming a second learning community: the Entrepreneurship Learning Community," Pierce says.
"Our students are career-motivated. They know where they want to go and what they want to do," he says. "If they stay on track, we stay on track."
And staying on track is what it's all about for UT Knoxville's Top 25 strategy. With the College of Business Administration as a model, the university is closer to reaching its goal.
