All senior-level students majoring in business must successfully complete a Senior Learning Community consisting of two units:
· MG 401 Business Policy and Strategy, the integrative summative course
· BU 400 Reflective Tutorial in Business, including a field-based experiential component
The two units are contained within one semester and can be taken in either the fall or spring semesters.
CONTENT
As the ultimate goal of the Senior Program, all business seniors merge the breadth of a liberal education with the depth of specialized knowledge into a real-world applied practice. As such, students focus on developing their analytical as well as professional skills by engaging in the rigorous teamwork required in the case studies of corporate strategy employed in MG 401. Importantly, seniors in this summative course learn how to intelligently practice in an increasingly cross-functional business environment. They learn how to synthesize various elements of the strategic process into a well-formulated plan that addresses all aspects of a firm's internal and external environment.
The RFT (BU 400) applies the above themes to the students' field-based, real-world experiences, prompting them to reflect on their practical training within their chosen concentration in marketing, management, finance, accounting, or international business. Issues pertaining to all aspects of professional development are discussed in the weekly RFT sessions, with particular emphasis on the challenges of the transition from student to civic-minded professional. The reflective tutorial is designed as a one-unit course and includes the following components:
· 100 hours of field or applied work. Business students will be placed with the guidance of the departmental director of internships. All students will maintain a log/journal of their fieldwork.
· A senior thesis project involving applied and/or research-based learning, in a topic mutually agreed upon by the student and the faculty member teaching the RFT. The expectation is of a well-defined and rigorous paper (about 15 to 20 pages in length) that will ideally encapsulate the student's field experiences, integrating them into a larger academic theme and body of literature. This paper is subsequently bound, and its title appears on the student's academic record, serving as the pinnacle of scholastic achievement.
· A weekly reflective tutorial meeting (subject to the instructor's discretion), to include:
- Class discussion of the students' field experiences.
- Class discussion of any assigned readings (the RFT should include a reader of selected articles and/or textbook, at the instructor's discretion).
- Class discussion of student progress in their senior thesis projects.
- Professional/career/civic development issues through guest speaker presentations, class field trips, or any other suitable on/off campus events. These events may be jointly sponsored with the Center for Academic and Career Development, the Marketing Club, and the Accounting and Business Society. To facilitate occasional joint meetings of the multiple RFT sections, all sections of the RFT meet at the same day and time.
