Students who are looking to start and run their own businesses, or those who have little business knowledge, may benefit from a new program starting at TCU.The School of Business is offering juniors, seniors and recent graduates the chance to enroll in a summer program designed for nonmajors to help them develop business fundamentals.
Laura Meade, the academic director for the Summer Business Program, said the program can even benefit liberal arts majors.
“Regardless of whether they (students) are trying to do a venture on their own, or if they are within a company, the overlying aspect of business would be advantageous to them,” Meade said.
Deb Baker, the program director for the Summer Business Program, said 35 students will be accepted to this “elite program” each summer.
“The need for essential business skills is almost a requirement now in the job market, so I think this gives people a foundation that they need to talk a business language within the workplace,” Baker said. “From my personal experience, going from a health care background into a corporation, when they started talking about business, budgets and other principles, I had no clue what they were talking about.
Meade said students will learn accounting basics, ethics and business law, human resource management and how to conduct interviews, along with other basic concepts.
“There will be a four-week simulation project that they (students) will be working on that will flow through the entire program, and then at the end they will have to present their simulation result,” Meade said. “They will be acting as a company and present their results to area business people.”
Tori Rosalez, a freshman early childhood-special education major, said she would be interested in enrolling in the program in a couple of years, as she gets closer to graduation.
“The program would be good for regular, everyday office skills, but the price might be a factor in whether I enroll or not,” Rosalez said. “One incentive to enroll would be if there was financial aid available.
