Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

College Academic Council Pushes for Business Minor

The College Academic Council hosted a town hall meeting on Wednesday to discuss various upcoming initiatives, including the new business minor proposal that would allow students in the College to cross-minor in the McDonough School of Business.

According to David Dietz (COL ’10), senior representative on the CAC, the business minor in the College, which is still in the planning stages, should be approved next year or the year after. The initiative was started last year and has the support of College Dean Chester Gillis and MSB Dean George Daly. The proposal is being circulated and debated in curriculum committee meetings.

Some students attending the meeting wondered what obstacles were standing in the way of the proposal getting passed sooner.

“Things just take a while at Georgetown. Once [Georgetown] College comes up with a proposal, it needs to be matched with the [MSB’s] proposal,” Dietz said. “This is the fastest that anything has happened. [Gillis] has really pushed for this, so I think it is going to happen. It’s just a matter of time.”

Junior representative Bettina Bergöö (COL ’11) stated that resolving the ideological differences between the College and the MSB was one of the first issues that needed to be addressed. Other concerns include how money will be allocated.

According to Bergöö, the minor will require seven courses, including introductory courses in marketing, management, accounting and finance. Students would be encouraged to focus in one of the four areas after the introductory courses. There will also be opportunities to take courses in social entrepreneurship and responsibility. One concern of the CAC is that the number of courses required to complete the minor will overwhelm or deter students.

“It has to be something that you want to do. We’ve been saying it’s too much, but we do realize that [not everyone] can go and take it,” Bergöö said.

According to CAC President Lauren Sugarman (COL ’10), the program is modeled after the business minor requirements of the Faculty of Language and Linguistics.

“It is based off of a program that is already successful,” Sugarman said.

any students are eager for the College to implement the business minor.

“I came here to get some more information on the business minor. It seems like they are doing their job to get it through,” Nick Joosten (COL ’13) said. “I hope they can get it before I graduate.”

“My only problem is that they didn’t come up with the idea sooner. In today’s world, I think every student on campus would benefit from at least some background in business,” said Christian Pean (COL ’10). “Even as someone aspiring to be a physician one day, I know it couldn’t have hurt to take a few business classes here and there. A minor may have motivated me to do just that.”

Other initiatives that the CAC is advocating for include reduced-price printing for students in the College, similar to the program in place for MSB students, as well as greater interaction between students and faculty in non-academic settings.

“Based on the overwhelming response to the student banquet, we really realized there’s a need for more student-faculty interaction outside the classroom,” sophomore representative Katie Cromer (COL ’12) said. “We plan on starting it this spring to give students a chance to interact with professors in a non-formal setting and benefit from that.”

Another project that the CAC will be exploring in the future is implementing more technology into the classroom, such as giving students the choice to download textbooks from Blackboard. According to freshman representative Lauren Weber (COL ’13), a Hoya staff writer, the CAC is also looking into making Rosetta Stone language programs available in Lauinger Library.”

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