Cedarville Magazine, Spring/Summer 2015

But Ark offered a glimmering thread of hope within his bleak view of American higher education: “In an ideal world, business students would learn how to succeed in business by actually running their own businesses — Cedarville University (based in Cedarville, Ohio) is allowing them to do just that.” (To see the story, go to cedarville.edu/ wash-post-article . ) Exemplary Program The program Ark lauded is the School of Business Administration’s Integrated Business Core (IBC). Led by Jeff Guernsey, Associate Professor of Finance, and Dr. Jon Austin, Associate Professor of Marketing, the IBC is a three-hour elective practicum (BUS-3280) taken fall of junior year, in conjunction with finance (FIN-3710) and management (MGMT-3500) courses. Students taking IBC have successfully completed a specially designed Principles of Marketing course (MRKT-3600) during spring of their sophomore year. At the beginning of the practicum, students put together a business plan, a document that describes what product or service they plan to provide, and how they’ll go about providing it. Then the business teampresents its plan to Cedarville’s version of the Shark Tank: a loan committee made up of business professionals and alumni working in the business world. “They evaluate the loan proposal; give them feedback; and give a red, yellow, or green light for a loan,” Austin said. “Sometimes they may send a teamback tomake adjustments to the proposal before they give it the go-ahead.” The capital for their venture comes from in-house funds generated from a portion of past IBC business profits. Students must repay the loan at the end of the semester. “I think the value [of IBC] is extremely high,” noted Dr. Steve Parscale, Chief Accreditation Officer for the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). ACBSP accredits business, accounting, and business- related programs at the associate, baccalaureate, master, and doctorate degree levels worldwide, including Cedarville, which has maintained ACBSP accreditation since 2005. “Any time you can learn through application, it sticks with you,” said Parscale. “When you’re learning from lecture, my experience is you take a test and brain-dump anything you learned in that class on the way out. But when you actually take it and apply it, it stays in your nervous system.” Students come out with a unique and noteworthy learning experience. “They tell us they’ve put IBC on their résumé and they have meaningful conversations during a job interview about it,” Austin said. “It resonates with prospective employers because our students have done things business-wise that most undergrad students don’t do.” Cedarville Stands Out That’s what Ark discovered also. “When I was preparing to write the article, I researched programs that seemed to offer a modicum of actual live business experience for business majors,” Ark explained in an interview with Cedarville Magazine . “I was kind of frustrated by what I found. There were a couple of programs doing what you’re doing, but I didn’t find anybody other than your program offering a real shot at doing anything business- related before actual graduation.” Christine Krapohl ’13, an account representative with pharmaceutical ad agency GFW Worldwide in Columbus, Ohio, learned the uniqueness of her IBC experience when she was job hunting. “During interviews, I’d hear how this doesn’t really happen on the undergraduate level, at least in the Columbus, Ohio, area,” she said. “Business programs don’t promote that kind of entrepreneurship during an actual class,” Krapohl continued. “And it’s not a business plan competition, and it’s not just theory, but you put it together, test it out, and see if it works. 16 | Cedarville Magazine