Around Campus
Bringing real-life experience into the classroom
Archived article from Dec 6, 2004
By Michael Sepanic
Top business executives and regional leaders traded their boardrooms for blackboards when they took over teaching duties at the Rutgers University School of Business at Camden last month.
Call it a “friendly takeover” of the highest order, because the 17th annual Guest Business Professors Week at the business school offered students the opportunity to learn directly from individuals who already have made it to the top. The students quizzed executives on the state of their industries, hiring trends and tips for career advancement.
The 47 professors who spent the week of Nov. 8 on the Camden campus received an early look at the next generation of workers and, perhaps, CEOs.
“The school of business created Guest Business Professors Week to help MBA and undergraduate students connect their classroom learning with the real-time demands of the workplace,” said Milton Leontiades, dean of the Camden business school.
The portfolio of Guest Business Professors reads like a “who’s who” of southern New Jersey’s business community. Included in the 2004 session were David Swoyer, CEO of Susquehanna Patriot Bank; John Aglialoro, chair and CEO of UM Holdings; Ronald Wilson, president and COO of The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co.; and Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-6).
The executives endorse the business school’s strategy of bringing real life into the classrooms. “I wish I had something like this when I was starting out,” said Lauri Anne Plante, vice president of Right Management Consultants. “If students take away even one thing then this was a success.”
“There really was a high level of interest in the broadest sense,” said Lorraine Kay, president of Kay Construction, of her stint as a guest professor. “Students connect all the theory they are learning to how it applies to business.”
Return to the Dec 6, 2004 issue
|
