Tippie College of Business changes 2 department names
The state Board of Regents approved changing the names of two departments in the Tippie College of Business to better reflect what they represent.
The Pappajohn Business Building is seen on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018.
April 24, 2019
At its April meeting, the state Board of Regents gave the go-ahead to the Tippie College of Business to change the names of two departments.
The Department of Management Sciences will become the Department of Business Analytics, and the Department of Management and Organizations will become the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship — which, department heads said, better reflected the degrees offered in the departments.
What is now dubbed the Business Analytics Department offers a certificate in business analytics for undergraduate students as well as a full- and part-time business analytics master’s program and a Ph.D. program.
“Outside of the Ph.D. program, all of the academics in the department are named after business analytics, and this new name reflects that a lot better,” said department Chair Barrett Thomas. “The term ‘management sciences’ was a bit dated. A large number of people who see ‘business analytics’ will know what that is … It is ultimately who we are.”
The other department to adopt a new name, the Management and Entrepreneurship Department, offers a management major for undergraduate students with entrepreneurship tracks, an online bachelor’s in business administration, and a Ph.D. program for management. These programs offer many routes for students interested in management and entrepreneurship to take in order to obtain their degrees.
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“Changing the department name from the Department of Management and Organizations to the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship more accurately reflects our current undergraduate programs, our developing graduate programs, and the existing partnership between our department and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center,” said Amy Colbert, the department executive officer.
The Management and Entrepreneurship Department has an ongoing connection with the Entrepreneurial Center.
Colbert said approximately 40 percent of management majors are in the entrepreneurial-management track. The department hopes that incorporating the term “entrepreneurship” to the name will increase awareness of the entrepreneurship options for students.
Tippie Senior Associate Dean Amy Kristof-Brown said she is optimistic about what the change will mean for the departments.
“Although we hope that this will continue to attract students, it’s more a reflection of where the departments had already begun to shift their focus,” she said. “Each of the departments has seen increases in majors recently, and the hope is that the name is a more consistent signal to other potential students and faculty of what the department majors offer.”
