“You can be the best mechanic in the world, but if you don’t have the business skills to manager your shop you will fail.” Stark reality spoken this week by Dr. Stacy Young, the Dean of the Southwestern Michigan College Schools of Business and Advanced Technology. She was using that analogy during the SMC Board meeting wherein they introduced a new Associate in Arts in Entrepreneurship Degree coming this fall to the campus along with a new Crowe Accounting Internship program.
As Dr. David Mathews, President of the college told board members, “These are two very exciting sets of opportunities for SMC students.”
SMC’s new Entrepreneurship AA recognizes “Generation Z’s idealistic passion,” noting, “Gen Z not only grew up immersed in technology, these young adults born since 1995 desire more independent work environments, with surveys showing 42-percent want to start their own businesses.”
Dean Young says, “They value quality education and really want to do something they care about,” adding, “They understand the need to earn a living because they saw their parents struggle during the 2008 recession. They will be a very influential generation; it has been suggested that they might challenge our two-party political system because they care so much about social issues. I’m very excited to see what this generation does. I feel like they’re going to change the world.”
SMC previously created a 20-credit small business management certificate for students who, for example, wanted to use their automotive skills to open a repair shop.
Addressing that, Dr. Young pointed out, “You can be the best mechanic in the world, but if you don’t have business skills to manage your shop, you will fail.” Addressing the new degree program, Young says, “Now we have the next level of an AA transfer degree for all fields of interest. You’re still getting math, speech, English, sciences and social sciences, plus core business classes we think every entrepreneur should have.”
President Mathews notes that, “The 64-credit program also dovetails into the Ferris State University bachelor’s degree in accounting which can be earned on our campus.”
For more information on the Entrepreneurship AA, you can contact faculty members Leon Letter (269-782-1215or lletter@swmich.edu) or James Benak (269-782-1221 or jbenak@swmich.edu).
Regarding the new internship opportunities, Young says, “Crowe is a large accounting firm with offices in South Bend and all over the country. They partnered with us to offer eight internships for our accounting students this semester.”
For the new internship program, Young says, “We set up a room in the Kairis Building with badge access for students and their on-site manager so they can come and go between classes, allowing them to have this phenomenal experience right on our campus. On Saturdays, students typically go down to the Crowe office in South Bend to collaborate with the professionals there. Only Ohio State University, University of Kentucky, Florida A&M University, Andrews University and SMC have these partnerships.”
