Economics & Business Administration
The George S. Aldhizer II Department of Economics and Business Administration offers two majors—economics and business administration—that prepare students to pursue managerial and other professional careers as well as graduate education. We build on the liberal arts foundation provided by the College’s general education program and give each student the knowledge, skills and experience to become a successful and ethical leader, capable of making valued contributions to his or her workplace, society and self.
Through a combination of lectures, discussions, case analyses, team projects and presentations, and other in-class activities, courses are designed to integrate economic and business theory and practice; encourage independent and critical thinking using both qualitative and quantitative reasoning; and develop skills in decision making and implementation, teamwork and collaboration, and all forms of communication. Experiential learning opportunities abound through internships, study abroad programs and participation in student organizations, to supplement classroom learning.
The economics major consists of 14 courses in economics and mathematics. Economics majors may choose among three tracks: business, government policy and preparation for graduate school via additional mathematics courses. Economics majors can also earn an emphasis in financial economics.
The business administration major consists of 15 courses in business, economics and mathematics. To gain greater depth in a particular area of business, many students pursue one of the four emphases we offer in the business administration major: accounting, finance, marketing and organization management. By taking additional courses, in one of these areas, students build specialization on the solid foundation provided by the business administration major.
In addition to the previously mentioned majors, the department also offers minors in business administration, economics and equine studies.
Programs
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Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts - Major -
Economics, Bachelor of Arts - Major -
Business Administration, Minor -
Economics, Minor -
Equine Studies, Minor -
Accounting, Emphasis -
Finance, Emphasis -
Financial Economics, Emphasis -
Marketing, Emphasis -
Organization Management, Emphasis
Courses
BUS-105: Exploring Sustainability in Organization
BUS-110: Personal Finance
BUS-115: History of Advertising
BUS-120: Survey of Business
BUS-201: Principles of Accounting I
BUS-202: Principles of Accounting II
Accounting for partnerships, time-value of money applications, cash flows, budgeting, cost determination, responsibility accounting, and decision-driven financial information.
BUS-205: Business Practicum
Skills-and-theory based class that helps students apply critical thinking to make a difference in their community and the world by developing projects that impact the lives of others. Students are given a chance to develop leadership, organizational, communication and teamwork skills, while also enhancing project management and creative skills. Work includes a minimum of three hours outside the class and one hour inside each week. Course may be repeated for a total of 3 credits.
BUS-211: Principles of Finance
An introduction to corporate finance. It introduces how companies invest in real assets, raise funds to pay for investments, and how investments affect the value of firms. It provides an overview of capital markets, the role of financial institutions in the economy and how securities are traded and valued by investors. The course introduces ways to think analytically about financial issues that firms and individuals will likely encounter.
BUS-212: Equine Farm and Stable Management
Preventative health maintenance, facility management and basic sound business practices. Topics on horse selection, sanitation, routine veterinary practices, nutrition and supplements, equipment recognition and selection, facilities design, hoof care and furriery, exercise physiology, liability issues and insurance selection. Lecture and laboratory times required.
BUS-300: Principles of Organization Management
General overview of the principles of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling human and other resources for the achievement of an organization's goals. Examines the impact and role of communication, motivation, group dynamics, and organization culture, conflict and change as the context for current management practices. Uses written and oral reports to develop student writing and speaking skills.
BUS-305X: International Business and Entrepreneurship
Examines the importance of fostering entrepreneurship as the key to economic, social, and intellectual development in a myriad of cultural settings and economic/political systems around the globe. This course will include a field study approach with visits to embassies and the World Bank on a one week trip to Washington, D.C. FILA general education: experiential learning.
BUS-310: Principles of Marketing
Explores the principles and practices of how goods, services, and ideas are developed and distributed in order to satisfy individual and organization needs, wants and objectives. Emphasis is placed on the micro-marketing perspectives including product, price, promotion and place.
BUS-315: Marketing Research
Explores the scope of marketing research and its role in effective decision making. Students investigate, assess and conduct various types of quantitative and qualitative research, from surveys to focus groups.
BUS-340: Management Science
Introduces essential quantitative techniques and their use in business decision-making, including decision analysis, forecasting, linear programming, project scheduling, inventory cost minimization, and queuing analysis. Emphasis on the practical application of these techniques to production and operations management and other business problems.
BUS-345: Supply Chain Management
Examines supply chain management processes as they apply to both service and manufacturing organizations, with special consideration given to identifying ways in which the strategic use of supply chain management can create competitive advantages for firms. Topics covered include logistics, inventory management, sales and operations planning, sourcing and purchasing processes, materials planning, TQM, JIT, lean processes, and technology-enhanced supply chain processes. Requires travel throughout the Shenandoah Valley to participate in plant tours and other field experiences. Additional cost associated with travel.
BUS-350: Business Law
The U.S. legal and regulatory environment, including the sources of law; the resolution of disputes; the Uniform Commercial Code; the laws of torts, contracts, agency, partnerships, corporations, employment, and equal opportunity; and laws regulating competition.
BUS-358: Equine Business Management
BUS-360: Venture Creation
This course is a dynamic learning and business development experience focused on the professional development of young entrepreneurs. Students will develop their own creative ideas, and use the rigorous lean startup protocol to design a specific business model to launch and scale (theoretically for class purposes only, or in the real world). Emphasis is placed on the lean startup and customer development principles (e.g. innovative business models, scientific approach, hypothesis testing, rapid iteration, minimum viable product, problem-solution fit, customer discovery process and agile development).
BUS-365X: Cross-Cultural Issues in Business
Explores cultural differences in business practices. Combines international travel and experiential learning with classroom discussion and reflection to enrich students' educational experience. The travel portion of the course provides opportunities for direct communication with business leaders in the selected location, facility tours, and attending business lectures at local universities. Travel destinations include Europe, South America, Japan and China. On campus, students actively reflect on cross-cultural similarities and differences in the conduct of business, cross-cultural business issues, and ways to become more sensitive to the complexities, relationships, and dialogues among different cultures. May be taken more than once provided a different location is selected each time. FILA general education: experiential learning.
BUS-370: Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Introduction to the challenging field of forensic and investigative accounting. Topics include introduction to forensic and investigative accounting, forensic accounting education, institutions, and specialties, fraudulent financial reporting, detecting fraud in financial reporting, employee fraud, methods of reconstructing income, money laundering, litigation services provided by accountants, proper evidence management, computing economic damages, computer forensics, profiling the cybercriminal, cybercrime management, cybercrime loss valuations, and business valuations. Offered alternate years.
BUS-371: Intermediate Accounting I
A two-course examination of financial accounting issues. BUS-371 focuses on accounting theory, FASB's conceptual framework, GAAP & IFRS presentations for financial statements.
BUS-372: Intermediate Accounting II
A two-course examination of financial accounting issues. BUS-372 examines time-value of money applications, liabilities, leases, pensions and post-retirement obligations, stockholders' equity, earnings per share, accounting changes, correcting accounting errors, and comprehensive statements of cash flows.
BUS-381: Federal Tax Accounting I
Introduction to the federal tax structure, emphasizing accounting for personal income taxes, including preparation of individual income tax returns. Highlights working with tax law, determining personal and dependency exemptions, gross income, deductions, losses, depreciation, and tax credits. Offered alternate years.
BUS-382: Federal Tax Accounting II
Emphasizes accounting for preparing corporate, partnership, gift, estate, and trust returns. Focuses on corporate operating rules, organization, capital structure, distributions, S Corporation limitations, exempt entities, and tax administration and practice. Offered alternate years.
BUS-385: Cost Management
Preparation and utilization of financial information for internal management purposes with emphasis placed on cost behavior, cost determination, and the development of information for planning and control purposes. Offered alternate years.
BUS-400: Advanced Accounting
Accounting for partnerships, business combinations, state and local governments, private not-for-profit organizations and other selected topics. Offered alternate years.
BUS-405: Auditing
Theory and practice of auditing: the techniques, standards, legal environment, and ethics of the public accounting profession. Emphasis is placed on the study of internal controls, and compliance and substantive tests of functional cycles within the firm, audit reports, accounting and review services, and other attestation services.
BUS-412W: Professional Selling
Designed to develop student interaction and business skills with strategies relating to the personal selling side of marketing. Emphasis is placed on business-to-business and consumer selling strategies, as these skills are also applicable to retail selling and may be beneficial in enhancing skills necessary for selling ideas within the business, workplace, community at large or society in general. FILA general education: writing intensive.
BUS-414W: Consumer Behavior
A study of purchasing patterns and habits of consumers (individual and business) from both societal and psychological sides; increases student understanding of how businesses develop marketing plans to appeal to recognized consumer needs, wants and characteristics. Emphasis is placed on observations in the retail environment including cultural, societal and personal preferences. FILA general education: writing intensive.
BUS-416W: Advertising
A study of the wide varieties of non-personal ways an organization communicates with customers and other stakeholder groups. Primary emphasis is placed on traditional paid media. Internet and social media options are also reviewed, along with alternative advertising vehicles such as brochures, direct mail and point-of-sale contacts. Course content includes a review of the planning, design and production processes, as well as sample communications as an essential part of the learning process. FILA general education: writing intensive.
BUS-420: Human Resource Management
Personnel administration from a managerial perspective, including recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation and motivation, employee/management relations, and various legal and regulatory issues.
BUS-422X: Entrepreneurship
Emphasizes general principles of entrepreneurship and small business management for students interested in developing their own business. Provides practical experience through service learning, written and oral reports. FILA general education: experiential learning. Additional costs associated with travel.
BUS-430: Investments
Introduction to security selection and portfolio management in global financial markets, including the theoretical and practical aspects of asset allocation and stock and bond valuation. Offered alternate years.
BUS-448: Financial Statement Analysis and Equity Valuation
Capstone course for the finance emphasis focusing on strategic issues such as capital budgeting, the cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy, and debt and equity financing. Case studies are used to develop analytical skills and enhance student understanding of the practical application of financial theory. Offered alternate years.
BUS-468: Contemporary Issues in Business
A senior seminar for the marketing, organization management and international emphases designed to help students integrate knowledge from general education, major and emphasis courses with current professional issues. Focus placed on issues such as international marketing, employee relations and other cross-cultural concerns; effects of cross-country financial, legal political, media and transportation variations; interpersonal vs. virtual work environments; e-commerce; professional ethics; adapting and strengthening corporate culture in dynamic environments; and integrating functional and geographic business strategies.
BUS-478X: Strategic Management
A seminar-style capstone course for Business Administration majors that integrates the functional areas of business (accounting, finance, management, and marketing) through analysis, forecasting, and developing solutions to complex business scenarios. The course uses a combination of readings, discussion, case studies, and a team-based computer simulation to focus on managing strategically and responsibly. FILA general education: experiential learning.
BUS-480X: Internship
Provides an opportunity for a student to gain field experience in an area related to the student's program of study or career goals. The learning objectives for internships include connecting academic knowledge and problem-solving processes to experiences and problems in professional settings. Supervision of an intern is provided by an appropriate faculty member and by a site supervisor of the agency or business in which the student is an intern. A student who wishes to engage in an internship must consult with the appropriate faculty member at least eight weeks in advance of the start of the term in which the internship is to be completed. A description of the internship, signed by the student and the faculty sponsor, must be filed with the director of internships by the first day of the semester prior to the start of the internship. Approval of each application for an internship is made by the director of internships based upon approved policies and guidelines. Internships are graded on an S or U basis. Students must complete 120 hours of internship-related work as well as weekly journal entries and a final reflective paper completed in accordance with approved requirements. A student may enroll in an internship program for 3 credits per semester, and internship credit may be earned in subsequent semesters subject to the limitations that no more than two internships may be pursued in any one agency or business and a maximum of 9 credits in internships may be applied toward graduation. FILA general education: experiential learning.
BUS-490: Independent Study
BUS-491: Research
BUS-499: Honors Project
ECON-200: Principles of Macroeconomics
Introduces scarcity, opportunity cost, and supply and demand analysis, with special emphasis on aggregate economic growth, unemployment, inflation, and fiscal and monetary policies. FILA general education: social sciences.
ECON-210: Principles of Microeconomics
Analysis of individual choice and market behavior, with special emphasis on price and output relationships and the economics of the firm. FILA general education: social sciences.
ECON-300: Money & Banking
Focuses on the financial system, determinants of interest rates, structure and regulation of the banking system, the Federal Reserve System, and monetary policy and it's impact on aggregate economic activity and inflation.
ECON-305: Contemporary Economic Issues
Discussion of contemporary economic issues from conservative, liberal, and radical perspectives. Topics include both macroeconomic and microeconomic issues. Offered alternate years.
ECON-310: U.S. Economics & Business History
Traces the growth and development of the U.S. economy and economic institutions from the Colonial era to the present with special emphasis on key institutions and events, such as slavery, industrialization, the rise of big business and the Great Depression. FILA general education: global dynamics.
ECON-320: Labor Economics
Analysis of labor market supply and demand, wages and salaries, collective bargaining, discrimination, and macroeconomic implications of labor market issues. Offered alternate years.
ECON-327: Economics and the Environment
Examines the economic causes and consequences of environmental problems and evaluates market-based and nonmarket solutions for them, with special emphasis on pollution, overpopulation, resource depletion and sustainability. Offered alternate years.
ECON-330: Government & Business
Discussion of the role of government and market forces in promoting economic efficiency, focusing on antitrust policy, economic regulation, and socio-economic engineering.
ECON-400: Intermediate Macroeconomics Theory
Analyzes economic growth, business cycles, and the impact of economic institutions and policies on aggregate economic performance and living standards.
ECON-410: Intermediate Microeconomics Theory
Theoretical and applied development of consumer choice, firm behavior, price and income determination, market behavior, and government policy.
ECON-420: Development of Economic Thought
Traces the evolution of economic thought from ancient times to the present with special emphasis on Adam Smith, the classical school, socialism, Marx, marginalism, the neoclassical school, Keynes and Friedman. FILA general education: philosophy or religion. Offered alternate years.
ECON-440: International Economics
Theory of international economic interrelationships, including trade, finance, and monetary policies and institutions. FILA general education: global dynamics.
ECON-460: Senior Seminar
Capstone course for majors in Economics. Investigates selected economic issues, policies, and problems, and introduces regression methods used to test economic hypotheses. Students conduct quantitative research, collect data, formulate and test hypotheses, and present their results.
ECON-480X: Internship
Provides an opportunity for a student to gain field experience in an area related to the student's program of study or career goals. The learning objectives for internships include connecting academic knowledge and problem-solving processes to experiences and problems in professional settings. Supervision of an intern is provided by an appropriate faculty member and by a site supervisor of the agency or business in which the student is an intern. A student who wishes to engage in an internship must consult with the appropriate faculty member at least eight weeks in advance of the start of the term in which the internship is to be completed. A description of the internship, signed by the student and the faculty sponsor, must be filed with the director of internships by the first day of the semester prior to the start of the internship. Approval of each application for an internship is made by the director of internships based upon approved policies and guidelines. Internships are graded on an S or U basis. Students must complete 120 hours of internship-related work as well as weekly journal entries and a final reflective paper completed in accordance with approved requirements. A student may enroll in an internship program for 3 credits per semester, and internship credit may be earned in subsequent semesters subject to the limitations that no more than two internships may be pursued in any one agency or business and a maximum of 9 credits in internships may be applied toward graduation. FILA general education: experiential learning.
ECON-490: Independent Study
ECON-491: Research
ECON-499: Honors Project
EQU-111: Introduction to Equine Science
EQU-211: Equine Development & Behavior
EQU-220: Theories Riding
EQU-306: Equine Lameness and Disease
EQU-329: Practicum
EQU-331: Conformation: Form and Function
Demonstration of the relationship between the horse's conformation and its function or performance including methods of evaluation, confirmation in relation of usability, performance requirements of various breeds, and the methods of judging. Two lecture hours and two hours of practical application per week. Offered alternate years.
EQU-350X: International Equine Breeding, Training and Management
This course is designed to enhance students' understanding of global equine industry management, training, and breeding facilities. Students will have an opportunity to study and evaluate equine selection of breeding stock and young prospects internationally. This course will travel to a selection of international breeding facilities located in the UK and Europe. In addition, the class will allow students to make equine industry contacts. The focus will be on comparison of international horses to American bred horses, concentrating on breeding stock and training stock selection; as well as how each of those practices are managed. FILA general education: experiential learning.
EQU-364: Judging and Course Design
EQU-401: Training & Schooling
Selection of suitable hunter/jumper prospects as well as teaching basic methods used in breaking horses, selecting facilities, equipment, over fences gymnastics, educating young or problem horses, preparation for horse shows, and the identification of necessary characteristics, personality traits and abilities to become a successful trainer in the horse world of today. Requires a two-hour lecture and two hours of practical application per week.