The first steps of the restructuring and revitalization of the bachelor’s of business program was approved at the Board of Governors meeting on Thursday.

“We have seven unique programs and 10 majors and as we added new programs some of them became programs and some majors. It became confusing for students and accreditation, said the Dean of the Lewis College of Business.

The solution for this was to combine the seven programs into two programs under which are 10 majors, said Dean Avi Mukherjee, the bachelor’s in accounting will remain as its own program for accreditation purposes.

This degree restructuring is the beginning in the revitalization and modernization of the business college, said Jeffery J. Archambault, the associate dean for academic programs.

“It makes us more administratively efficient,” said Archambault, “it allows us to focus more efforts on the online BA program we are developing and the DBA [Doctorate of Business Administration] program.”

As these changes are being made the degrees themselves are being reorganized to be standardized and offer students’ more flexibility, Archambault said.

“We are streamlining the programs which will allow students more flexibility, for some students with a lot of credits they can get out quicker which helps graduation rates, but the real hope is that with smaller programs students can have minors or a second major,” Archambault said.

A taskforce within the administration is being formed to redesign the program to integrant data analysis, technology and more student engagement with the business community, Archambault said.

“Creating the connections between the business school and the business community will hopefully create opportunities for students to get involved in new projects and help new business start and grow,” Archambault said.

Business analytics, statistics and block chain technology are becoming integral aspects of the modern business environment and those are being discussed to be incorporated into the new curriculum, Archambault said.

Archambault said he is hopefully that these changes will unite the college and encourage corporation in the future.

“I hope it creates a structure to that encourages the cooperation of the various faculties in the departments and disciplines to focus on what we have in common and what we all need to do,” Archambault said.

Ralph May can be contacted at [email protected].