Freeman College of Management Launches New Major and Minors
February 21, 2020
Josh Hunter ’20, an accounting & financial management major from Silver Spring, Md., asks a question in a management class with college namesake Ken Freeman ’72. Emily Paine, Communications
Bucknell's Freeman College of Management is expanding its academic programs to help students build specialized skill sets to pursue their dream jobs.
Starting in the 2020-21 academic year, the college will add a new major in management & organizations as well as two new minors: a minor in real estate open to all majors and a minor in management exclusively for students in the College of Arts & Sciences or College of Engineering.
These add to other recent changes that have broadened options for Freeman College students. In just the past two years, the college has reinvented its accounting & financial management curriculum to offer new majors in accounting or finance, and added a new STEM-designated business analytics major to prepare students for a future that's increasingly driven by data.
Together, these advances show how Bucknell is staying ahead of the curve in preparing responsible leaders for the careers of tomorrow.
Management & Organizations Major
The new management & organizations major is open-ended by design, allowing students to build management skills in the areas that interest them and best serve their career aspirations.
"It allows students flexibility when they walk in the door," says Raquel Alexander, Kenneth W. Freeman Professor of Management and Dean of the Freeman College of Management. "Students deserve a general liberal arts approach to management education that allows them an opportunity to pick their specialization."
For instance, a student interested in designing corporate training programs might combine human resource management and organizational behavior courses in the Freeman College with courses in educational psychology, sociology and even theatre in the College of Arts & Sciences — helping them develop creative programs and events that speak to people in important ways.
"Management & organizations majors will have many opportunities to create a learning program that meets their desires for interdisciplinarity," says Professor Jamie Hendry, chair of the Department of Management & Organizations.
The great thing about Professor O’Connor and the real estate program is how many real-world experiences are taught and offered both inside and outside of the classroom.
Kolby Erskine '21
Real Estate Minor
One area of specialization that's already drawing interest among Freeman College students is real estate, with Stephen O'Connor, professor of practice in real estate, saying that his courses are consistently filled to capacity, with as many as 70 students studying real estate every semester.
Meeting that demand is part of what prompted the college to launch a new minor in real estate. The minor will draw on Bucknell's strong alumni network (the Freeman College's real estate advisory board has 19 alumni members) to offer authentic industry experiences students won't find anywhere else.
"The great thing about Professor O'Connor and the real estate program is how many real-world experiences are taught and offered both inside and outside of the classroom," says Kolby Erskine '21, a markets, innovation & design major from Ridgewood, N.J., who is an officer in Bucknell's Real Estate Club. "You get a true feel for the industry by doing site visits, case studies and speaking with Bucknell alumni in the industry — which has progressed my passion for the industry."
Those experiences empower students to create change, O'Connor adds. Like all of Bucknell's management programs, he says the real estate minor is forward-looking, equipping students to take on some of the greatest challenges confronting their generation.
"Cities today must adapt to grand challenges, such as climate change, rapid technological evolution and economic uncertainty," O'Connor says. "At the center of those solutions are the real estate professionals who shape the environments in which we live, work and play."
Management Minor and the Summer Management Institute
As it continues building options for management majors, the college is extending its reach to offer more students opportunities to explore management. The Freeman College already enables students from outside the college to enroll in any of its classes, with a quarter of students in the college's courses in 2018-19 and the fall 2019 semester coming from non-management majors. The new management minor, available exclusively to students in the College of Arts & Sciences and College of Engineering, will allow interested students to earn a valuable credential to certify their experience. The real estate minor is also open to students from any of Bucknell's three colleges, including the Freeman College.
Professor Neil Boyd, management, teaches a class on Malesardi Quad during last year's Summer Management Institute. Emily Paine, Communications
Students can earn the management minor through Bucknell's new Summer Management Institute. Launched in summer 2019, this immersive, eight-week residential program explores the basic principles of management and covers all aspects of management taught at Bucknell, as well as lessons in leadership drawn from the liberal arts and a real-world consulting experience with an outside client. Students taking part in the institute earn 2.5 credits to put toward the 5.5-credit minor.
"The management institute helped me discover my academic interests while providing me with insight into career opportunities that can work with my major," says Osama Amin '22, a civil engineering major from Islamabad, Pakistan, who attended the institute's inaugural session last summer. "I've learned how to fit these concepts of management into engineering and figure out where a career combining the two can take me."
With the addition of these new programs, Bucknell students interested in management can now choose from among seven majors, giving them a remarkably broad set of options while preserving the small class sizes and unique experiential learning opportunities that set a Freeman College education apart. In addition to the new major and minors, Freeman College students can choose from majors in accounting; business analytics; finance; global management; managing for sustainability; and markets, innovation & design, as well as a five-year dual degree program in engineering & management.
