There’s a buzz in the air, a certain energy you feel when you enter the John L. Grove College of Business. Maybe it’s due to the ticker board just off the lobby. Maybe it’s the purposeful way people stride through the building. Maybe it’s all the activity. Whatever it may be, it’s a fitting aura for the home of the College of Business as it celebrates success on three levels: 70 years of teaching business, 35 years since the College of Business was established, and 25 years the business programs maintained the coveted AACSB accreditation.

The entrance to Grove Hall, home to the John L. Grove College of Business, is well-used by students. Bottom: Students prepare for presentations as they would for an employer.

35 years creating a home

While Shippen Hall was the original home of the College of Business, ten years ago, the college moved to Grove Hall. As with any home, the longer you live in it the more comfortable it becomes. That’s the underlying feeling throughout as students, staff, and faculty have claimed the building and made it their own.

Business majors roam the halls their entire stay at Shippensburg. And with classes, clubs, organizations, programs, and other events taking place within its walls, they not only spend class time there but much of their free time as well.

The current leaders of the college, Dean Stephen Holoviak and Associate Dean Tom Verney, have been with the college long before its move into Grove Hall, but the move to Grove has given them the opportunity to make students feel at home.

Their goal is to have students know they have a place not only at the university but in the college. Events range from social to informative to required and all have the student at their core. Ice cream socials, a first-year course, etiquette dinners, and internships are just a small sample of what’s in store for an SU business major.

Speak with the dean and it becomes obvious rather quickly just how proud he is of all the components under his purview. His hands choreograph his message, he leans forward to emphasize a point or two, and his enthusiasm runs rampant through out. Speak to the associate dean and a quieter version of the same pride comes forth.

What are they so excited about? The list is extensive but one of the first things, Holoviak will tell you is the active level of support the college receives. “Our advisory board is just amazing,” Holoviak said. “They come to campus and talk with students, get involved in student clubs and organizations, send students to national professional meetings, and play an active role in the planning process from annual retreats to the strategic plan.”

He uses the new Supply Chain Management Program as a perfect example of how the university responded to regional and industry needs based on information and expertise supplied by the advisory board.

In a marketing class, Dr. Michael Coolsen emphasizes a point he made.

Another item that excites Holoviak and his team is student involvement in making the college better. His example: Foundation in Business Administration, a one-credit freshman course.

Graduating seniors, in exit interviews, commented on their ignorance of how things fit together. The foundation course outlines what Holoviak calls the “grand plan.” Each department explains what it is and its programs. Sophomore and junior years feature internships, international study, and scholarship.

The freshman course helps in both educating the students and in keeping them on track for graduation. This two-fold role works to complement another point of pride – the four-year graduation rate.

If Steve Holoviak had his way, every student in the college would graduate in four years, have at least one paid internship, study abroad for at least one semester, and upon graduation placed in either a job, related to their major of course, or graduate school. Ideal maybe but for Holoviak and others in the college it’s a goal.

The things Holoviak enthuses over are extensive; not least of which is the “real world” preparation the college provides its students. Etiquette dinners are held each spring with experts explaining proper ways ranging from cutlery and place settings to food. The foods offered are selected for their difficulty in eating. Cocktail hours and socials are also scrutinized for pitfalls.

Verney talks about the required career placement program. Students bring their résumés to mock job interviews. “We treat it as a real interview. Afterward we meet with the students and discuss their behavior, dress, and performance. We evaluate their résumé and interview. It can be difficult for the student, but in the end, it’s better they find out here rather than lose their dream job due to improper preparation.”

“All our programs have active clubs,” stated Holoviak when résumés are mentioned. “And many are linked to or sponsored by local chapters of national organizations giving our students access to networking, certification, and scholarship opportunities.”

The college had its success reaffirmed by its recent inclusion in the Princeton Review’s Best 282 Business Schools in the Nation – an added bonus to the anniversary celebration.

(Top left) Stock prices and messages run on the ticker in the lobby. Particpants in the Prague Business (Bottom left) Adventure spent three weeks learning about challenges of managing in a transitioning economy. (Right) Senior finance majors enrolled in the Investment Management Program actively manage real investment portfolios held by the SU Foundation. The class, below, is conducted in a seminar format, led by students.

25 years of excellence

It is hard to say just where the business program at Shippensburg would be if it had not received AACSB accreditation long before others in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education sought it out and while we were one of just a handful of colleges with an approved undergraduate program. For the past 25 years and into the foreseeable future, AACSB shaped and continues to shape the business program.

The initial accreditation came in 1981 and was reaffirmed in 1986 under Dean Joseph Hunt.

Various deans of the college admit maintaining the prestigious accreditation has not always been easy. In the performance review for 1986, the master’s program came under fire. As one of a handful of colleges with an accredited undergraduate program, the AACSB review felt the master’s program should be accredited or Shippensburg would lose its undergraduate accreditation.

After weighing the resources required to bring the MBA to AACSB standards, university and college administrators realized the overall importance of retaining the undergraduate accreditation and made the hard decision to phase out the master’s program.

In 1991, the AACSB adopted new standards that made the accreditation mission driven rather than adherence to a uniform set of numerical standards. With the change Shippensburg had to show it had a quality business program and that it had processes in place to guarantee the maintenance and continuous improvement of that quality. Under the new standards, AACSB reaffirmed Shippensburg’s accreditation in 1995.

Last year, in the 25th year of accreditation, AACSB once again affirmed the quality of SU’s business programs. In addition, the accreditation included the MBA that was established in 2002. The next AACSB team visit to reaccredit is in 2011.

70 years building business

Since its founding in 1871, Shippensburg was in the business of educating teachers. In 1937, the state legislature approved a business education program for the college. By the next year, the teacher education department offered a concentration in business education. That status quo was maintained until 1962 when a master’s degree in business education was created.

Five years later a new undergraduate degree was added – the bachelor of science in business administration. And in 1971, the master of business administration program was established. Clearly the business program at Shippensburg was on the move.

That same year was also when the school of business was established. This was a result of the Shippensburg administration identifying and then creating three schools: liberal arts, education, and business. The first dean of the business school, Ephraim P. Smith assumed his duties in 1973.

In 1993, the College of Business was named the John L. Grove College of Business. John Grove was a local business entrepreneur with two successful international equipment companies to his credit: Grove Manufacturing Company and JLG Industries. His interest in the college went beyond the present as he and his wife Cora created an endowment for the College of Business.

At the dedication ceremony, Mr. Grove expressed his desire to fulfill the need to motivate students to develop and maintain professional ideals and values. “Carry forward your responsibility to society in order to leave this world better than you found it,” he said.

“We’re the only college on this campus that has an endowment, all thanks to John Grove,” Steve Holoviak said. “Those funds are used for student scholarships, faculty research, programs, almost any where there is a need.”

Grove Hall was dedicated and opened for business in 1997, after a two-year construction period.

Under Holoviak’s leadership the MBA program, reinstated after a total redesign and evaluation, graduated its first students in 2004; AACSB accreditation was reaffirmed; and a new business minor for non-majors was approved.

There is undeniable pride in the accomplishments of the College of Business and in its thousands of graduates but the people involved have not and do not plan to rest on their laurels. They have learned from and appreciate the past, but their eyes are steadfast in looking into the future.

The Deans

• 1973 Ephraim P. Smith
• 1975 Dr. Myron Gable*
• 1977 Dr. James Robinson
• 1979 Dr. Joseph Hunt
• 1991 Dr. Ruth Armstrong*
• 1992 Dr. James Pope
• 1998 Dr. Donna Mottilla*
• 1999 Dr. Stephen Holoviak

* interim