This year, the Sykes School of Business will match the enrollment of the entire University of Tampa a decade ago. With this rapid expansion, the business college’s administration has rolled out three new academic programs in the last 12 months. With 2,182 undergraduates and a little over 600 graduate students, Sykes is at its largest at just over 2,800 students.
Dean of the Sykes School of Business, Frank Ghannadian, emphasizes that the greatest accomplishments of the school are its accreditations and the intellectual capital in its faculty members. The college recently retained its status as an AASCB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accredited school. Even with an increase in standards from the accrediting association, UT passed with flying colors.
The college has also secured an ABET accreditation for its information systems and information technology programs.
Ghannadian also highlighted the college’s faculty at an all time high at 75, over 30 of which Ghannadian had hired in the last seven years.
The new Finance Enterprise System Major is an updated version of the college’s Financial Services and Operations Major. The major is a joint Finance and Information Technology degree. The degree is a step away from financial services with a new degree with “technology embedded into the finance,” says Ghannadian. All students in this program would still have to complete the core classes of the business school then complete two groups of classes in Finance and IT.
Elective classes are 300 and 400 level classes including courses like: Business Intelligence and Analysis (ITM 456), Intermediate Financial Management (FIN 410) and Applied Finance and Accounting using Enterprise Systems (FIN 419).
To students, the turn to technology-focused degrees makes perfect sense.
“It will play a big role,” said Madison Freeman junior and marketing major. “Companies look for employees well versed in Information Technology.”
Ghannadian knows all too well how big of a role “Big Data” will play. “Ninety percent of all data has been generated in the last two decades.” Ghannadian says, “It is important to know how to use this data!”
This was the mindset behind the Business Analytics minor. Ghannadian hopes the minor will give business and nonbusiness students the skills necessary to analyze big data. Any business, regardless of field, will compile statistics on sales, usage, demographics and timeframes. Having the skills to interpret this data can often make or break a business.
The minor consists of six courses, including Business Intelligence and Analytics along with Advanced Managerial Statistics.
Another addition this year is a 4+1 MBA program. If a student has a 3.5 GPA or above entering their junior year, the student can elect to stay an additional fifth year to earn a Masters in Business Administration.
Ghannadian and the rest of the College of Business keeps looking to the future. There are plans for a full major in Business Analytics along with a Bachelors and Masters and in Cyber-Security.
Jake Van Loon can be reached at jake.vanloon@spartans.ut.edu