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Caldwell College Business Division Awarded National Accreditation
The Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) has announced that Caldwell College was awarded initial accreditation of its business program by the ACBSP Baccalaureate/Graduate Degree Board of Commissioners.
Associate Dean of the Business Division Dr. Bernie O'Rourke and Business Division Professor Dr. Virginia Rich will be presented with Caldwell College's certificate of accreditation during the ACBSP Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas on June 28, 2009.
This achievement recognizes the quality of Caldwell's Business programs and its commitment to teaching excellence. Achieving ACBSP accreditation involves a rigorous process whereby the College matches its performance and processes against six complex standards established by the accrediting agency. Accreditation indicates that the College's Business Division has successfully met each of the six challenging standards of excellence.
Dr. O'Rourke said the national accreditation will enhance the value of a Caldwell degree. "This recognition places the value of our programs on a higher plane; this is an objective endorsement of something that we have long known, but never had independently evaluated – that a business degree from Caldwell College offers significant benefits to its holder."
Caldwell College's Business Division offers rigorous, comprehensive programs including a thriving MBA program, and strong undergraduate programs in Marketing, Management, Accounting, International Business, Financial Economics and Business Administration. Traditional undergraduate students value the small class sizes with accomplished faculty since typical full and part-time faculty members have considerable business experience and acumen in their academic fields. In addition to excellence in teaching, adult and graduate students appreciate the flexible schedules, evening and weekend classes, distance learning and personal academic advisement. The Business Division is actively involved with the business community in the Northern New Jersey region, which fosters opportunities for career development and internships for students. Such relationships as well as those with accomplished alumni from the MBA and undergraduate programs, often provide students with worthwhile networking opportunities.
Students in the Business Division have performed very well in the international business strategy simulation exercise known as Globus ® (by McGraw-Hill). Each week during the semester Caldwell students take part in a computer-based application which simulates running a large corporation. They input decisions and compete directly with their peers at Caldwell. Their work is then compared with thousands of other teams made up of students at universities and colleges around the globe. In computer rankings at the end of the fall 2008 semester, one individual Caldwell College student finished as #1 in the world (out of 2300 teams) for the full semester while another Caldwell College team posted a # 4 in the world in the post-semester invitational event. "In sporting terms" Dr. O'Rourke explains, "this is equivalent to our top individual performer placing first in the regular season (against 2300 opponents world-wide), and then, after our premier representative voluntarily declined to participate in the post-season playoffs, a different Caldwell team (made up of three members) finished fourth world-wide out of the top 200 teams who qualified for the playoffs. This is a remarkable achievement for a small private school and speaks to how well the Business Division is training students to make critical decisions and think like entrepreneurs, assess business risks and manage in a globally competitive environment."
For institutions that achieve ACBSP accreditation for their business schools and programs, this attainment certifies that the teaching and learning processes within that institution meet the rigorous educational standards established by the ACBSP. The ratification of accreditation by ACBSP covers a ten-year period during which time the Business Division must continually reaffirm the quality of its programs through quality assurance reports.
ACBSP's mission is to establish, promote, and recognize educational practices that contribute to the continuous quality improvement of business education programs, teaching of business courses, and student learning outcomes in colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad. ACBSP has over 587 member institutions and is headquartered in Overland Park, KS.