1-23-03
BUSINESS AND ENGINEERING CREATE COLLABORATIVE COURSE
Among business majors, engineering students are known as "pre-business majors." Among engineering majors, business students are "the ones that can't survive in engineering." What's wrong with this picture? And how can the two groups ever collaborate to design new products?
"Experience shows that the most successful entrepreneurs are those who have a clear understanding of all phases of a product, from design to manufacture to sale," said Jana Goodrich, a marketing and management professor at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. "To encourage that success, the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology and the School of Business at Penn State Erie have collaborated to create a Small Product Realization course that concentrates on interdisciplinary skills needed for entrepreneurial creativity."
"Our goal is to move Penn State Erie toward an increasingly collaborative business and engineering learning environment," said Ralph Ford, an electrical and computer engineering professor. "Students need to understand that even if everyone doesn't have the same skills or methods of learning, they can find ways to work with one another to accomplish goals."
The college recently held its first weekend-long Small Product Realization Seminar for students in the course at a conference center off-campus. During the seminar students participated in team development activities and brainstorming sessions and heard speakers on investment banking for new businesses, business plan development, patents and intellectual property, and several entrepreneurial success stories. Jason Williams '92, president of K Development and a Penn State Erie alumnus of the plastics engineering technology program, was among the entrepreneurs sharing their stories.
"I wish that Penn State Erie had offered a course like this when I was getting my degree," said Williams. "Once I moved into the workplace I found that I needed information on design, aesthetics, and human behavior-many of the things that were taught in marketing, management, and psychology. The students attending this seminar are getting that information, and it puts them a step ahead of their peers when they apply for jobs."
Jonathan Hardt, a senior electrical engineering technology major from Allison Park, Pennsylvania, was up-front about why he took the class.
"I hope this class will make me more valuable to industry," said Hardt. "I think it was a good choice for my overall education, but I also think it will improve my finances in the future."
Anne Marie Havey, a senior marketing major from Bethel Park, had a different motivation for taking the course.
"I took this course so that I could develop
ways to communicate with engineers,"
said Havey. "Business students learn differently than engineering
students .The more I understand about those differences, the easier it
will be for me to work with a whole product team."
The Small Product Realization course is team-taught by Goodrich, Ford, and Rob Weissbach, an electrical engineering technology professor. The students in the course are majors in computer and electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, management, management information systems, marketing, and plastics engineering technology.
The Small Product Realization course at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is one aspect of the college's Business and Engineering Education Partnership. Development of the course was supported by a $176,000 grant received from the GE Fund in December 2000.
Contact:
Loretta Brandon
(814) 898-6063 (O)
(814) 864-9922 (H)
e-mail: lzb6@psu.edu