The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Two new majors to open in fall

The Board of Trustees will soon consider two new majors in the College of Business Administration for approval this spring and to launch this fall.

The Academic Senate approved the majors Monday and sent them to the Board of Trustees for consideration. Real estate and entrepreneurship majors were suggested because of student interest and an improving market for the majors, according to David Shrock, dean of the College of Business Administration.

Schrock said he believed the chances of approval by the Board of Trustees was high.

"We have been filling the rooms for classes in those areas," Shrock said. He said most new jobs came from start-up companies, which led to the interest in entrepreneurship.

Alex Stewart, the Coleman Chair of Entrepreneurship and an associate professor of management, will advise the proposed major. Stewart said he did a survey of sophomores in the business school, and many were interested in owning their own businesses.

Stewart said other universities, such as the University of Dayton, had an entrepreneurship major and interest has grown significantly over the last few years.

The entrepreneurship major requires courses from the departments of economics, finance and management, Stewart said. Stewart said the college's approach to the major was one of "more coaching than teaching."

"You teach people to understand if they want to be entrepreneurs, and what kind of entrepreneur they want to be," Stewart said.

Required for all entrepreneurship majors is either an internship or consulting project. Stewart said local businessmen were assisting with the major.

The entrepreneurship major is a secondary major, which means a student must have another major in the College of Business Administration as a primary major to take the entrepreneurship major. Shrock said that since being able to start one's own business was not guaranteed after graduation, a student needed a major in some other business field to fall back upon.

Stewart agreed.

"We want to ensure that students have an entry-level skill," Stewart said.

There will be no entrepreneurship minor for the time being, however, because there are no minors in the business school, Stewart said.

Interest in real estate courses has risen over the last two years, according to Mark Eppli, the Bell Real Estate Chair and adviser to the real estate major. Eppli said he had come to Marquette to establish the real estate major, which deals with commercial real estate as opposed to the buying and selling of houses. He said he hoped to have 25 to 30 people in the major, which would be enough to have a strong program and attract employers. But Eppli said they will accept as many students as are interested in the program. The real estate major is a primary major.

Helping the program are 150 "Bell Chair advisers," who are members of the real estate industry willing to assist students with their studies and help them find jobs.

Stewart said a double major of real estate and entrepreneurship would be an excellent combination for study. Eppli agreed, saying "real estate is an entrepreneurship venture, and you need to have skills like making a business plan and managing risks."

Provost Madeline Wake was unavailable for comment.

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