2008 Woodie Awards
Business school seeks highest accreditation
Eric Elizondo
Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: Front Page
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The Cameron School of Business is seeking the highest level of accreditation for a business school from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, an accreditation many Houston-area universities already have.
To support its effort, the business school is deleting 15 of its programs, including all joint majors with other schools within the University, and revising several programs, majors and minors.
The business school is also eliminating the department of management information systems. Courses offered by that department will continue to be offered through other departments.
These changes, recently approved UST's by the board of directors, were recommended by AACSB-appointed mentor Jack Trifts, dean of the college of business at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Trifts visited UST in October and submitted a 15-page analysis to the business school outlining steps the school should take to attain accreditation.
Bahman Mirshab, dean of the Cameron School of Business, has had many years of experience with the AACSB, including almost 30 years in the business department of the University of Detroit Mercy, which was one of the nation's first universities to receive AACSB accreditation. Mirshab said he believes the Cameron School has a very good chance of receiving accreditation.
"I am confident from the support we are receiving from faculty and from leadership that we are going to be accredited," Mirshab said. "We have many of the requirements necessary for AACSB accreditation in place currently, but we must document what the AACSB wants first."
Mirshab said he believes the curriculum changes were necessary even if the school was not seeking accreditation or not and said he hopes that the changes will not cause any harsh feelings between the business school and other University departments.
"There is an impression that we are trying to retreat and eliminate the ties we have with the other schools, but this is not the case," Mirshab said. "We cherish and value other colleagues within the University and have put minors in place which we encourage students to participate in."
To support its effort, the business school is deleting 15 of its programs, including all joint majors with other schools within the University, and revising several programs, majors and minors.
The business school is also eliminating the department of management information systems. Courses offered by that department will continue to be offered through other departments.
These changes, recently approved UST's by the board of directors, were recommended by AACSB-appointed mentor Jack Trifts, dean of the college of business at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Trifts visited UST in October and submitted a 15-page analysis to the business school outlining steps the school should take to attain accreditation.
Bahman Mirshab, dean of the Cameron School of Business, has had many years of experience with the AACSB, including almost 30 years in the business department of the University of Detroit Mercy, which was one of the nation's first universities to receive AACSB accreditation. Mirshab said he believes the Cameron School has a very good chance of receiving accreditation.
"I am confident from the support we are receiving from faculty and from leadership that we are going to be accredited," Mirshab said. "We have many of the requirements necessary for AACSB accreditation in place currently, but we must document what the AACSB wants first."
Mirshab said he believes the curriculum changes were necessary even if the school was not seeking accreditation or not and said he hopes that the changes will not cause any harsh feelings between the business school and other University departments.
"There is an impression that we are trying to retreat and eliminate the ties we have with the other schools, but this is not the case," Mirshab said. "We cherish and value other colleagues within the University and have put minors in place which we encourage students to participate in."