Dec 14, 2024  
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

College of Business


Michael E. Busing, Dean

Scott R. Gallagher, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs

Molly G. Brown, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs

Cheryl Yoder Mast, Assistant Dean, Finance and Personnel

Demetria Henderson, Assistant Dean, Inclusive Excellence

Phone: (540) 568-2785
MSC: 0207
Location: Hartman Hall, 3009-3020
Website: http://www.jmu.edu/cob

Academic Units

School of Accounting  
Alexander L. Gabbin, Director

Department of Computer Information Systems and Business Analytics  
Rhonda A. Syler, Head

Department of Economics 
Charlene Kalenkoski, Head

Department of Finance and Business Law  
Hui Sono, Head

Department of International Business  
Irvine “Bud” Clarke, III, Head

Department of Management  
Elizabeth “Liz” Karam, Head

Department of Marketing  
Theresa B. Clarke, Head

Mission Statement

The JMU College of Business is a learning community committed to excellence in:

  • Preparing students to be engaged, principled business professionals and leaders;
  • Advancing scholarship in business disciplines; and
  • Enhancing organizational performance through our outreach activities.

Vision Statement

To be regarded as a leader in preparing collaborative business partners engaged with ideas and the world.

Values

Integrity: We are a community dedicated to honesty, mutual respect, ethical reasoning, and responsible behavior.

Intellectual Growth: We value academic excellence achieved through the intellectual curiosity and growth of both faculty and students, and through the creation and maintenance of a challenging and rigorous learning environment that encourages critical thinking and life-long learning.

Community: We value a supportive and inclusive culture that provides equal opportunity to succeed, where diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences are celebrated and given voice to strengthen our community, creating a sense of belonging.

Engagement: We value an engaged, active learning environment inside and outside the classroom. We enrich the student experience through mutually beneficial internal and external relationships.

Innovation/Collaboration: We value initiative, creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurial spirit. We promote new ideas and solutions that advance intellectual growth and have a positive impact.

Overview

The College of Business offers baccalaureate degree programs leading to a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.). All degree programs offered by the College of Business are accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The following academic majors are offered as a B.B.A.: accounting, computer information systems, economics, finance, international business, management, and marketing. Students may also earn a B.A. degree or B.S. degree in economics. Quantitative finance is offered as a B.S. degree. The B.B.A. degree is comprised of essentially the same general structure, consisting of the four components shown below:

  • General Education component
  • B.B.A. core component
  • Major component
  • Electives

General Education Component

Please consult the General Education section of the catalog for full requirements. Note that MATH 205 , or MATH 235 , or ECON 200  satisfy requirements in both General Education and the BBA core.

B.B.A. Core Component

B.B.A. majors must complete all of the B.B.A. core components as part of their degree program. The following courses comprise the B.B.A. Lower-Level Core Component:

The following courses comprise the B.B.A. Upper-Level Core Component:

1 MATH 220  may be substituted for COB 191 .
2 COB 191  or equivalent and MATH 205  or equivalent are prerequisites for COB 291 .
3 Calculus is required but not used in calculating the B.B.A. core GPA. MATH 235  is preferred for Economics and Finance majors.
4 COB 241  must be taken before COB 242 .
5 COB 242  is a prerequisite for COB 300 and is not used in calculating the B.B.A. core GPA.
6 All four COB 300 courses must be taken during the same semester.
7 COB 300 is a prerequisite or corequisite for COB 318 . COB 318  is a prerequisite for COB 487 .
COB 487  must be taken during the senior year. 

Major Component

The seven B.B.A. majors offered by the College of Business consist of 24-33 major credit hours. Students pursuing a B.B.A. degree may take major courses after progressing to formal admission (see below) and after they have enrolled/completed COB 300. The major program component of the B.B.A. degree is designed to be completed in three traditional semesters after COB 300. Therefore, students should plan their course work with that timetable in mind.

Admission into the College of Business permits a student to enroll in COB 300 and to be formally admitted as a business B.B.A. major. However, some majors in the college may have standards and prerequisites that exceed those of the college as a whole. Hence, a student must meet both the College of Business requirements and the requirements of the major in which the student seeks to enroll. Refer to the appropriate sections of the catalog for specific degree requirements for the individual majors in the College of Business.

Recommended Course Sequence

A potential course sequence showing a four-year graduation track is shown below.

First Year:

1 MATH 220 may be substituted for COB 191.

Sophomore Year, any courses listed above not completed in the first year, and:

Progression Standards for the College of Business1

Any student admitted to JMU can declare any major offered by the College of Business. However, students must make satisfactory progress in order to be formally admitted into the College of Business. Requirements to continue pursuing a B.B.A. degree, often referred to as progression standards or formal admission, are described below.

Students are formally admitted into the College of Business as a B.B.A. major and permitted to register for COB 300 when the following requirements are met:

  • Submission of a completed application for admission into the College of Business is submitted to the COB Advising and Support Center according to the schedule shown below.
    • December 1 for the upcoming spring semester
    • February 15 for the upcoming summer session (if offered)
    • May 1 for the upcoming fall semester
  • Successful completion with a GPA of 2.7 (or higher) in the following business core courses: COB 191 COB 202 COB 204 COB 241 COB 291 , ECON 200 , and ECON 201 . Only grades earned at JMU will be used to calculate the B.B.A. core GPA.
  • Successful completion of calculus and COB 242 .

No core course needed for COB 300 admission may be attempted more than two times. An “attempted course” is one in which a final letter grade, including “W”, “WP” and “WF,” is recorded on the student’s official JMU transcript. Furthermore, during or after a first attempt a student may face delayed registration permission for a second enrollment.

The university policy for calculating repeat-credit and repeat-forgive will be followed.

Students who fail to meet the requirements described above will be denied admission into the College of Business and will be referred to JMU University Exploratory Advising for assistance in choosing another major.

Students should consult with the major department for further progression requirements in the specific major.

1 Requirements to be admitted into the College of Business are effective based on when a student intends to enroll in COB 300. Students are advised to consult the College of Business Advising and Support Center for current requirements.

Declaration of a Business Major

JMU students seeking to change/declare any major or minor in the College of Business (CoB) must be in “good standing,” meaning they must have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher at the time when they submit a change/declaration of major/minor request. Students will follow the Office of the Registrar’s procedure for making such requests. Students are expected to closely follow explicit departmental guidelines and deadlines for completing the process.

Declaring a major does not supersede the formal admission/progression standards of the College of Business for enrollment in COB 300 or junior-level courses in the CoB major programs. Declaring a major does not supersede admission requirements for specific academic programs in the CoB.

Business as a Second Major

A student enrolled in any JMU degree program other than the B.B.A. program who wishes to select a B.B.A. major field (i.e., accounting, computer information systems, economics, finance, international business, management or marketing) as a second major must meet the following courses:

  • Successful completion of all B.B.A. core courses (refer to the B.B.A. core component section); and
  • Successful fulfillment of all requirements specific to the major selected.
  • Note that since the B.B.A. is a different degree than most B.A. and B.S. degrees at JMU, a student essentially has a double degree rather than just a double major.

Transfer Credit Policy

Transfer of Lower-level Courses that are offered at Upper-level at JMU

The College of Business (CoB) normally does not award transfer credit for courses that were taken at the 100-200 level if those courses are offered at the 300-400 level at JMU.

Transfer of Courses Toward the Major

Each program in the CoB will accept no more than two courses of transfer credit toward the major except in extraordinary circumstances. The major is defined as the course work required by a major field of study in addition to the lower and upper-level B.B.A. core courses. For a course to be considered for transfer credit in the student’s major, it must have been completed in an AACSB-accredited business program, or a similarly accredited program, at a four-year university. Certain majors within the CoB may have more restrictive policies on transfer credit.

Limit on Business Course Transfers

In order to earn a B.B.A. degree from the JMU CoB, a student must complete at least fifty percent of the business credit hours required for the degree at JMU. Required business credit hours include the B.B.A. core and the courses required for the major. The following B.B.A. core courses do not count toward meeting this requirement: COB 191 , ECON 200 , and ECON 201 .

Programs

Courses

    College of Business