by Echelle Avelar
Staff Writer
With a dream in his mind and a goal on his horizon, Dr. Bill Relf, dean of the School of Business and Economics, will finally get his hands on “living laboratories,” businesses that will give students professional experience in the field.
It started as a way to help students learn how to deal with actual business processes and problems, but also as a creative way to obtain funds for the School of Business and Economics.
“This has been one of my dreams for the School of Business and Economics. We expected to start three or four years from now, but we had such a positive response from business people that I hope to take the first small steps in the fall,” said Dr. Relf.
These “living laboratories” are for students to learn from an actual business. They will not be student-run, rather they will be run by professional managers.
These businesses will bring many new opportunities for business and economics majors, as well as everyone else involved.
The plan will allow opportunities for case studies, business plans, review plans and market studies. It will also have opportunities for jobs and internships.
The value of businesses and knowledge of managing a business in the stages of start-up, growth, turn-around, reunion and failure will also be some of the practical skills students will learn. They will have the ability to make positive deals through buying and selling as well.
There will be a chance for participants to create or build a new product, and a possibility to take it to the actual market.
In order for this to happen, an outside investor will be needed to fund the company. That investor will then sell, or, even more beneficially, donate the company to the University.
