The Business program at SAGU has continued to grow and improve over the last ten years, with an enrollment that has doubled during that time. A primary factor for this growth, as well as the high caliber of students the program is producing, is a strong business faculty. SAGU's business program has proven versatile, with alumni in marketing for major corporations, serving as financial planners, in church administration, and other fields. These alumni are taking the gospel into the marketplace and influencing people for Christ through a witness marked by the character of their lives and ethical business practices. Below is a special Q & A session with the business faculty of SAGU.

What is the purpose of the internship program?

The objective of the internship is to expose the student to practical applications of business management concepts and theories that have been studied during their academic career. In a true operating environment, the student will experience the pressures and dynamics of business management, organizational analysis, and decision making processes. The internships also help to generate confidence in the student. They begin to see the connection between their academic preparation and the actual business environment. They come back into the classroom more excited about their coursework and about their future. The internship program provides them with a safe environment to explore career options that they might not have thought about previously. It is an excellent opportunity to find out if they are interested in a company or type of work prior to making a commitment to a full-time job. Some students come back excited about their choice and desiring a full-time position in that company or career track, others find that the opportunity served to rule out that company or career track. It is all good and helpful as it serves to help the student through this discovery process.

Have there been notable achievements of the program (what students are doing, etc)?

We prepare internships individually so that they’re uniquely tailored to each student. Just some of the many internships SAGU students have done include Disney World (Orlando, FL); Walgreens retail; Walgreens logistics; Outback Steakhouse; MaxiMedia Music Productions; supply chain management for a Wal-Mart contractor; marketing for professional hockey and baseball teams; marketing, accounting, and procurement for a global retailer; accounting for a major energy supplier; management in a school district office; entrepreneurship in small businesses; accounting and finance with Bank of America; church business management; a management internship with a large oil firm in Houston; and, hospitality management for a resort in Colorado. Additionally, an accounting major has just been accepted for an auditing internship at the Wal-Mart home office. The breadth of what our students go into is driven by their passion and desire for fulfilling God’s plan for their lives in the marketplace.

What is the broad vision of the business department?

“Integrating inspiration, innovation and integrity” is the motto of the SAGU Business Department. We want to challenge and equip our students to impact their world through their administrative gifts. We are challenging them to dream big as they explore and grow in the skills God has given them. Our role as teachers is to help them along in that process. We try to inspire and coach them as they develop the skill set and knowledge base needed to compete in the business world. Our students are entering into a world that is full of ethical dilemmas and business challenges. They will need to be prepared spiritually and academically to meet these challenges. We believe that we are hosting a program here at SAGU that is designed to meet the challenges of today’s tough business environment. We believe that God has a big purpose for those He has called into the business program at SAGU. We do not take lightly our role in helping to prepare the next generation of Christian business leaders. We are preparing marketplace leaders that fully understand the importance of their role in God's Kingdom as marketplace ministers. We formally integrate the Bible into every business course to ensure students are capable of making difficult decisions based on Biblical principles. This not only applies to business ethics, but to financial, human resources, entrepreneurship, and marketing tasks they will face in their futures.

What changes are being ­implemented?

Distance education is fully integrated into the business department. We take special care to provide consistent instruction for our business majors regardless of the delivery method. Our goal is to have every business course in the catalog available online by the end of 2008. This will provide an opportunity for complete degree fulfillment in a distance education environment.

What business degrees does SAGU offer?

We offer major courses of study in business administration, business management, accounting, marketing, and sports management. Business administration is the general business degree and the rest are focused specializations. The administration degree allows you take a wide variety of courses from all the disciplines and gives you a well-rounded business perspective. The more specialized degrees allow students to focus on specific interests.

Are you planning on adding any degrees/programs within the department?

We hope to add a program in international business as early as fall 2009. It’s on our master plan to have our graduate business school open in 2010. Our long-range master plan also includes Information Technology for Business, Human Resource Management, Hospitality Management, and Business Finance.

In what ways do you address business ethics?

We try to be as practical as possible in the classroom. Business ethics are covered in all classes and we make a special effort to integrate the Bible into our teaching. Current events discussions are a part of the class that allow us to focus on some of the unethical practices that are occurring in the business world. We also participate in an annual Ethics Match with other Christian colleges. Our debate teams have done well in this Match. We are adding a mandatory course in Business Ethics in Fall 2008, which will be required for all business students. It is a high-level course requiring substantive critical thinking and is, therefore, restricted to students having achieved junior or senior level classification. We hope that students in disciplines other than business take advantage of this course since its application crosses multiple disciplines within the university. Students preparing for ministry or missions work will also face business ethics issues in their careers. Pastors realize fairly quickly that they are also CEOs managing financial resources and staffs. The ethical issues faced by marketplace CEOs vary little from those faced by ministry CEOs.

Why do you include Harvard Business School case studies in the coursework?

These case studies open a pathway for our students to understand the complex issues faced by firms in the contemporary marketplace. We use them to develop and refine critical thinking skills so that when you enter the marketplace, you have the mental skills and processes to solve problems. We’ve received several messages from grads thanking us for using these cases because they were prepared to tackle tough, real world problems.

What are some success stories from the SAGU Business Dept?

A recent accounting grad is now a senior accountant for a Coca-Cola bottler in the DFW metroplex, and will soon be coming on as an adjunct professor at SAGU this fall. Another accounting grad recently earned his MBA at Rice University, is a highly successful entrepreneur in Houston, and became an adjunct accounting professor for us last year. A December 2007 management and marketing grad was hired by Disney.

Tell me about the business professors at SAGU.

All of us have a passion for the classroom and for individual students. Our size allows us to get to know each student on a personal level. We are able to mentor and coach our students as they mature and grow into young professionals, which is very rewarding. Sharon Price, an accounting and finance professor, is in her second year with us and just started her Ph.D. She is a CPA and has several years of experience in the accounting marketplace. Barry Gordon has been here just over 3 years. He was a senior executive in the global marketplace for 34 years before coming to SAGU. Jonathan Schultz, a full-time management and marketing professor, is in his sixth year with SAGU and finished his doctorate in business this spring (2008). He is a registered investment executive with a local bank (13 years experience) and is an ordained Assemblies of God minister. It is our passion and joy to pass on our experience in business to another generation of leaders. All of our faculty, even our distance education professors, are practitioners. That is, we all have practical, real-world experience to bring to the classroom, and that is key. Our students get the theory plus the application that we have experienced in our business lives.