Bennett College News December 2011 Faculty Spotlight: Professor Tammy McNeil Rankin Educates Non-Traditional Entrepreneurs at NC REAL Tammy McNeil Rankin's typical classroom usually consists of the familiar faces of her Bennett College students; however, recently, the interim chair of business and economics ventured to NC A&T State University in order to offer her professional knowledge at one of the fall classes for North Carolina REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning). By providing hands-on entrepreneurship education, REAL specializes in educating non-traditional entrepreneurs, including women, minorities, low-income persons and people with disabilities. Since 2005, Rankin has conducted programs in every bi-annual training seminar for REAL. "When the executive director initially asked me to present, I was interested because the first North Carolina REAL class was all women," Rankin said. "Being a female entrepreneur and understanding the importance of owning your career and success, I felt the strong need to teach other women how to become business owners." During the recent fall class, Rankin spoke to the participants about business plan development, marketing strategies, and social media tactics for small business owners. She also touched base on hiring practices and how to work with the government in order to find funding resources for small companies. Besides supporting diversity in entrepreneurship, Rankin also chooses to participate in REAL because it's a great networking opportunity for herself and the College. "I seek external opportunities as a way to connect with other professionals and entrepreneurs. It is important for [Bennett] faculty members to explore external opportunities to connect with other university faculty in order to partner on best practices, to develop leadership skills and to share the Bennett story with others," she added. Rankin is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Association for Training and Development (ASTD) and a business counselor with the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), sponsored by the SBA of America. She also served as the president of the local Business Connection National Association of Female Executives (NAFE). Rankin has 20 years of corporate America experience where she has worked in managerial and director positions for fortune 500 companies like Pepsi Bottling Group, American Express, Bank of America and the US Postal Service. Rankin is an entrepreneur and currently owns N'Spired Business Solutions, a business development and sales training consulting company. She has been employed with Bennett College since 2006, accepting the full-time position as interim chair in 2010. Rankin holds a bachelors in accounting from North Carolina A&T State University and a masters from High Point University. For more information about North Carolina Real Enterprises, go to http://ncreal.org. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.