South Carolina State University News October 25, 2013 SCSU business school becoming separate again President Thomas Elzey is moving forward with the reorganization of South Carolina State University's Division of Academics, with one of his first steps being the re-establishment the university's School of Business. Interim Provost Dr. Franklin Evans noted that the school was merged with the School of Applied Professional Sciences to form the College of Business and Applied Professional Sciences under the leadership of former president Dr. Andrew Hugine. That put programs like health sciences, military and nursing together with the school of business, Evans said. Elzey said he noticed the excellence of S.C. State's business program from the beginning. "The problem was that it had some unrelated programs," he said. "Why these things are lumped under business didn't jell from my perspective." Evans noted that it would be rare to find a dean with experience or background in both business and one of the applied sciences who could serve both areas well. Recreating the School of Business means students will get leaders with expertise in that field, he said. Elzey said there are many great elements in the business program that have been overshadowed because so many other areas of study were in the same college. For example, there's a small business center that provides services to the community, but few people know about it. From now on, it will be permanently housed with the School of Business, Elzey said. He noted that the School of Business is one of only 21 programs in Historically Black Colleges and Schools nationwide to be internationally accredited through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. "We're trying to get the focus back on the School of Business and what it can offer students as well as the community," he said. Another benefit to recreating the School of Business is that a stronger focus can be placed on building relationships between the business school and the community, Elzey said. "My plan is that the School of Business will increase its influence in the near future significantly - that there will be greater involvement and presence in local and regional communities around economic development," Elzey said. He noted that he plans to "work very hard to ensure that our graduates have opportunities in the local, regional and global areas of accounting, banking, entrepreneurship and governmental accounting." According to Elzey, recreating the School of Business will not add financial burdens to the university. Rather than bringing a lot of new employees on board, he's realigning academic areas and shifting responsibilities so that people are working in areas that are consistent with their expertise, he said. There are already interim deans in the School of Business and in Applied Professional Sciences, so those positions won't be new ones, according to Elzey. The reorganization of the School of Business is just one step he's taking to realign different academic areas and make them as efficient as possible while providing the best education available, according to Elzey. "My primary focus on all this is to create an environment where our graduates will be able to compete in the world," he said. Contact the writer: dlinder-altman@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5529. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree 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.