Erie, Pa. -- Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will offer a bachelor of science degree in interdisciplinary business with engineering studies (IBE) beginning fall 2008. Offered through the Sam and Irene Black School of Business and in conjunction with the School of Engineering, IBE is the only program of its kind offered within the Penn State system and one of a few nationwide.
As the campus' 34th baccalaureate degree program, IBE offers students an interdisciplinary program containing both business and engineering course content and capitalizes on Penn State Behrend's vision for the Research and Economic Development Center (REDC). The $30 million, 160,000-square-foot REDC opened in 2006 and houses the Black School of Business and the School of Engineering, making Penn State Behrend one of the first institutions of higher education in the country to house its business and engineering schools under a single roof.
"The REDC took almost 20 years to become reality but, now that it's here, what we envisioned is happening," said Penn State Behrend Chancellor Jack Burke. "Business and engineering students and faculty have a place to collaborate and the results so far have truly been transformational. Now, the interdisciplinary business with engineering studies program will graduate students with the professional expertise to see both sides of a given situation."
Students who major in IBE will take a set of core courses in both business and engineering/engineering technology plus coursework in one of five modules -- accounting/finance, quality control, supply chain management, technical sales, or product design and manufacture. During their senior year, students will complete a capstone course and project that stress communication, strategic product development and product realization.
"They asked and we answered," said Diane Parente, professor of management and chair of Penn State Behrend's Business and Engineering Collaborative Education Committee, composed of faculty from both schools. During its research, the committee collaborated with business and engineering managers. The industry professionals recommended that IBE include modules in key business or technical areas to allow graduates to begin making contributions immediately upon entering the job market.
"Penn State Behrend's IBE graduates will provide immediate value as employees," said Parente, who is also program chair for IBE and the campus' two collaborative business/engineering minors. "Students will have the ability to apply the multidisciplinary principles they learn to a variety of projects while operating within a technical organization."
Upon graduation, IBE students will have a background in accounting, economics, finance, mathematics and science; an understanding of marketing and project management principles and engineering fundamentals; and a demonstrated competence in organizational and operations management.
Typical positions for IBE graduates are project control specialist, procurement manager, information systems analyst, financial analyst, product and logistics manager, customer service analyst, technical sales and marketing representative, and business consultant. Graduates can expect to earn starting salaries comparable to their engineering counterparts, which average $50,000 a year.
In addition to IBE, Penn State Behrend offers two minors that highlight the REDC's business and engineering collaborations. The operations and supply chain management minor is designed to educate engineering students in the issues and methods associated with managing manufacturing and service operations. Similarly, the technical sales minor provides engineering students with the fundamentals of industrial or technical sales. Both minors also are housed in the Black School of Business and, University-wide, are offered only at Penn State Behrend.
In December 2000, the campus received a $176,000 Learning Excellence Grant from the General Electric Fund of Fairfield, Conn., to create a multidisciplinary program that integrated its business and engineering schools. This grant has supported the research that led to the establishment of the IBE degree program and both minors, the development of an integrated business and engineering course -- the product realization and entrepreneurship class -- as well as faculty development and team-teaching initiatives.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential campus offering 34 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports.
Penn State Behrend is named in recognition of a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today.
For more information, visit http://behrend.psu.edu online.