It’s been an eventful few years for the College of Business (COB). During Missouri State’s academic realignment, economics programs joined COB to create the department of finance, economics and risk management. The realignment also sparked the creation of the School of Construction, Design and Project Management. The latest COB leadership news includes the appointment of Dr. Jeff Jones as associate dean and Dr. Seth Hoelscher as interim head of the department of finance, economics and risk management.
We caught up with Dr. David Meinert, dean of the College of Business (COB), to learn about recent strategies and outcomes in his college.
About David Meinert
Meinert has served as COB dean since 2019. His previous COB roles include interim dean, associate dean, graduate program director and information technology professor. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northern Michigan University, along with a PhD in management information systems from the University of Mississippi. He’s the author of over 40 scientific articles, papers and technical reports on a range of topics, including business information systems, change management and data management.
Leading With Experiential Learning
Our conversation with Meinert began with a discussion of experiential learning — why it’s foundational to COB’s mission and how it’s been incorporated throughout the college’s curriculum and facilities. This led to conversations about COB’s program development, student support strategies, alumni engagement and investment in faculty’s professional development.
Why COB Made Experiential Learning Central to Its Mission
“We listen to our advisory boards. They’re filled with individuals who are hiring college graduates on a regular basis, and they know what they’re looking for. We also have strong internship programs, and our interns’ supervisors provide feedback as part of those programs. If you want to be relevant, you listen to the people you’d like to hire your graduates. When we heard ‘experiential learning’ come up consistently as something that employers believe is good for our students, we were excited to act on that information. Our faculty fully engaged with that vision, modifying their courses and creating new curriculum as necessary.”
How Experiential Learning Guided Glass Hall’s Renovation
“We added experiential learning to our mission statement with the belief that it would differentiate us. The 2016–17 renovation of Glass Hall was driven by that — we needed different types of spaces to support experiential learning. That renovation led to the creation of four new labs, including the Forvis Mazars Financial Markets Trading Lab, the Tim Foote and Mike Oldham Families Peak Performance Sales Lab and the McDonald Student Entrepreneurship Lab. Our award-winning Ad Team also gained dedicated space in the Marlin Think Tank for Creative Thinking in Business. They can use it like an ad agency, leaving their creative work up on a whiteboard for an extended period of time, which isn’t possible in a typical classroom.”
How Experiential Learning Continues to Shape Facilities Decisions
“Since we completed the renovation, we’ve added five more experiential learning labs, including the IT Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Lab, the Judy and Mike Breeding Accounting Analytics Lab, the Linda Bailey Interior Design Studio, the Design Lab by Grooms and the Digital Fashion and Merchandising Studio. We recently put in a Security Operations Center for our students to use in cybersecurity competitions. Before, they used open labs during these competitions, which wasn’t ideal when they were defending themselves from IT professionals who were conducting simulated cyber attacks. Now, they have space that can fully support their success.”
The “Build Our Brand” Strategy
“We’ve focused on raising awareness of our programs through national competitions. To do this, we created a ‘Build Our Brand’ fund, which is available to student teams and student organizations across the college. Many of them are aligned with professional organizations that host competitions. With this fund, we can help with the cost of registration and entry fees, transportation, meals, hotels — we don’t want cost to be a barrier. It’s been a successful strategy for us. When we support our students, they consistently perform well in competitions, and employers notice.”
Intentional Program Development
“We look closely at evolving needs in industry. When we introduce a program, there’s got to be demand for it — from students and employers. We added the STEM MBA program because we saw particular interest among international students for a business degree that had a strong STEM component. Our new undergraduate program in data analytics and the ‘fintech’ option of our finance undergraduate program were driven by industry needs. Cybersecurity is another growth area, so we added an undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity. Since the [COVID-19] pandemic, everyone’s become aware of supply chain complexities, and our students wanted more education in that area. We have the expertise and resources to deliver it, so we introduced a graduate certificate in supply chain management. These programs are viable and sustainable because of student and employer interest.”
On Taking a Creative Approach to Student Support
“We were encouraged by COB’s executive advisory council to create a Student Managed Investment Fund, so that students would get to make investment decisions. Now, we have a class for this every spring. With oversight from a committee made up of advisory board members, select faculty and the dean, students make investment recommendations. Once approved by the advisory committee, the equity trades are executed. The next class will evaluate the existing portfolio and decide if they want to make changes, while also getting to invest new funds. It’s another example of experiential learning, and it’s another opportunity where students have to apply to be part of the investment team. These opportunities build confidence and encourage students to put themselves out there.”
On Leveling Up Alumni Engagement
“We have a strong community of 40,000 alumni. They let us know that they wanted more outreach and engagement, so we brought back our alumni magazine, which had been phased out. Now, we send out two issues of COB Connection each year. We partner with Missouri State’s creative services team to produce a great publication, and we’ve seen how much readers enjoy learning about the success stories of students, faculty and alumni. It’s also a great point of connection for people who want to support our scholarship funds or other initiatives. There’s some cost and effort involved, but we’ve seen that pay off in the way it strengthens our relationships.”
On Investing in Faculty Development
“COB recognizes that our faculty need to remain current in their fields, which requires funding for professional development. For example, the college recently provided funding that supported Dr. Lawrence Yang earning his Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification. He’s one of several information technology and cybersecurity faculty who’ve earned globally recognized credentials — it’s a powerful statement to prospective students, industry partners and employers. Our faculty regularly engage in this kind of development. Several are pursuing professional, discipline-specific credentials in accounting and data analytics. Others have received funding for workshops and training. It’s part of how we ensure that our students get current, comprehensive preparation for their careers.”
Around Campus…
As we’ve reported in the past, Tom Peters, dean of Missouri State Libraries, is retiring, and the search for the next dean is underway. Rachel Besara is now serving as interim dean of Missouri State Libraries. Besara joined Missouri State in 2017. Since that time, she has served as associate dean of Missouri State Libraries.
Provost Dr. John Jasinski expressed gratitude for Besara’s willingness to serve in this role and provide consistent, proactive leadership as the search for the next dean continues. “Meyer Library is central to Missouri State’s learning ecosystem,” he says. “We anticipate that its role will only grow as it continues to evolve in response to educational, scholarly and community needs.”