Department News
Dr. James Dovel
Dr. Dovel teaches a wide range of business classes at both the undergraduate and MBA level. These include entrepreneurship, management, leadership, ethics, innovation and executive decision making. He believes that entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership are extremely important for individuals, organizations and society as a whole. Students will go through an experiential based hybrid model of teaching to include in person instruction, online teaching, discussion forums that are both text and video based, journal and project writing, quizzes, and practical real-world projects. Students are expected to learn and demonstrate the ability to operate and thrive in group settings and learn and demonstrate both verbal and written communication skills. Finally, students experience real life business issues and projects from Dr. Dovel’s business and other sources.
West Virginia High School and Collegiate Business Plan Competitions
Dr. Dovel serves in multiple roles with the business plan competition including representing Shepherd University as a committee member, coach, judge and investor. During the 2020-2021 year, Shepherd entrepreneurship students Michelle Lemus and Stacy Stutler made the collegiate business plan semifinals with their restaurant concept Wildflower. Michelle competed in the semi-finals and won the chance to compete as only one of ten finalists in the statewide competition. The opportunity included the attendance of workshops and contacts with business experts and leaders in West Virginia and free consulting from 3 Steps to Startup.
Professor Carol Goolsby
Creativity & Problem Solving BADM211
This new course has been created to offer all students new techniques and skills in problem solving. One goal of the course is to have students crack into their creative mindsets and think differently than they have been their whole lives. We base our decisions/solutions on what we have been exposed to thus far in our lives, which include factors like our family, education, religion, etc. In this class, future businessmen and women are exposed to new factors; they will undertake activities that will require putting themselves in different mindsets to solve the problem at hand. Because not everything has just one correct answer when it comes to how businesses are to be run, having the skills to problem solve will appeal to an employer. This course will broaden students’ perspectives by educating them about the different theories and models that have been developed to explain how people think and face problematic situations. Creativity & Problem Solving is a lecture course that is mixed with group tasks and interactive applications of the learned theories.
Dr. George Ray
Dr. George Ray teaches innovation courses focusing on what innovation is and how to manage it. It is not only in business that innovation is critical; the entire world has become very competitive; therefore, this course is helpful to all students. They will learn the different ways to innovate, whether it is through the products or the production processes of their company. He also teaches the MIS courses at the graduate level. The MBA MIS course is an analysis of modern management information systems in a business setting. Business executives have expressed that knowledge of information systems is critical for MBA graduates, so this course should be one that MBA students consider in their curriculum planning. MBA graduates will be working closely with information systems throughout their career, because major businesses have proven to be among the first to introduce and use these technologies.
Professor Michael Dailey
In the Fall 2017 semester, Professor Dailey will work with graduate students to create a project that involves finding a company to work with students in his classes.
His plan for Spring 2018 semester includes researching a particular company that would volunteer to create a project with the website “Riipen.com” for one of the courses he is teaching, BADM 370.
Professor Michael Dixon
Michael Dixon Marketing Courses
Professor Michael Dixon has a passion for teaching students Marketing, the most important factor to a business’s survival, in a way that creates a clear understanding. He explains how his goal is to teach students the entire concept of marketing which is much broader than just advertising and budgeting; this gives his students the knowledge to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that many current leaders fall into and make. He enjoys teaching these types of classes, because he can genuinely see his students grasping the concepts. Several of his former students remain in contact with him to explain how they have made changes in their workplace based on lessons they learned in his marketing courses.
Marketing is a popular major, minor, and concentration within the College of Business. According to Professor Dixon, one of the reasons that teaching marketing is so important is because it is often misunderstood in the business world. Many business leaders assume marketing is only advertising and spend their budget wastefully on advertising. Marketing is made up of several factors we call IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications). IMC encompasses Personal Selling, Advertising, Sales Promotion, Events & Experiences, Public Relations, Direct Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Word-of-Mouth marketing, the internet, social media, email, text and mobile phones. It is important for our students who have an interest in this field to understand the entire concept of marketing in order to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that many current leaders fall into and make. He enjoys teaching these types of classes, because he can see his students grasping the concept of IMC. Several of his former students remain in contact with him to explain how they have made changes in their workplace based on lessons they learned in his marketing courses. Without proper marketing, a business will not thrive in the way that it needs to. Therefore, having a professor who knows how to teach it in a way that students can grasp it and apply it to their jobs shows the impact and importance of learning marketing at some point in a business degree.
MBA 500
The MBA500 class is titled Challenges to Modern Business. The class is based on challenges that many do not realize are challenges faced by modern businesses. One topic is Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the workforce. This is a major problem, and one that is not only faced in hiring, but occasionally becomes a problem with seasoned employees. Professor Dixon was a Drug and Alcohol Abuse counselor in the United States Army for several years, therefore, he has a background in teaching this class. Occasionally, he has the privilege of having David Brooks from Brooks Behavioral Health come in and give the class. David gives a fantastic class where he stresses to treat the reason behind the addiction and try to salvage the employee. Another class is on Non-Profit organizations and the guest speaker is Chris English who is the Director of the Tony Siragusa Foundation and works with stars like Beyoncé, Jay Zee, and major sports stars. For this class, the term project is for the student to build a resume in the format that the professor provides. This format was developed by Professor Dixon himself, a friend of his who is a major contract hirer for National Institute of Health and another friend who owned a major firm in Washington, DC. The resume was developed over several months and utilizes the science of where your eyes fall whenever you look at a paper and how the placement of pertinent material will be seen quickly. The final class an Attorney from the WV State Attorney General’s Office is brought in and she talks about white collar crime. She brings in information many students have never seen or heard of. Interestingly enough, many students have never interacted with an attorney and it provides the insight that attorneys are your friend and just normal people. This course is a place where graduate students learn and understand that they are going to face challenges within their businesses, so it is intended to prepare them for obstacles they otherwise would not be prepared for.
Professor Dixon’s opinion about having a Master’s Degree in business:
A Master’s Degree in Business is paramount to a person’s success. Many earn a Bachelor’s, but whenever somebody has a Master’s Degree, it shows me they care about continuing to learn the newest ideas, concepts, etc. Those who continue to learn are more open to discussion and not focused on the status quo.
Jimmie West, Ph.D., PMP
Dr. West has been a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) for 31 years and delivered this content in 37 countries including China, Russia, Dubai and Egypt. He spent the summer of 2017 traveling and teaching in Canberra, Australia. He also delivered a presentation to a professional project management association.
In the Fall 2017 semester he worked on writing a book called “Revolutionary.” The book is about project management which integrates the why and what for businesses, rather than as a technique. It provides a framework model of what an individual really wants to do in their business and why.
In Spring 2018, he collaborated with the university to create a program for professional development, which launched in January 2018.