The new School of Business & Enterprise (SBE) opened its doors for an open house on Sept. 26, giving the Chatham University community a chance to see and learn more about all it has to offer.
The University announced during the 2023-2024 academic year that the School of Arts, Science & Business would be broken up into the College of Arts & Sciences and the new School of Business & Enterprise. The addition of an official business school will allow Chatham to expand its business offerings – including the addition of a sports management major.
Dr. Deborah DeLong, a professor at Chatham since 2006, was tapped to become the dean and executive director of SBE. Previously she served as the chair of the business department. Since DeLong was previously in an administrative position, she was already thinking in terms of programming and administrative tasks.
“When I was asked to step into the role of dean, it was more of a continuation of being the chair, but the biggest difference was the fact that we were no longer a department. We were now a school,” DeLong said.
The new school is located in Braun Hall and renovations to the space were supported by a donation from Kent and Martha McElhatten. Kent McElhatten became the Chair of the Chatham Board of Trustees for this academic year.
DeLong said there are 10 faculty members in total for the new school, and they will be relocated to the second floor of Braun. In addition to keeping the same programs, there will be new ones added, like the sports management major. In keeping with Chatham’s mission and values, the curriculum also will explore business through a sustainability lens.
“I think having a school dedicated to business students in particular will help advance the program and let the SBE grow,” Abby Musser ‘24 said. “We’ve already seen that in Dr. DeLong’s implementation of a few majors, such as sports management. I also think it’s good to have a large space for business students since our population continues to grow. Other schools already have prestigious business programs, so I think this will help set Chatham apart.”
DeLong has also expressed an interest to incorporate experiential learning projects into the curriculum, which will allow students to have more hands-on experience. Students would be able to interact with clients or partner with different organizations, which better prepares them for entering the real world.
Marketing graduate student Anthony Quidachay looks forward to these enhanced learning opportunities.
“Well, I think the launch of the SBE signifies investment in the business program on behalf of the University,” Quidachay said. “Previously at Chatham, we’ve done a great job with our academic standpoint and learning key concepts, but I think that this new space and new investment will equip students with better hands-on learning experiences. Just having the opportunity to put those skills into practice and take them into the business world is the biggest achievement of the SBE.”
When it comes to the completion of the SBE, the process will be gradual.
“It is a phased approach, because there are a lot of moving parts,” Dr. DeLong said. “And I would say that is also one of the things that I learned coming into this role is that you need to have consideration of the other groups and individuals that have their ongoing responsibilities, so you have to stage things in such a way that it’s not too disruptive to other people in the community.”
Dr. DeLong hopes the creation of the SBE will help the entire Chatham community.
“I am very confident in the SBE being able to increase the enrollment of business students, but it’s increasing the profile of Chatham in general, too,” she said. “When one program or one school succeeds, it translates to everybody succeeding, because then you bring in more status, recognition, and visibility. Everybody gets lifted up together.”
