Honors SEMINAR-Honors Cohort Program H502
Course Description and Requirements
Max M. Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
2008-2009 Academic Year
INSTRUCTOR: Nancy K. Lahmers, JD 648 Fisher Hall PHONE: 614 292 2975
E-MAIL: WEB SITE: Carmen
INSTRUCTOR: Tony Rucci, PhD 842 Fisher Hall PHONE: 614 292 9688
E-MAIL: WEB SITE: Carmen
Classes Meet: Tuesday and Thursday 11:30 AM to 1:18 PM IN 319 Schoenbaum
COURSE STATEMENT OF GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: This is a seminar course with a focus on business enrichment by providing an extraordinary opportunity to develop leadership, presentation and team building skills through experiential learning and community service. The 30 Honors Cohort students in the seminar course meet twice a week during all three quarters. This is a year long companion course to the set of core honors business courses you will take as a member of the Honors Cohort. The theme of our class is corporate social responsibility and ethics.
The Honors 502 course will enrich your business education experience through:
· An emphasis on ethical decision making and corporate social responsibility as we research the practices of organizations throughout the world
· An introduction to business leaders and their roles through guest speakers and on site visits
· Identification and discussion of current business issues
· Service learning through community volunteer service as a class at a variety of not-for-profits throughout the year
· An emphasis on the development of team building and leadership skills
· The development of presentation and written communication skills
· Encouraging the class to self-direct the topics and issues of exploration
· Creating a network of future business, community service and social colleagues
· Ensuring your exposure to university and business resources
SERVICE LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
Each member of the Honors Cohort is required to complete at least 30 hours of volunteer community service during the Academic Year with your fellow students. The community service will be arranged by your faculty to correspond with the objectives of the H502 Honors Seminar and your core business classes.
CORE BUSINESS CLASSES DURING YOUR ACADEMIC YEAR:
Marketing 650, Finance 620, Business Law 510, Organizational Behavior 701, Operations Management 630 and International Business 555. Each of these classes meet in 319 Schoenbaum with the Honors seminar as the connecting class throughout the academic year.
The following service learning activities have been arranged for this academic year:
· Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS) (http://www.cahs-pets.org/). A team of 10 students will partner with this not-for-profit to create a marketing plan for CAHS on the OSU campus. This plan will address the need to increase the number of students who train as volunteers and to reduce the number of pets abandoned on campus at the end of spring quarter. This activity will correspond with the academic concepts taught in your H650 Marketing Class. The CAHS Development Director will come to class for our orientation on October 14, 2008. We will visit their facility in November, 2008. Final outcome: The creation, marketing and presentation of an on-campus volunteer training session early in spring quarter for CAHS attended by OSU students.
· PELOTONIA(http://www.pelotonia.org/ride/) With founding sponsor, NetJets, this is a bike tour with one goal: to end cancer. The event will span two days in September 2009 and will cover as many as 190 miles to raise over $40 million in our first five years to support the fight against cancer by benefitting The James at The Ohio State University, one of the world's leading cancer research centers. A team of 10 students will work with the staff to develop and implement a strategic plan to recruit volunteers and riders. Student team members will develop time lines, presentation materials, address organizations and the media to achieve the goal of 2400 riders during the first year of the event.
· Junior Achievement (JA) of Central Ohio (http://centralohio.ja.org/). We will partner with this not-for-profit to teach the economic principles of financial literacy and the free enterprise system in Columbus Public Schools. JA will provide training in our classroom prior to us scheduling 6 visits to primary schools where we will teach in teams of two for winter quarter and then again in spring quarter. This course corresponds with your H620 Finance Class where we will reinforce the classroom concepts by teaching the basic materials to elementary students. This will be the 4th year that students in the Honors Cohort Program have partnered with JA. This program provides us with the opportunity to practice our presentation skills teaching in front of a classroom while practicing our team building skills by teaching in teams of two and reinforcing our Finance skills as we teach the materials created by Junior Achievement.
· Wexner Center for the Arts. (http://www.wexarts.org) We have begun exploring a partnership with this campus organization where we would assist them in developing a marketing and operations management plan to more fully engage students on the OSU campus with the resources of the Wexner. Once finalized this activity will involve a team of 10 students during winter and spring.
CONNECTION BETWEEN SERVICE ACTIVITIES AND COURSE CONTENT:
The service learning activities that have been scheduled for this academic year have been designed to correspond with your six core business classes as outlined above. As your Honors Cohort Coordinator, I will work with your faculty members each quarter to provide assistance and involvement in these projects.
ANALYSIS AND CONNECTION OF SERVICE EXPERIENCE TO LEARNING
Discussions regarding your service learning activities will be conducted in the H502 Seminar Class where we will analyze and connect the activities with our community partners with your core business curriculum. At the completion of the program, each student will be required to submit a 10 page report. In this report, you will review each of your service learning and experiential learning experiences relating them to the content of your six core business classes.
FOCUS COMPANY INVOLVEMENT AND CONNECTION BETWEEN SERVICE ACTIVITIES AND COURSE CONTENT:
Each year we partner with a company. For 2008-2009, American Electric Power (AEP) will be our “Focus Company” for the year. You will also be assigned an individual focus company from the Fortune Magazine list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For.
AEP (http://www.aep.com) ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.
We will partner with AEP’s Community Outreach group when they have employee activities for occasional volunteer activity. During Autumn quarter we will volunteer with their business leaders on Saturday, October 25 for Make a Difference Day and on Sunday, October 4, for the Kidney Foundation Walk. These are samples of community activities to heighten our awareness of the role of corporations in our community.
Mary K. Walsh, Community Relations Manager, American Electric Power, will speak to our class on the topic of corporate social responsibility on February 3, 2009.
PLAN FOR EVALUATION: Grade Assessment for H502:
Percent of Grade
· Written Communications 30%
(This includes correspondence with guest speakers,
Community service organizations, status reports on
Service learning projects, final documentation of
Marketing and Strategic business plans)
· Presentation Skills 30 %
(This includes in class presentations, community
Presentations such as in teaching Junior Achievement,
Informational meetings and training programs for the
Humane Society)
· Class Participation 30 %
(In class discussions, activities, community service
Preparation and practice)
· Team Involvement 10%
(Participation in class activities and projects)
SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:
The students in the Honors Cohort Program at Fisher College of Business have been required to perform 30 hours of community service since the program was first established in 1997. Some of our partnerships are long standing such as Junior Achievement (JA) which has been so successful that these students have used their holiday break during their senior year to travel to Nassau to teach JA in the primary schools there. Additionally, many of our MBA students are now teaching classes. This will be our 2nd year of volunteering with the Humane Society. Our first efforts in developing and marketing a fund raising event for them was so successful that they have asked for us to help them target a specific concern of abandoned animals on the OSU campus through training and awareness. Our other 2 partners for 2008-2009 are new. We have met with them to discuss their needs and our potential capabilities.
CARMEN:
The course web site is located in CARMEN. The following link provides information on how to access Carmen for this course: http://www.telr.osu.edu/carmen/stu/getting_started.pdf
The Role of Course Website at Carmen
· General Announcements and Assignments- Please check the class web site on a regular basis for new information.
· Other- Course syllabus, Announcements, Supplemental course materials such as videos, grades will be posted on this site (private access for each student) .
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION:
If you need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, arrange an appointment with one of us as soon as possible. We need to discuss the course format and explore potential accommodations. We rely on the Office for Disability Services for assistance in verifying need and developing accommodation strategies. You should start the verification process as soon as possible.
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT:
Material submitted for course grade credit must be your own work. We will report any suspected case to the University Academic Misconduct Committee for investigation. Past cases have typically resulted in the assignment of grade of E for the course. Academic misconduct is a serious threat to the integrity and value of the Fisher College diploma. Such behavior is intolerable.
As members of the Fisher College of Business community, we are personally committed to the highest standards of ethical behavior. Honesty and integrity are the foundation from which we will measure our actions. We will hold ourselves accountable to adhere to these standards. As leaders in the community and business environment, we will pledge to live by these principles and celebrate those who share these ideals.
Nancy Lahmers Tony Rucci