Thursday; January 29, 2004
UAH business school is commended Accreditation group notes teaching, research, grants
By BRIAN LAWSON Times Business Writer

As demonstrated by the infamous corporate problems of recent years, a problem in one area of a business tends to roll into other areas.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville's College of Administrative Science, which handles UAH's business education, has placed a special emphasis on recognizing the "horizontal" nature of business problems, and it educates accordingly, said the college's dean, Dr. C. David Billings.

The college recently received a five-year re-accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, which AACSB
International said confirms "their commitment to quality and continuous improvement through a rigorous and comprehensive peer review."

Only one of every four U.S. business schools meets the accreditation standard, according to UAH officials. The AACSB International team visits, which are conducted by deans and faculty members from other accredited universities, took place last fall.

Among the areas cited by AACSB International in re-accrediting UAH's College of Administrative Science were its cross-discipline faculty collaboration, its research and teaching emphasis on managing technology, development of junior faculty and success in winning research contracts and grants.

Billings said most corporate problems are horizontal rather than vertical - not simply an engineering problem or an accounting problem - but a problem for the entire business.

Billings said UAH emphasizes interdisciplinary studies, which means both recruiting and training faculty members to do research work with professors from other disciplines - say marketing and accounting - as well as in the core instruction of students.

"Most business schools in the country that produce Ph.D.s who end up being on a faculty don't have management of science and technology in their curriculum," Billings said. "So as part of our faculty development program, we have to identify Ph.D.s who want to work in an environment where that's important."

Faculty development includes two years of structured sessions with deans and peers and written feedback on their teaching and research work. That interaction lends itself to the interdisciplinary approach, Billings said, where a specialist in one discipline can interact with another for research and other purposes.

Another area cited by the AACSB in its re-accreditation of UAH was the teaching emphasis on managing technology. Geography plays a key role in that process, Billings said.

"One of the great attractions to young faculty who want to develop expertise in this area is that Huntsville is a living laboratory," Billings said.
"Physicists, chemists and biologists all need labs that schools have to build. But our business and technology lab is right across the street. And,
we have a number of practitioners who serve as adjunct faculty. They bring their experience in practical application into the classroom."

Huntsville's technology prowess also lends itself to unique challenges for students in other, less obvious ways, Billings said.

"When most business schools teach classes on how to market, they talk about toothpaste and cereal," Billings said. "Our marketing faculty do that and they teach how to market products and services nobody ever thought of before."

The business school's track record in obtaining more than $2 million in grants and contracts over the past five years was noted by the AACSB.
Billings said garnering that amount was an "unheard-of" achievement for a business school with only 30 full-time faculty.

The business school has worked with Marshall Space Flight Center on its accounting system, helped with development of the U.S. anti-missile defense system and participated in a study of businesses and universities from 25 nations that examined how culture affects new product development.

Billings said the school's goal is for each student to be "articulate, or an effective communicator, be analytical, skilled in their discipline and an
integrative thinker."