School of Business to offer two new undergraduate majors next semester

SUNY Geneseo has been approved to offer two new majors in the Fall 2022 semester: finance and data analytics. Both majors have previously been offered by the School of Business as minors but will be available to take as majors beginning next semester. 

According to the Geneseo website, both new majors have practical and hands-on training that prepare students for entry level jobs in a competitive job market.

Per the School of Business website, “The Data Analytics major is a rigorous program that equips students with the skills required to collect, organize, analyze, and model data to draw sound conclusions. The major aims to train well-rounded data analysts who are not only technically proficient in analyzing data but who also know how to responsibly use data to make decisions, think critically, and communicate effectively. The Finance major is based on an integrated core that provides all students with a deep foundation in markets, investments, and operational corporate finance. Through the core and an extensive menu of approved electives, students acquire a combination of theoretical insights and practical modeling abilities that prepare them for entry-level positions in banking, investment services, personal financial planning, and corporate financial management.”

Mary Ellen Zuckerman, Dean of the School of Business, said that the majors were added in response to the number of students interested in pursuing these topics beyond the scope of a minor, and to give students extra opportunities to succeed in modern job markets.

“We already have a lot of minors in both of those areas, and we knew students wanted to be able to take it as a full major. I think, whatever their major is, whether it's in the business school or outside the business school, it's really important to keep students’ minds open to everything new that they're hearing and learning, in their classes and outside of their classes. We're in a time of really rapid change and that provides a lot of opportunities. There's a lot of career opportunities and job opportunities for students. and it's really a great time to be learning and to be at a place like Geneseo where we're really preparing students to go out into that exciting and transformational world,” she said.  

Zuckerman explained that the process for adding new majors to the Geneseo curriculum was a long and thorough task. 

She said, “The major must be approved at the level of the entire college. In order to create new majors, [the college] must create it within the school or department, and it must go through our curriculum committee before we approve it, then it can go to the college senate curriculum committee. Of course, before we even do that, we must make sure that the provost, who's the Vice President for all Academic Affairs is supportive of it and approves it, then finally the President must sign off on it.”

According to Zuckerman, in addition to being approved at the college level, the new majors were approved by SUNY administration and an independent assessment by the New York State Department of Education. 

“[SUNY administration] looks at it and they send out a notice to all the other SUNY schools to say ‘look, Geneseo is creating this undergraduate finance major and data analytics major’ and ask if anybody has any comments. Then after SUNY approves it, it must go to the state education department, which all colleges, public and private, must have programs approved by,” she said. “One of the requirements is that we have external reviewers come in and look at the program. Two faculty from other schools who had expertise in these areas came in and they looked at the major, they talked to the faculty and to the students and the administration just to make sure that the major is appropriately created and appropriately staffed and supported.”

In order to make the majors available, Zuckerman said that the School of Business had to hire new faculty to teach data analytics courses.  

“Last year, since we knew we were going to be going forward, we hired a new instructor who's teaching this year already. And since one of our [data analytics] instructors retired last spring, we're just finishing up the search for somebody to replace that person,” she said. 

Zuckerman said that the School of Business was also looking to add a marketing major, another minor that students showed interest in exploring as a major.  

“We've just started working on another one, and that’s a marketing major, but it won't be finalized until 2023 because there's a pretty long approval process through the state.”