Navy lessons are good business for MTSU Jones College Dean David Urban

May 24, 2018 at 08:00 am by Lee Rennick


While Memorial Day honors those who gave their lives to insure our way of life, others take what they have learned in the military and use it to insure that these lives lost are not meaningless. David Urban, PhD, who became dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University three years ago, has been growing the college’s reputation.

During his time as dean, the Jones College has been ranked nationally at No. 21 for its masters in management, No. 17 for its entrepreneurship program, No. 39 for its master of accountancy program and No. 39 as Best for Vets Business Schools.

It has seen rapid growth in students and national recognition. Urban, a Navy veteran, says that the strong foundations of business that are the basis of this growth came from his time in the service. 

“As a Supply Corps Officer,” said Urban, “I was in the business part of the Navy. It was excellent business experience … I also learned a great deal about managing and dealing with people from many different backgrounds…[And I] developed a global perspective … [T]he Navy … shaped my management philosophy, there were some lessons that really stuck with me.”

One of the lessons Urban learned in the Navy was teamwork.

He believes that people have to be able to work together in order to accomplish excellent results. No single individual has the knowledge, the skill, or the capacity to do everything well, and be completely self-sufficient.

He used this concept to rebuild the college’s masters of business administration program into a Flex MBA.

“We formed a task force composed of a cross-section of our faculty to review the program,” said Urban. “Taking into account best practices in MBA programs at other universities, as well as feedback from our current students, our alumni, and from people who were hiring our students. The task force pulled together all of this information and developed a series of recommendations that were put into place in my second year as dean.”

Among the things they learned during the review process were the needs for more integration across subject areas, more professional development activities, to finish the program in one year, and to be able to complete the program completely online.

To provide the needed technology to back up the increased online programming some of the improvements they made included renovating classrooms, putting in a new video production facility, and upgrading their financial analysis center. 

“We trained faculty in the use of new classroom technology,” added Urban,” but…the faculty drove the new program and used the technology to achieve the objectives that the market wanted. The Flex MBA is truly a market-driven program.”

To answer the market’s call for more tech integrations-savvy students, Urban and his faculty have updated their master of science program. In that program, Urban notes that students can be IT generalists or they can specialize in information security and assurance, IT project management, or business intelligence and analytics.

David Urban, right, dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business, presents MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee with a 2016 Top 10 Award from United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties during the 2017 MTSU Charitable Giving Campaign Kickoff held Wednesday, Sept. 27, in the James Union Building. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)


 

 

“In our program,” added Urban, “the focus is on the acquisition, management, and analysis of information that is useful to decision makers.  We also have opportunities for our students in other areas of business to delve into technology... For example, … they can take training courses that will help them to achieve various Microsoft and other certifications.”

While technology has changed the face of business everywhere, the area most radically affected by this change is marketing.

“All of our marketing courses are different than they were even five years ago because of the impact of technology,” stated Urban, “and … our faculty [has] to adapt those courses to keep up with the latest developments.”

The most radically affected classes are, Urban said, in the area of promotion because of the explosion of online retailing, sophisticated customer tracking, and individualized market appeals via social media.

“Interestingly,” said Urban, “the advances in technology have not diminished the importance of basic skills in personal selling and sales management. Personal relationships are even more important now in sustaining marketing success than they were many years ago. “

Urban has also added a number of programs to ensure his students have much needed “soft skills” that employers are demanding.

“We heard many times from businesspeople that students need better soft skills,” said Urban, “the ability to write and speak effectively, think through a problem to a solution, work in teams, build and maintain personal relationships, network effectively, and maintain a positive attitude toward life and work. So we did something no other business school in the country has done… All business majors are required to complete the Dale Carnegie Course…” 

Urban noticed students who have taken the Carnegie Course appreciate the applicability to their personal and professional lives. 

Most students see improvement in self-confidence and relationships. Several have traced internships, job offers, or promotions directly to lessons learned in the course. 

“I find that a lot of the principles of good leadership and management are easily transferred across different types of organizations,” added Urban. “I still use the basics of leadership and management that I learned in the Navy, every single day.”

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