This summer, Associate Dean Phyllis Zadra offered a faculty development Summer Case Seminar to develop an undergraduate elective business course that would be taught using cases. According to Dean Zadra, “one of the goals of the seminar was to get faculty more comfortable with case writing and case teaching so that case teaching pedagogy can become integrated into the undergraduate Zicklin experience. The following faculty participated: Jay Dahya (Finance); Evgeniya Duzhak (Economics); Matthew Edwards (Law); Marios Koufaris (CIS); Mehmet Ozbilgin (Accountancy); Gloria Thomas (Marketing); Cynthia Thompson (Management); Xiaoli Yin (Management) and Alan Rosenbloom (ReServist in charge of Zicklin case competitions). Associate Provost Dennis Slavin, Dean John Elliott, Dr. John Choonoo also spent some time with us. The group met for 2 full days in June and then went off to write their cases. We reconvened in August for 3 straight days to teach and polish the cases, and plan the syllabus for the new course.

As a result the following course has been passed by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and will be brought to Zicklin Faculty at its next meeting:

BUS 3333 CASE STUDIES in BUSINESS

This course consists of the study of several short business cases that will provide opportunities to analyze real business situations. The cases will be studied in a teaching/learning atmosphere designed to promote analysis, communication and teamwork skills. The course will also emphasize critical thinking and decision-making. The cases include components drawn from all business disciplines.

2 hours; 2 credits; Prerequisite: ZK major code. This is a business elective course only. It may not be used for the major or the minor.

This will be a team taught course. Alan Rosenbloom will be the instructor of record and all of the seminar faculty will teach their cases. The course will be offered as an experimental course in January 2011. Among its learning goals is improvement of student analytical and written communication skills.”