This year, third-year Commerce students will experience a new, more innovative approach to learning than many of their peers in the University.
The Commerce School has implemented a new program called Integrated Core Experience, which integrates business education with real-world applications. The programs seeks to give students a broader introduction to the business world.
ICE was introduced into two third-year Commerce School sections in the fall of 1999. As a result of its overwhelming success, it has been integrated into all eight third-year sections this year.
Previously, Commerce students took eight traditional core courses before pursuing their particular concentration within the school. Students also spent the same amount of time in each core class.
ICE divides the school year into six consecutive sessions, and each session focuses on different integrated business topics. Students study each core subject for several weeks.
The ICE program is unique because the time allotted to each session corresponds with the time required to cover the material.
The program is "much more content-driven than time-driven," Commerce School Dean Carl Zeithaml said.
Officials note one of the strengths of ICE is it shows students how various aspects of business interrelate.
"In today's business world, there are different problems with different functional aspects" of business, Zeithaml said. "You need to understand how different functions of the business influence the issue and play a role in the issue."
ICE "makes [students] appreciate business more than they did before," said Michael D. Atchison, Commerce School associate dean.
ICE provides students with better presentation skills, better writing skills and a "better understanding of how business works," Atchison added.
"We are emulating what a lot of companies are doing today by taking much more [of a] process orientation to our curriculum," Commerce Prof. R. Ryan Nelson said.
Nelson teaches the first session of ICE, "Strategy and Systems," which lasts for the first three-and-a-half weeks of the fall semester.
Many students in the two experimental ICE sections last year offered positive comments about the program.
The ICE program eliminated the redundancy often found in many other classes, fourth-year Commerce student Anne Ashley Roehrenbeck said.
The emphasis on participation at the ICE program has helped her in her courses this year, Roehrenbeck added.
Students in the ICE program "get a better understanding of the bigger picture of business and how each aspect relates to the others," fourth-year Commerce student Jonathan Bishop said.
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