The business of the Coppin State School of Business has never changed but it sure has grown. Let the venerable Dean of The School of Business, Dr. Sadie Gregory, educate us the modern benefits of an urban campus that is thriving with growth and opportunity in a new world of commerce for students readying for life in the work force.
Nestor Aparicio discusses the 27th anniversary of WNST and Coppin State’s 125th anniversary, highlighting the Maryland crab cake tour. He interviews Dr. Sadie Gregory, Dean of the College of Business at Coppin State, about the institution’s growth and advancements. Dr. Gregory notes the transformation from a department to a college, the addition of a state-of-the-art facility, new faculty, and updated curriculum. She emphasizes the integration of AI, data science, and experiential learning. Enrollment is expected to increase by 20%, with 100 new students. The college aims to build business partnerships and career pathways for students.
Action Items
- [ ] Continue advancing the academic degree programs in the College of Business.
- [ ] Build more business partnerships and engage students in the business community.
- [ ] Strengthen the career pathways for students.
- [ ] Have a future conversation to discuss specific enhancements made to the academic core.
Outline
Coppin State’s 125th Anniversary and Maryland Crab Cake Tour
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland crab cake tour, celebrating the 27th anniversary of WNST and Coppin State’s 125th anniversary.
- Nestor mentions the various sponsors and supporters of the tour, including the Maryland lottery.
- The crab cake tour starts on August 7 at the Beaumont in Catonsville.
- Nestor discusses the short summer break for students and the readiness at Coppin State.
Introduction of Dr. Sadie Gregory
- Nestor introduces Dr. Sadie Gregory, the Dean of the College of Business at Coppin State.
- Dr. Gregory expresses excitement about sharing the advancements at Coppin State.
- Nestor mentions Dr. Gregory’s long tenure at Coppin and her various roles over the years.
- Nestor reflects on the changes and innovations at Coppin State, particularly in the business school.
Evolution of Coppin State’s Business School
- Dr. Gregory explains the transformation of the business school from a department to a college.
- She highlights the significant advancements, including a state-of-the-art facility and new faculty.
- The business school has updated its curriculum and received specialized accreditation.
- Dr. Gregory emphasizes the focus on preparing students for business careers through strong academic programs.
Curriculum and Program Updates
- Dr. Gregory discusses the emphasis on strengthening the curriculum based on feedback from the business community.
- The college is introducing graduate programs and integrating AI into the core curriculum.
- New initiatives include podcasting suites and data science programs with a business emphasis.
- The goal is to prepare students with the skills and knowledge needed for data-driven decision-making.
Summer Activities and Preparations
- Nestor and Dr. Gregory discuss the summer activities at Coppin State, including orientation for new students.
- Dr. Gregory explains that the administrative unit remains active throughout the summer, preparing for the new academic year.
- Some faculty members teach summer programs, and there is a relatively slower pace for students and faculty.
- The focus remains on building and preparing for the upcoming academic year.
Changes in Student Behavior and Learning
- Nestor and Dr. Gregory discuss the impact of COVID-19 on student behavior and learning.
- Dr. Gregory highlights the shift towards hybrid and online degree programs to accommodate a diverse student population.
- The college is moving towards active and experiential learning methods, engaging students in collaborative and hands-on activities.
- Dual enrollment programs and community outreach help prepare high school students for college.
Growth and Enrollment at Coppin State
- Dr. Gregory shares that the College of Business had approximately 350 students last fall and expects a 20% increase.
- The college has set seven new faculty members to prepare for the growing number of students.
- Nestor and Dr. Gregory discuss the busy period leading up to the start of the new academic year.
- The college is focused on delivering high-quality instruction and supporting student success.
Future Plans and Vision
- Dr. Gregory outlines the college’s future plans, including advancing academic degree programs and building business partnerships.
- The college aims to engage students in the business community and create career pathways.
- Dr. Gregory expresses excitement about the new team of students and faculty members.
- The college is committed to continuous improvement and staying ahead of industry trends.
Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
- Nestor and Dr. Gregory discuss the importance of education and the role of Coppin State in preparing students for the business world.
- Nestor mentions upcoming segments with other Coppin State officials, including Dr. Jenkins.
- Dr. Gregory reiterates the college’s focus on academic excellence and student success.
- Nestor concludes the segment, expressing his appreciation for Dr. Gregory’s insights and the work being done at Coppin State.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Coppin State, business education, Dean Sadie Gregory, College of Business, curriculum redesign, AI integration, data science, experiential learning, hybrid models, student enrollment, faculty development, business partnerships, academic programs, summer activities, career pathways.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Dr. Sadie Gregory
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive this one’s going to be fun. Before we get going, I got to say we’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour the entire month of August. It is our 27th anniversary around here. We’re celebrating 125 at Coppin. My 26 is going to become a 27 and we’re doing our 27 favorite places to eat and things to eat around town. I’m not going to gain too much weight in August, but I’m going to share some good stuff, all brought to you by France at the Maryland lottery of the lucky sevens to give away, as well as the pressure looks when we get back out on the crab cake tour that starts on August 7 at the Beaumont in Catonsville. All of this stuff is brought about by our sponsors and supporters. And we’ve talked a lot about Coppin State and 125 we’ve talked about a lot of things. And when you get into summertime, kids mainly off campus, and students doing this and that, and get back, but it’s so much of a shorter time than I remember it as a student, because it feels like to come back in August. They kind of go away a little before July, late May, wherever it is, but we’re getting ready. And they’re always ready at Coppin State, and I’ve been trying to get Dr Greg real for a couple of weeks. We had some illness, we had some travel, we had holidays, we had all that. And we’re almost to the point where students coming back and which came on on the original zoom. There’s all of this motion behind her. I’m like, Are you on Wall Street? No, I’m a cop, and she is the with the she’s the Dean of the College of Business at Coppin State, and we’ve waited a little bit to get her on. And I guess business is changing every day. But when I see you there, I’m like, that’s a I have to come and see that whole room over there. So many things happening at Coppin,
Dr. Sadie Gregory 01:45
absolutely, and it’s more than the room. I mean, I would welcome an opportunity to share with you the entire building, talk about our programs, meet our students, but it’s an exciting time for us. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 01:58
I’ve Googled you, and at one point you ran things at Coppin. You’ve been in and out doing different things for several decades. Um, you’re the perfect person to say, what was Coppin like? What was the college, the School of Business, like, 20 years ago versus today? And how many upgrades and and how far Coppin has come? Because I think for I go back with Fang on the basketball program, almost 40 years, you know, watching basketball in the old gym up on North Avenue. So I go back a ways, but on the campus itself, I’m always blown away when I come on by how much innovation and how as much as young people get ragged on a little bit about not being, as, you know, aggressive or education oriented. When I’m amongst students at Coppin, I just see a lot of activity, and I see things that I feel like an old guy because I come back and I say, I don’t recognize this. This didn’t look the way I went to
Dr. Sadie Gregory 02:55
college. Absolutely, I’ve been at Coppin 21 years, and you’re correct. I’ve served in several seats, but when I came on board, we were not a college, we were a department, and we were on the eighth floor of a building. Today, we look very different. We We have so many advances that have taken place, and this is a chance I’m pleased to have this opportunity to tell you a little bit about where we were then where we are today and where we’re headed. Well, let’s start with
Nestor Aparicio 03:27
where you were and what. I went to University of Baltimore, mile away, mile and a half away from where you are. And I mine was a third and fourth year college, and it was very nighttime oriented, lots of adults, different things, but folks went there for law school. You know, there’s a lot of that going on at that point. Coppin was always thought of as a teacher school, certainly last century, and the business side, and to say what a vision would be for how you’re going to grow a program. Because, let’s be honest, kids go to school to get jobs, right? I mean, come out, they want to be ready for the world and ready for all sorts of business. And I’m sure when you’re on the eighth floor and saying we need to grow this into our own school, let alone just a department or a wing or a couple of classes, you’ve seen that grow, and I’m thinking, you must have been a driving force.
Dr. Sadie Gregory 04:18
Absolutely, we have grown significantly. In particular, we are now in a state of the art facility. We’ve hired new faculty, we’ve updated curriculum, we’ve gotten a specialized accreditation in business. We are growing enrollment, and so we’re moving and we’re building business relationships. One of the goals that we have is to get business leaders in this building and get our students out in the business community. But the but the primary focus for us is building good, strong, solid academic programs. That’s why we are here, is to prepare these students for these careers in business. We’re.
Nestor Aparicio 05:00
Did it start for you 21 years ago? What was being taught then, and what is being taught now, and the, you know, the wider curriculum of programs, and obviously, a real focus for and a real draw to say this is important to competent, you know, I I do a lobby at Mako in two weeks, while I’m eating all this delicious food, I’ll be down in Ocean City talking to a lot of state officials and and government folks. And this is about colleges and universities putting a workforce together to sustain our, you know, to sustain our all local economy that you want folks coming out ready to serve in business and grow business locally.
Dr. Sadie Gregory 05:41
Absolutely, one of the first things we have been doing is putting an emphasis on strengthening our curriculum. What business leaders are telling us so the business community is telling us today is they want students with certain skills, with knowledge and with an understanding of the business community. This past year, for example, we put quite a bit of emphasis on curriculum redesign and development. We’re moving in the direction of introducing graduate programs in the in the College of Business. We have a strong emphasis today on updating curriculum with core competencies in the AI area, for example. I know you’ve heard a lot about that, but we’re now integrating AI into our core curriculum. So every student who graduates from the College of Business will have that understanding we’re doing things. We’re getting ready to open two podcasting suites. Our students will have hands on experience with podcasting and how businesses are using that resource. We’re doing things like introducing data into every aspect of business. What business leaders are telling us today is they want students who can who understand data and can make data driven decisions. We have a program in data science that’s in the College of Business with a business emphasis, but now we’re integrating courses and content of and data for all of our degree programs.
Nestor Aparicio 07:08
It’s a lot going on. Dr Sadie, Gregory, I was chasing her all summer. We’re getting ready for school, and our Coppin State segments are going to heat back up. We’ll be talking about things going on over at the campus for their 125 lots of celebration going on, lots of education going on. Is summer quiet, you know, from an educational standpoint, for a couple of weeks, to have that moment where everyone gets to celebrate graduations and families come in, and there’s a little bit of a breath, but there’s also getting to the end of that. I know that because ravens training camp starting too, and the hot weather’s out here, and the fourth of July’s already happened. So you start to feel the heartbeat, and we’ll start to see the back to school ads and all that stuff happening. But the heartbeat of your campus for what you’re trying to do in growing a School of Business, percentage wise, how many folks are in a building like yours, on a day like today, versus when four or five weeks from now, it’s going to be full nonstop.
Dr. Sadie Gregory 08:04
Actually, after commencement in May, many of the students went home and the faculty went home, but the core administrative unit does not have the summer off. Okay? So we worked through the summer, building, preparing, growing, doing accreditation work gearing up. We are receiving students from orientation. They’re coming in. As a matter of fact, we have a group tomorrow with transfer students. So it’s a busy time for us on the administration side. We do have some faculty who teaching this summer or working with summer programs. It’s relatively speaking, it’s a little bit slower for the students and faculty, but we’re full speed ahead on the administration
Nestor Aparicio 08:47
side. What do you see with young people that’s different than you saw 20 years ago, when they’re making a decision about college and involving their parents? And I just I met a young lady, I did a networking event, just a plug for my connects friends and Mike Tish, and one of them, Tony, had his little daughter, and she’s six years old, and she was handing out the badges, and she was, you know, gregarious and dressed up and professional six years old, yeah. And she she said, Oh, he she’s been doing this since she was four. She’s been doing this three years. And I thought to myself, she had a device. And I’m thinking, wow, you know, like this child is learning so much, and I don’t have grandkids, but my and my son’s long past college. But I’m thinking, what a 1617, 18 year old person coming in now, how it’s even different than the class you just graduated because AI, because of of technology, and I think also the way businesses change covid For anyone our age, and I’ll put myself in your age bracket, or us together here, but people that were fully grown and developed and had lives before covid, I think. Everything about covid has changed. You know, a delineation point for younger people who wore masks when they were 10, 1214, years old. Now they’re coming into your environment and the way they see the world, having learned the world online in many, many cases,
Dr. Sadie Gregory 10:18
absolutely, covid did change in us the way we do business, in many ways, but in particular, we see how students, faculty, staff, want hybrid models. We’re in the process of putting more of our degree programs online. In the College of Business, we have seven degree programs, three, all of them are face to face, but three of them are also offered fully online. We have another degree program that we’re launching online this fall semester, but the plan is to put every single degree program fully online, face to face and hybrid, because we have to accommodate a different population of students that we have today, not only the incoming freshman class, but we get quite a few transfer students, and we get returning students who come to Compton. So it’s, it’s an exciting time for us, and so one of the things that I would like to do is to make sure we’re prepared. The technology that we have here at Coppin is amazing. The introduction of AI, the introduction of podcasting, the introduction of experiential learning, and that’s another thing you ask about how students are different today. They don’t want to sit and listen to a lecture for an hour and 20 minutes. This population of students want to be engaged. So we move moved in the direction of active learning, a lot of experiential learning, a lot of case studies, a lot of group projects, a lot of opportunities for students to be the voice in the classroom and the faculty is the facilitator of learning, not directing conversation or directing lectures at the students, but a collaborative kind of approach for teaching and learning. I don’t see students today who would like very much the traditional technique that was used or teaching method that was used when some of us were in school. They want to be active. They want to be a part of the learning process. And as we’re fortunate because we have faculty who have had faculty development relative some of them relatively new to this modality, but we have facilities to support our teaching and learning, and we’re ready. We’re ready for this population of students, and to help us prepare, we actually are working with some of the students before they actually enroll full time at Coppin, we have dual enrollment, where we have high school students coming on the campus taking college courses. We have summer program where high school students who just completed high school are coming on board. And we also go out and have partners in our community. We go out to the high schools and the community college, and we are engaging with those students. We’re trying to make the process pretty much seamless, so when they come to college, we will know them, but they’ll also be familiar with who we are. She
Nestor Aparicio 13:13
is the Dean of the College of Business at Coppin State University. Our partners and we it’s summertime, but it’s almost time. It’s always good to get educated about things. How many students will pass through your just your school? And I know Coppin is always growing every time I see Dr Jenkins, he’s telling us stories, and we had the story of about care first coming through, and all sorts of things that are growing more beds on campus, all sorts of things. But how many students do you serve in the in the college? School of Business? Okay,
Dr. Sadie Gregory 13:45
we have rough we had last fall, rough at 350 students in the college, expecting about a 20% increase. We have had this increased. We are today where we were perhaps at the end of the fall, Summer, some term, we have grown enrollment. We’re expecting the about 100 new students to come into the College of Business. We’ve increased classes. We’ve had set seven new faculty members this year alone in the college of business to be able to prepare for these students and to be ready to deliver the instruction. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 14:29
love that you have a ticker going on behind you. Are you in the like, in the middle of the school, the school area, I’m just trying to see where you’re sitting, because when you came on, you’re like, is this distracting? I’m like, Yeah, little but it really makes me realize where you are. You know, you’re in a place of business,
Dr. Sadie Gregory 14:48
yes, and I’m, I’m also in a finance, data science area. It’s a concourse, it’s an atrium type area, so there’s a space and behind me. Where students can study. We can host activities and programming here, but that’s really a learning tool. That ticker is a learning tool. Our students are learning about finance, how the markets work, how businesses that are that are part of the exchange, how they do business, how they become a part of the exchange, what it means, you know, and how to understand how this is pretty much a track of business activities all
Nestor Aparicio 15:30
over my head. I gotta go back to school like Rodney Dangerfield. She is, she is the Dean of College of Business. It compensates, sort of a mouthful, but I got it all. Doctor. Sadie Gregory’s been waiting weeks, weeks, if not months, to come on the program. I’m glad you’re doing better. I’m glad we’re making it through summer. When do you expect lots of students? What is it going to get active around there? Dr Gregory, well,
Dr. Sadie Gregory 15:51
actually a faculty come back mid August. So the traffic will campus? Traffic will pick up August the 15th, when faculty contracts start. Our students will be coming in the next two weeks after that, some of them getting registration done, taking care of their their financial business, and getting residential facilities straight, but, but classes actually start the end of the month, the end of August. So what we’re doing now is faculty come back first. Students come back over the next two weeks, and us doing all of the readiness for back to school.
Nestor Aparicio 16:26
Alright, it sounds too soon to me, but we’ll squeeze a few more weeks at ravens training camp. I got Luke out there. Still got a little bit more time to maybe get to the beach. I’m going to be getting to the beach in a couple weeks. I always run into Compton state folks down at Mako as well. It’s a big, big gathering of folks down in Ocean City, and I hope everybody will be checking that out. Well, it’s been a pleasure to visit with you. Is there any parting shot? Anything I need to know that we’ve left out to teach people about what you’re doing over there? Other than if I came over, I’d learn a lot of stuff. There’s a lot to be learned.
Dr. Sadie Gregory 16:59
Actually, the I think we’ve hit some of the key highlights, but we will continue to move forward with advancing our academic degree programs, building business partnerships, engaging students in the business community, and building out our career pathways for students. So I think we’re on the right track. We’re excited about it. I have a new team of students coming in. I have new faculty coming on board. I have a facility in which to deliver their instruction, and we put considerable emphasis on strengthening our academic degree programs. And so I look forward to having future conversation with you about some of those specific enhancements that we’ve done to our academic core.
Nestor Aparicio 17:40
I want to meet all these new teachers and these students and all that good so I need to learn a little bit more. I own this business, so I’m in the business of business, or as what was, was it the line that I think it was, Shaq said, I’m a business man, you know? So, yeah. So I got to figure all that out. Dr, Sadie, Gregory has been very kind and rescheduling with me and us and trying to get this thing together. We’re gonna get Dr Jenkins on a couple weeks from now, also in the middle of this Crazy Crab cake to we’re doing next month, we’ll be visiting with Dr Jenkins as well as talking about what the folks at care first have put together. And I’m looking forward to getting Brian on as well. So Dr Gregory, as you are, get ready for these young students to get back and get them ready, get that ticker going, and good luck with your growth. That’s 100 new students. 20% growth. I love hearing all that.
Dr. Sadie Gregory 18:28
Very good. Thank you. It was my pleasure. My
Nestor Aparicio 18:31
pleasure. Happy Summer to you. Dr Sadie Gregory, she is the Dean of the College of Business at Coppin State. I love wearing this gear. I you know, I told Dr Jenkins, I love the logo up here, so I got my 125 going, and I’m going to be chasing down Larry Stewart too. We got to talk a little basketball. We got a new head coach on the lady side as well. So all that’ll be happening as we stand as Coppin state’s flagship for radio. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. Happy Summer. You.
