MAGNOLIA─Dr. James Clark and Dr. Gayle White’s manuscript entitled, “Experiential Learning: A Definitive Edge in the Job Market,” has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of Business Education. Their paper will appear in the February 2010 edition of the journal.
White presented the paper at the Ninth Annual IBER & TLC Conferences program that was held in Las Vegas, Nev. from Oct. 5-7. She also presented her paper “Arkansas Corporations Involve Employees in Programs Promoting Social Responsibility” at the conference. White had been awarded a research grant from Southern Arkansas University to conduct research on this topic.
“Experiential Learning: A Definitive Edge on the Job Market” was well received at the conference, winning the “Best Paper Award,” which led to it being reviewed for publication.
Both of the papers stress real life experiences and applied learning. “Experiential Learning…”deals with how educators can use experiential learning at their college or university, while “Arkansas Corporations…” focuses on real life experiences by using social responsibility in the workplace.
The paper concerning experiential learning is based on the Walgreens Wrangle, a three-day business case competition hosted by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)/Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) at SAU. This program is unique to SAU.
“Several people at the conference had SIFE at their schools, but had never heard of anything like the Walgreens Wrangle. They could not wait to get back and try to implement similar programs at their colleges and universities,” said White.
Clark said, “There are gaps in students’ education regarding professionalism; programs like the Walgreens Wrangle and Professional Development Month help to fill in those gaps. We want to teach students things they would not commonly get in the classroom to help create leaders who have an advantage in the job market.”
The College of Business at SAU is accredited by AACSB, International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Less than ten percent of all colleges and schools of business worldwide have achieved this accreditation.
