This year, the Elizabethtown College School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) and the School of Business, specifically the Family Business and Entrepreneurship program, expects to launch a graduate certificate for business students. It is called the Family Business and Entrepreneurship Graduate Certificate, and its launch date is Oct. 17.
The Certificate will be for business graduates, family business owners who need successful business plans and people who wish to start a business but do not know how. Students doing the Master of Business Administration (MBA), the Master of Science in Strategic Leadership (MSL) or the Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) programs can also work toward this Certificate, and it will stack with their existing credits.
It will contain four asynchronous online courses that will teach crucial business skills for a family business. They are asynchronous to provide flexibility because most students will be adults with full-time jobs. They do this through a Step-in and Step-out option that accommodates any life obstacles a student may encounter while taking the Certificate.
“We made them asynchronous to allow them to fix their own schedule,” Director of Graduate & Online Admissions Dave Woffington said.
Students will receive one eight-week course at a time. Within that time frame, they will have weekly deadlines. A normal week for them will be 15-20 hours per week per class. Students will also do projects involving case studies and other activities that will give them as much real-world education as possible.
The SGPS and the School of Business wanted the Certificate to teach students critical business skills in business ideation, leadership, strategic planning and management. Some of these include elements such as how an organization operates as a whole, its social environment and succession planning. Each of the courses will focus on each one.
Students also receive benefits and assistance with the Certificate. They get academic advising and executives from The High Center for Family Business as coaches who provide real-life experiences within each lesson. Students with tuition assistance do not have to pay for each course right away; they can wait until 30 days after completing each one.
The SGPS and the School of Business banded together to create this Certificate. Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management and Director of the Family Business and Entrepreneurship Program Dr. Petru Sandu helped develop the Certificate. A couple of other contributors were Woffington, Senior Associate Dean of SGPS & School of Business Dr. Irma Hunt and Executive Director of The High Center Mike Mitchell.
“Developing the certificate was a group effort,” Dean of the School of Business and the SGPS Dr. Najiba Benabess said.
Mitchell spoke with SGPS and identified the need for it for family business owners with no business plans. Woffington started promoting the Certificate digitally and socially. He will continue advertising by telling others about it through business events, flyers and the College’s Family Business magazine.
“The main thing is getting the word out,” Woffington said.
The SGPS and the School of Business’s initial visions of the Certificate were that it would teach the next generation how to run a family business and help people learn the skills to start a business. However, it will have another use. Since those two types of people will take the Certificate, opportunities will arise for collaboration. Some can help solve each other’s problems with their background knowledge.
“Students can take what they know and take it to the next level,” Woffington said.
