The business of teaching business at Tufts is a complicated task, as administrators balance shifting student needs with a desire to maintain the spirit of a liberal arts education. While there are no plans for a business major or minor, two economics professors have taken it upon themselves to harness what business-related courses exist at the University in the creation of a certificate program.
The program, designed by economics professors Tom Downes and George Norman, would allow students to take courses from various departments in order to gain a general business background. A preliminary curriculum proposal attempts to balance students' concern that there is no focused business-oriented option for Tufts students.
"It's designed to be something very different from an economics concentration because it is supplemental," economics department chair David Garman said. "You can be majoring in philosophy or music but it still makes sense for people who are interested in the business world."
The Tufts faculty must approve the certificate before it can be offered, and Norman and Downes plan to meet with the Committee on Curricula, which is responsible for approving new courses and programs. If the committee approves, the program will be voted on by the entire Arts and Sciences faculty.
Norman and Downes hope to implement the program by next fall. If it is approved, an organizing committee will be formed to decide what courses to include.
According to the initial proposal, students would complete six courses and an internship order to receive a business certificate. One requirement will be microeconomics, and students will elect the other five classes from a particular "cluster," such as philosophical and ethical; behavioral; cultural, literary, and social; and political economics. Language courses will also be an integral part of the program.
"[Classes that count toward the certificate] are intended to be intellectual rather than skills-based courses, as that contributes to appreciation of what business is about," Norman said. "We see an interdisciplinary certificate as a way of merging some kind of order of the courses in Tufts, since many departments offer courses that are relevant and important to business."
The program will not create any new courses, but will simply bring existing liberal arts courses together to provide students an insight into the business world. "Our goal is to make it clear that there are lots of opportunities in the Tufts curriculum in business issues that are already there and relevant," Garman said.
When creating the proposal, its designers said that they were aware that Tufts already offers several opportunities for students to develop knowledge and experience om business. Norman said he wanted to find the most effective way to build on the existing curriculum.
"I don't see the need for drastic change in what Tufts offers, like a business studies minor or major, since it would lose more in the end than it would gain," he said. "We need to build on the disciplinary strengths Tufts has."
The Ex College offers business courses each semester, and there is a entrepreneurial leadership minor for engineering students interested in business. The primary difference between the proposed certificate and the Ex College business courses are the instructors, according to Ex College Director Robyn Gittleman.
"We are using real practitioners, and that is different from the program they are proposing," she said.
The economics department recently sent a draft proposal to the heads of academic departments, partially in an attempt to identify courses that they could count toward to certificate. The faculty has not been given many opportunities to evaluate the proposal yet, but Norman said he has received generally positive feedback.
Gittleman said she approves of the program "as long as the certificate is based in liberal arts tradition."
"It should have been done a long time ago," she said. "What they're focusing on is pointing people to courses already there. This way, students can look at what is possible."
Music department chair John MacDonald said that while Tufts, as a liberal arts university, should not offer a business major, he likes the liberal arts base of the proposal. "It doesn't seem to me like the certificate is that extreme," he said. "The program is being put together by people with knowledge and background at Tufts. I wouldn't stand squarely in the way of something like this program happening. However, there are plenty of business schools in the Boston area."
