School of Economics and Business

Accreditation

The business programs are accredited by AACSB International—the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Mission Statement

Vision

The vision of the School of Economics and Business is to advance increasing recognition of the excellence of its undergraduate business, accounting and economics programs among those offered by public and private four-year comprehensive colleges in New York State and the region.

Mission

The School of Economics and Business enables undergraduate students to exercise their intellectual capacity, acquire disciplinary knowledge and analytical skills, value diversity in people and ideas, and develop ethical decision-making abilities. The School is committed to continuous evaluation and improvement in the areas of the curriculum, faculty development, scholarship, and service.

Key Goals

To maintain a learning environment of the scale that assures highly accessible faculty, teamwork, and applications of information technology.
To provide rigorous academic majors in business economics, professional accounting, and economics for students interested in academic excellence as well as personal growth and development as preparation for employment or graduate and professional studies.
To offer programs reflecting a liberal arts foundation and a solid understanding of the economics discipline as a sound basis for understanding the business disciplines.
To engage students in a curriculum that values and promotes ethical behavior and instills in students an appreciation of responsible management principles and sustainability.
To augment instruction with an array of co-curricular opportunities and preparation for career opportunities.
To serve New York State by providing students with the flexibility, heightened perception, and understanding that will permit and encourage adaptation to changes in the global economy.
To recruit and sustain highly qualified faculty in support of the School’s mission who are committed to excellence in instruction, scholarship and service.
To pursue service that benefits the programs and reputation of the School, the College and the community.

Majors

Students should consult with their academic advisor, the office of the School of Economics and Business, or the Academic Advisement Center about program requirements and course sequences before matriculating into or registering for courses in these programs.

Professional Accounting: This major is a 150-hour, undergraduate program registered with the New York State Education Department as satisfying the curriculum requirements for Certified Public Accounting licensure in New York.

Business Economics: The Business Economics major provides all the fundamental background in accounting, the business functional fields, and economics through the intermediate theory level. Management-specific knowledge and skills are emphasized.

Economics: This major emphasizes a firm understanding of economic theory, its historical development, and its application to the study of socio-political and economic problems.

Admission to Programs of the School of Economics and Business

Acceptance into the major requires a minimum GPA of 2.0, except for first semester students. Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the major. Students may be dropped from the major if they do not maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA.

Transfer Courses

Transfer students and current students wishing to transfer courses into the Professional Accounting or Business Economics major must earn a grade of “C” or better for the course to count in the required coursework.

Concentrations

Majors from the School of Economics and Business have the option of advancing their knowledge of a functional field of business beyond the genearl Business Economics curriculum. Professional Accounting and Business Economics majors are eligible for concentrations in Finance, International Business, and Marketing. Business Economics majors also are eligible for the non-CPA Accounting concentration. Economics majors are eligible for the Finance concentration. Coursework in a concentration is to be completed in the junior and senior year, and long after all prerequisite courses have been completed. A concentration is awarded only upon satisfactory completion of required coursework and no substitutions or waivers will be made.
Accounting (not intended for professional licensure)
Finance
Marketing
Supply Chain Management

Note: Students may earn only one concentration from this School.

Minors

The minors offered by the School of Economics and Business provide the opportunity for undergraduate majors outside of the School of Economics and Business to gain a basic understanding of the business disciplines or the social science of economics.

Business
Economics

Note: Students may earn only one minor from the School of Economics and Business.

College policy prohibits students majoring in programs outside the School of Economics and Business (SEB) from earning more than 30 semester hours from the SEB. Exception is made only for 1) Professional Accounting, Business Economics, or Economics majors who exceeded the 30 semester-hour limit, but changed majors or were removed from the Professional Accounting, Business Economics, or Economics major; 2) transfer students who upon matriculation to Oneonta have earned more than the 30 semester-hour limit in courses accepted as equivalent to courses offered by the SEB; and 3) transfer students whose combination of transfer courses accepted as equivalent to courses offered by the SEB and Oneonta courses mandated as requirements in a major outside the SEB cause 30 semester-hour limit to be exceeded.

Honor Societies

Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by AACSB International.

SUNY Oneonta is the home to the Alpha Lambda of New York chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Honorary in Economics. Juniors or seniors majoring or minoring in Economics, or completing a Finance concentration, who have completed 18 hours of Economics courses with an Economics GPA and overall GPA of at least 3.0, are offered invitations to become members of the Honorary.

Special Programs and Facilities

The 4-1 programs with Clarkson University and Rochester Institute of Technology provide the opportunity for Business Economics graduates from SUNY Oneonta to earn the M.B.A. degree in one year.

Acceptance into the cooperating university in not automatic. Principal eligibility factors are undergraduate cumulative grade point average and score on the Graduate Management Admission Test.

Cooperative 3-1 programs are offered through the Visiting Student Program of The Fashion Institution of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Students receive a combination of liberal arts and business coursework from Oneonta, along with in-depth training at FIT in a specialized field of either Fashion Business Management or Advertising and Marketing Communications. Students receive both a B.S. from SUNY Oneonta and an A.A.S. from FIT at the conclusion of the fourth year. Acceptance by FIT is not automatic. FIT requires a minimum GPA and reserves the right to select those candidates that, in its opinion, are the best qualified.

Other activities: internships, assistantships, advisement, orientation, summer programs, career preparation, student clubs, and Student Advisory Council.

Courses

Statute of Limitations ~ Five-Year Rule: If more than five years has elapsed since the successful completion of a course or courses in accounting, macroeconomics, applied policy, or other courses designated by the faculty, the course(s) must be repeated. Students in this situation should consult with the dean.

Note: Issues concerning ethics, cross-cultural topics, minorities, women, and international business are addressed throughout this School’s curricular offerings and in many specific accounting, business, and economics courses.