Business and Economics
The Accreditation Council for the Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) has awarded Lebanon Valley College initial accreditation for the undergraduate programs delivered through the Department of Business and Economics. This discipline-specific accreditation is in addition to the accreditation LVC, as a whole, holds through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The Department was honored with a framed certificate for its recent accreditation at the 2011 ACBSP Annual Conference held June 24-27 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. David Rudd, Chair, accepted the certificate on behalf of the college.
Pictured back row left to right: Dr. Tim Anderson, Chair of the Baccalaureat/Graduate Accreditation Commission from ACBSP and Steve Parscale, Director of Accreditation for ACBSP. Front row left to right: Dr. David Rudd, Chair of the Business and Economics Dept., LVC, and Dr. Paul Sears, ACBSP Treasurer.
The Department of Business and Economics offers programs leading to the bachelor of science degree in accounting, business administration, and health-care management, and the bachelor of arts degree in economics. A major in music business is also offered jointly with the Music Department. All programs are enhanced by the liberal arts core required of all Lebanon Valley College students. This interdisciplinary knowledge base is essential for assuming leadership positions in the changing environment.
Accounting and business administration students complete a common body of knowledge in close conformity with the national standards for the study of business as recommended by the ACBSP. This comprehensive background in business fundamentals helps graduates prepare for business careers and graduate school. ACBSP accreditation applies to both the traditional day program and the evening/week-end business and accounting major studies through LVC's Office of Continuing Education.
Economics students study the choices we must make in a world of resources that have competing uses. The major in economics includes preparation in accounting, mathematics, political science, and economics. Economics majors are typically preparing for graduate study or for a variety of entry-level positions in business and government.
Many major courses also cover selected liberal arts core requirements. Students are encouraged to use their 23-41 free electives to enrich and enhance their overall college resume. Students often add breadth or even double major within the department, complete a complimentary major or minor, complete for-credit internships, study abroad, or study in Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. Students working closely with their academic advisor can take full advantage of these opportunities and still graduate on time.
Students have several study abroad options with business classes conducted in English. This includes programs at the London Metropolitan University; Monash University in Australia; the Umbria Institute in Perugia, Italy; and Waikato University in New Zealand. Students seeking to develop their foreign language skills beyond the introductory level also have a number of programs to choose from. Most programs are bi-lingual, mixing classes in the native language with classes taught in English. The Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., programs combine academic study and pre-professional internships.
The Department also works in coordination with the Study Abroad Office to lead small groups of students (8-16) to Maastricht, the Netherlands, for four weeks each May-June, to study cross-cultural communications and business in the European union.
The department is a member of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration (MAACBA).
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Dr. David Rudd, professor of business administration and chair of the Department of Business and Economics, was named the inaugural recipient of the Eugene C. Fish Distinguished Chair in Business at Lebanon Valley College.
“In his six and one-half years at the College, David Rudd has exhibited consistent excellence in teaching, strong departmental leadership, and admirable commitment to all aspects of the life of the College,” President Stephen MacDonald said. “David is an outstanding citizen of this College, and he played a crucial role in the business and economics department’s successful accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).”
Rudd obtained his doctorate in marketing with a supporting field in public administration from George Washington University after an extensive career in business. His experience includes five years as a research and manufacturing engineer, eight years in packaged goods marketing and 20 years in direct marketing. He has worked for General Mills, a Fortune 500 company, and for several entrepreneurs, including the founder of The Sharper Image.
Rudd's major focus in teaching, especially the Principles of Marketing and Marketing Management classes, is to immerse students in the role of marketing manager in varying situations including preparing the students to market themselves and their careers. In May 2011 he was named Educator of the Year, which is voted on by the students. Then student government president Ashten O’Brien presented the award, saying Rudd “is a dynamic professor who displays a love for LVC both in and out of the classroom…This enthusiastic professor certainly meets the mission of this historic liberal arts college with his investment in students’ academic and co-curricular lives.”
The Eugene C. Fish Distinguished Chair in Business was created by gifts to the College by the late Dr. Eugene C. Fish and the Independence Foundation on his behalf. Fish served on the Lebanon Valley College Board of Trustees from 1972 to 1981 during which time he was a member (and then chair) of the Board’s Finance Committee.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in 1931 and a juris doctor from Penn’s School of Law in 1934. Fish was the managing partner of Romeika, Fish & Scheckter, managing partner of Deetz, DeRenzi & Anton, chairman and president of Peerless Industries, Inc. and chairman of EAFCO, Inc., among other professional obligations.
As member of the LVC board of trustees, Fish served on and eventually chaired the finance committee, and oversaw the construction of the Garber Science Center (now Neidig-Garber Science Center). He was a trusted advisor to five College presidents, including MacDonald, and secured for the College more than $1.5 million in personal, corporate, and foundation contributions. Fish was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from LVC in 1972, and will be forever memorialized by the Eugene C. Fish Chair in Business at the College.
The College will celebrate Rudd’s appointment to the Eugene C. Fish Distinguished Chair in Business with a reception on campus in December.
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