School of Business students given a chance to shine
By Adrian Kendrick
Feature Editor
Student employees are now in charge of the Center for Business Partnerships, the outreach arm for the School of Business at the University of Indianapolis.
Yoder was hired as the student project manger, and Tuszynski was hired as the student public relations coordinator. Both students are communication majors with an emphasis in public relations.
According to Matt Will, associate dean of the School of Business, CBP interacts with local businesses and organizations and gives students a chance to work with these groups.
“This is what we call our laboratory; it’s School of Business meets the real world,” Will said. “Students take what they learn in the classroom, and they apply it in the business world.”
The School of Business hosted the Business Professionals of America (BPA) Fall Leadership Conference, on Oct. 13.
The conference, which was the first event Yoder oversaw,involved 200 high school students and teacher representatives from chapters across Indiana.
According to Ronald Dow, director of the Center for Business Partnerships, the feedback received from the teachers and advisers was great.
Everyone thought the event was well organized, he said.
“I was very proud of Tasha,” Dow said. “Before I went home, I sent out notes thanking my students on how they excelled in their jobs. The credit was not on me, it was on the students.”
According to Yoder, when she was first offered the position of student project manager, she felt overwhelmed and excited at the same time.
“I was excited to try [something new],” she said. “It’s a lot of responsibility but also fun.”
According to Will, Yoder organized the entire event, including food arrangements, setup and parking.
“This was event planning like someone with 20 years of experience would do,” Will said. “She did a fantastic job. I would have been surprised if we could have hired a professional event planner to do any better.”
Will said there are so many activities going on in the School of Business that they do not have the time to market, advertise and publicize the events.
That is where Tuszynski comes in as the student public relations coordinator.
“I’m in charge of finding PR in the faculty and staff, promoting students and events through newsletters and Web sites,” Tuszynski said.
Tuszynski was originally a nursing major and is in her second semester studying public relations.
“I’m just trying to get my foot in the door as much as possible, to get more experience with everything,” Tuszynski said. “I love it compared to what I use to do.”
According to Dow, the School of Business tries to hire students outside of the department.
“The interesting thing is they are not School of Business students, but they have come in and within less than a month, everyone is one big happy family. They are appropriately representing the university,” Dow said. “Currently there are eight students working for us, six are from the School of Business and two are communication majors.”
Dow said they also hired four students to assist with office operations.
According to Will, many of the student workers in the School of Business work approximately 10 hours a week.CBP requires the students to follow at least a business-casual dress code while they are working.
“Years ago, people would say, ‘cover the phones while we’re at lunch.’ Now we treat it as office operations,” Dow said. “ It’s not just waiting for the phone to ring. We try to make it real, so when that student goes out to an internship or job, they know what it is like.”
Will said that in a way, they treat the student workers as colleagues, or fellow employees of the university.
“We’re respected and treated as professionals,” Tuszynski said. “That makes me feel good… I’m actually doing something worth my while.”
