The mission of the Department of Business Administration is to provide students with the opportunity to obtain a quality education in Business Administration and Accounting and gain an awareness of their individual strengths and vocational interests in order to make appropriate career decisions.

The Business Administration program has been accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education. The department offers a rigorous, up-to-date curriculum that prepares students for imaginative and responsible citizenship and leadership roles in business and accounting - domestic and worldwide. Responsive to the philosophy of the guidelines of The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the curriculum is geared to social, economic, and technological developments and reflects the application of evolving knowledge in economics and the behavioral and quantitative sciences.

While the programs offered are career-oriented, the department realizes that contemporary business and accounting professionals must bring a broad and varied perspective to their respective crafts. Accordingly, the department requires that prospective graduates take at least half of the 120 hours needed for a degree outside the department, with particular emphasis given to the development of written and oral communicative skills and the acquisition of the ability to think creatively and critically. Due to the nature of the program, students majoring in Business Administration find themselves prepared for a cross-section of opportunities. Recent graduates have embarked on careers in areas ranging from business and management consulting to financial planning for corporations and government. The banking and investment fields have also interested many of our graduates. Other students have chosen sales management, insurance, or personnel administration as their field. Those wishing to pursue graduate studies have found that the skills acquired through their course work and field experiences have opened doors to major universities.

The department offers five separate degrees: Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Finance, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Management, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Management Information Systems, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Marketing, and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Individualized Specialization. The department also participates in the Cooperative Engineering program.

Individualized Specialization
With the approval of his or her advisor and the chairperson of the department, a student may develop his or her own specialization in lieu of the above specific majors. Such specializations must consist of at least five upper-level courses in a cohesive subject area germane to business. Currently popular individualized specializations include but are not limited to Sports Management, Human Resource Management, Corporate Law, and International Business. Other specializations are possible and encouraged as long as they satisfy the department’s conditions for rigor and substance.

Internship Opportunities
In addition to its regular course offerings, the department has an active internship program. Internships are work-experiences for which students receive academic credit. The department offers a number of internship opportunities with various local and regional firms and organizations such as Key Bank, Buffalo Sabres, Paychex, Inc., Merrill Lynch Co. and Cliffstar Corp.

Student Clubs and Activities
As a Business Administration or Accounting major, students can participate in a number of student clubs or activities that are designed to supplement classroom work with extracurricular experiences of a professional nature. These include, but are not limited to, the Business Club; a collegiate chapter of the American Marketing Association; the Accounting Society; and the Financial Management Association. Students may also participate in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (a service provided under the auspices of the Internal Revenue Service) through which they help to prepare individual income tax returns for low-income and elderly persons living in Chautauqua County, as well as the Students In Free Enterprise program.

Honors and Awards
Students who excel in their studies are eligible for recognition through membership in the campus chapters of Delta Mu Delta (a national honor society in business administration) and the Financial Management Association National Honor Society. Initiation is competitive and highly selective. In addition to these honor societies, individual students can be recognized for outstanding scholastic achievement. Each year the faculty presents eight special awards: the M.R. Poummit Achievement Award to the graduating senior with the highest grade point average; the Wall Street Journal Achievement Award, given to the graduating senior whose overall scholarship and community service best exemplifies the mission of the department; the Financial Executive Institute Award, the John T. Kennedy Memorial Award, and the New York State Society of CPA’s Award, given to outstanding students in accounting; the Donald C. Brandt Memorial Scholarship to an outstanding sophomore or junior; the Students In Free Enterprise Scholarship to an outstanding S.I.F.E. member; and the Alumni Scholarship, given to a junior with an outstanding record of academic achievement.

Accelerated Masters of Business Administration
The department has entered into a number of formal and informal agreements with several universities that allow our students to matriculate into accelerated B.S./M.B.A. programs. All such agreements usually reduce by one the number of years it takes a full-time student to complete a B.S. and M.B.A. The department has a 3 plus 2 agreement with the State University at Buffalo that requires three years of study at Fredonia and two years at Buffalo to finish the program. A similar 3 plus 2 agreement exists with SUNY Binghamton. The department also has 4 plus 1 arrangements with Clarkson University, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Bonaventure University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Students who are interested in any of these accelerated M.B.A. programs should see their academic advisor early in their sophomore year.