Graduate Business Education in Adventist Colleges and Universities: History and Challenges Annetta M

Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University School of Business Administration Faculty School of Business Administration Publications April 2012 Graduate Business Education in Adventist Colleges and Universities: History and Challenges Annetta M. Gibson Andrews University, [email protected] Robert Firth Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/sba-pubs Part of the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Gibson, Annetta M. and Firth, Robert, "Graduate Business Education in Adventist Colleges and Universities: History and Challenges" (2012). School of Business Administration Faculty Publications. Paper 1. http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/sba-pubs/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Business Administration at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Business Administration Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GraduaTe BuSIneSS eduCaTIon In advenTIST ColleGeS and unIverSITIeS: H ISTORYAND C HALLENGES raduate business educa- Single and Double Entry, Commercial ulty, especially academically trained tion is in high demand Calculations and the Philosophy of teachers with terminal degrees. At the everywhere, including the Morals of Business (1866) as one of the same time, a new business accrediting Seventh-day Adventist college textbooks. The Second Annual body, the AACSB (Association to Ad- Church. Since 1990, 34 Catalogue included bookkeeping as a vance Collegiate Schools of Business) GMaster’s programs in business have separate course.2 By 1879, the college developed standards for business cur- been started at various Adventist col- had a Commercial Department, which riculum, library holdings, faculty quali- leges and universities; 14 of these pro- continued when the school moved in fications, and faculty research. Depart- grams were initiated between 2005 and 1901 to Berrien Springs, Michigan. ments of business became schools and 2010. How did graduate business edu- Other Adventist colleges that opened colleges of business and gained signifi- cation get its start within the denomi- between 1880 and the early 1900s also cant academic respectability within nation? What is its story? had commercial departments. The typ- their academic communities. Doctoral Sometimes the confluence of timing ical curriculum included courses in the programs in all business specialties and vision gives a particular institu - history of business, bookkeeping, busi- quickly developed at the major univer- tion or a person the opportunity to ness law, office machines, and various sities across the United States, and to “mother” growth in a particular area, secretarial subjects.3 some extent in Europe. which subsequently supports the Because the late 1800s and early Adventist schools struggled to keep church’s institutions in a unique way. 1900s were the era of the “self-made” up with the rapid changes in the busi- Such is the case with graduate business businessman, commercial departments ness field. In the early 1950s, the church education in Adventist higher educa- did not possess significant academic had only about 30 to 40 business teach- tion. Interestingly, its roots, like the stature at most colleges and universi- ers—all white males.7 The business fac- roots of the medical work of the ties, public or private. While Ph.D. de- ulty of the typical North American Ad- church, were established in Battle grees existed in some disciplines, they ventist college throughout the 1950s and Creek, Michigan. Battle Creek Sanitar- were not available in business. The into the mid-1960s consisted of one or ium became the “mother” of a large courses offered by commercial depart- two men. If a woman was hired, she gen- number of Adventist hospitals and ments were seen as too practical to be erally taught only secretarial courses like medical institutions, with its graduates part of a standard university curricu- typing and shorthand. leaving Michigan to serve around the lum, but they were considered essential By the late 1950s, the male business world.1 Similarly, Battle Creek College, in an Adventist college because of the faculty members usually had earned the church’s first institution of higher need to train church employees. Master’s degrees. Dr. Robert Firth, chair learning, which eventually became Em- The years after World War II of the business department at Union manuel Missionary College and then brought major changes to colleges and College (Lincoln, Nebraska) from 1952- Andrews University, was the educa- universities across the United States, as 1964, described his resources as: “two tional “mother” whose offspring estab- thousands of men took advantage of faculty, a small office in the basement, a lished undergraduate business educa- U.S. Government funding for advanced phone, a typewriter, a shared reader, and tion, and ultimately graduate-level education as they sought to reintegrate $500 a year for books and magazines for training, around the world. into U.S. society after the war.4 Enroll- the library.”8 Firth taught six classes a se- ment in all colleges and universities mester and took graduate work toward The Beginning across the U.S., Adventist schools in- his doctorate in management at the Uni- The First Annual Catalogue (1875) cluded, increased dramatically—in versity of Nebraska in his “spare time.” for Battle Creek College did not list some cases doubling almost overnight.5 He completed his Ph.D. in management specific courses but did include May- Business curriculum offerings ex- in 1960—the first doctorate in manage- hew’s Practical Book-keeping Embracing panded and became more specialized ment in the denomination. At that in response to the enrollment expan- sion. 6 Along with specialization came an increased demand for business fac- BY ANN GIBSON AND ROBERT FIRTH http://jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventist Education • April/May 2012 41 Page 40: Secretarial science student in the 1970s. Above: Early Adventist college business departments often focused their curriculum on secretarial skills—shown above is the Emmanuel Missionary College (now Andrews University) Stenographic Department, 1911-1912. time, seven Adventists, worldwide, had fied personnel with graduate degrees in the undergraduate business program at business-related Ph.D.’s, most of them varied fields to serve its growing educa- Andrews, create an M.B.A. curriculum, in economics or accounting, but none tional institutions around the world. Ac- and find the necessary faculty for the in management (e.g., Economics: cordingly, the Seventh-day Adventist graduate program—all in one year— Ralph Koorenny at La Sierra College Theological Seminary was transferred was a difficult one. Given the scarcity [Riverside, California] and Charles from Washington, D.C., to the campus of church members with doctorates, Stokes at Atlantic Union College of Emmanuel Missionary College in Firth described the experience as one [South Lancaster, Massachusetts]; Ac- Berrien Springs, Michigan. The move of “searching for faculty” everywhere counting: Robert Boyd at Pacific Union made it possible to create Andrews Uni- possible.11 College [Angwin, California]).9 Wayne versity, with initial graduate programs in The Andrews M.B.A. program VanderVere, who taught at Southern teacher education, school administra- opened in the summer of 1965 with Missionary College in Collegedale, tion, and ministerial education. Firth and Wayne VandeVere (borrowed Tennessee (now Southern Adventist In 1964, Robert Firth was asked to from Southern Missionary College for University), and is probably the best- join the Andrews University faculty for the summer) teaching the classes to the known Adventist accounting teacher, the specific purpose of developing a 10 students enrolled in the program. received his Ph.D. from Michigan State graduate program in business to help Five years later (1970), the business fac- University in 1967. VandeVere was the upgrade business personnel in church ulty at Andrews consisted of a total of first Seventh-day Adventist to hold institutions. Although the church ini- five faculty (all Caucasian men), three both a Ph.D. in accounting and the tially focused on developing graduate of them doctorally qualified in busi- CPA certificate.10 programs in the United States, these ness. By the time Firth retired from An- early moves would be repeated around drews University’s School of Business The Need for Business Graduate the world and in every division. The Administration (SBA) in 1993, it had Education graduate programs in other territories, 21 business and computer science fac- By the early 1960s, the Adventist but especially those specializing in busi- ulty, 15 of whom had doctorates, three Church recognized the need for quali- ness, would model their graduate pro- of whom were women, and two of grams after the ones at Andrews. whom were minorities. Dr. Firth’s assignment to strengthen 42 The Journal of Adventist Education • April/May 2012 http://jae.adventist.org Firth served as chair of the Business at colleges and universities around the within church-related colleges and uni- Department at Andrews from 1964-1978 world. For example, the university’s versities did not begin until the 1990s. and remained a member of the business M.B.A. business alumni have taught or As Figure 1 indicates, over the past 20 faculty until his retirement.

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