Business Studies

Course Information

Welcome

When you study business at Assumption College your education will go beyond the textbook – you’ll gain the business skills and real-world experience needed to succeed and a strong grounding in the liberal arts, uniquely positioning you as a well-rounded candidate in a competitive job environment.

From the Department Chair

At Assumption, we combine engaging classwork with real-world internship opportunities, preparing you for the ever-changing world of business. Our faculty have extensive experience in both the classroom and industry and enjoy working with students to help them navigate their individual path to personal and professional success. I hope you plan to visit campus soon to see all that Assumption has to offer. I look forward to meeting you.
~ Jennifer Niece, CPA, Department Chair, Business Studies

Work with our Experiential Learning Coordinator to gain hands-on experiences, develop a career portfolio and assist throughout the job search process.
Earn your MBA in just five years with Assumption’s 4+1 BA/MBA program.
Apply for paid internships with top companies such as Deloitte, Eli Lily, ESPN, National Grid, PricewaterhouseCoopers and more.
Gain career-building experience through the “Internship in Business” seminar course, spending 120 hours working in the field applying your learned skills.
Benefit from the expertise of faculty with decades of real-world experience, industry insight and professional networks.
Earn your MBA and fulfill a 150-hour education requirement for accounting majors in just five years, in addition to CPA exam preparation and two semesters of practicum working for a business.
Consider a sport management minor which provides an emphasis on experiential learning with coursework augmented with an internship curriculum consulted by national leaders in the sport business.

Program Overview

A bachelor's degree in business from Assumption College will provide you with a framework for building a successful career in the private, public or the nonprofit sector. You will develop proficiency in a broad range of technical and professional skills sought by employers and study ethically and socially responsible business practices that prepare you for a complex and ever-changing global business environment.

The Assumption Business Department’s five majors and six minors span a broad range of business disciplines and are taught by faculty with extensive business experience.

Business Degree Benefits at Assumption College:

Accounting (major or minor): Prepare for employment in the field and gain the background needed to sit for the CPA and CMA exams. A special track of the MBA program includes a CPA Exam review course and a professional practicum to acquire real-world experience, making it possible for students to have their CPA license within 14 months of completing their undergraduate accounting degree.
International Business (major or minor): Develop the business knowledge and cultural awareness needed to work effectively in diverse environments around the world. The College's robust study abroad program (including a Rome, Italy campus that was recently rated one of the best in the nation) will help you gain a first-hand understanding of diverse business practices and cultures.
Management (major or minor): Study how organizations and people function, and develop the skills to drive teams toward a common goal.
Marketing: (major or minor) Immerse yourself in the fast-paced dynamics of a rapidly changing marketplace and build skills in advertising, research, consumer behavior and public relations.
Organizational Communication (major): Analyze the inner-workings of communication within an organization and develop the skills needed to work effectively with personnel and customers.

Sport Management (minor): Students receive a solid grounding in marketing and management and learn how to deal with the complex professional and ethical issues they will encounter in the sport industry. An emphasis on experiential learning ensures that coursework is augmented with real-world experience through internships and other experience-building opportunities.
Fraud Examination & Forensic Accounting (minor): Learn how to apply accounting principles to embezzlement and fraud investigations and legal issues, assemble evidence, testify in court as an expert witness, and solve contract disputes.
BA/MBA program: Earn a dual BA/MBA degree in just five years.

Recent Assumption graduates have begun rewarding careers with respected regional, national and multinational companies, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, EMC Corporation, ESPN, Fidelity Investments, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Reebok and State Street Bank, as well as a number of nonprofit and government agencies. No matter where you go, and for whom you work, an Assumption education will make sure you're prepared.

Faculty

In addition to their excellent teaching credentials, the marketing and business faculty have extensive experience as practitioners. This blend of the practical and scholarly results in a rich classroom environment where course concepts and theories are integrated with real-world case studies. Our teachers are also mentors and get to know students individually. Faculty advisors assist students with everything from course selection to exploring their career opportunities.

	Philip Benvenuti Lecturer in Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination Certifications: Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
	Laura Blake Assistant Professor of Management/Marketing, Business Studies
	Bryan Coleman Visiting Assistant Professor of Accounting, Business Studies
	Arlene DeWitt Assistant Professor of Marketing & Organizational Communication
	Egidio Diodati Associate Professor of Management
	Eric Drouart Visiting Assistant Professor
	Thomas Fitzpatrick Lecturer in Business Law
	Joseph Foley Associate Professor of Accounting
	David Hoyle Lecturer in Marketing
	Daniel Jones Associate Professor of Accounting
	Mary Kingsley Lecturer in Business Law
	Cary Leblanc Assistant Professor of Marketing/Management Dr. Cary J. LeBlanc has substantial industry experience, having spent 25+ years in various human resource roles including specialist, manager, director, and consultant. He has worked with a many sized companies, from small start-up entrepreneurial ventures to global Fortune 100 companies. Throughout his work he has been passionate about building organizations that provide employees with the opportunities to maximize their potential. The types of businesses he has been involved cover a wide range of industries, including; plastic products, software and hardware design, pharmaceutical clinical trials, materials research and development and biotech product development. For his doctoral work Dr. LeBlanc researched the work lives of paper mill workers in Fitchburg, MA. This qualitative study examined job satisfaction that evolved into work as craft for research participants who spent 25 years or more at the same level job. The findings point to the possibility that in any career, worked long enough, might hold deeper satisfaction. RESEARCH Teaching Pedagogy – Organizational Citizenship Behavior 2010 Assumption College Honors Program Summer Fellowship. Research topic: An Evaluation of Student-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Academia. This research will be conducted in collaboration with James Soldner, Ph.D. and Michelle Barrows, Class of 2011. Assumption College undergraduate students will be surveyed to explore their perspectives on Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and its implications for improved student performance, overall college experience, as well as identify tools for faculty use in helping students develop positive OCB. Teaching Pedagogy – Wiki 2009 Expanded previous study with new group of 90 Assumption College undergraduate students in 3 sections of Management and Organizational Behavior. Data analysis to be completed by May 2010. Teaching Pedagogy – Wiki 2008 Effective Use of Web 2.0 Software (wikispaces) as a pedagogical tool to increase student engagement and enhance their learning. Conducted with Michael Lewis, Visiting Assistant Professor, Assumption College. This research was conducted with 90 Assumption College undergraduate students in 3 sections of Principles of Marketing. Results were presented at the New England Faculty Development Consortium and Improving University Teaching-International. SERVICE American Marketing Association (AMA) collegiate chapter Faculty Advisor for Greyhound Association for Marketing Enrichment (GAME). Established this first Assumption College AMA affiliation, and officially recognized by AMA January 2010.
	Michael Lewis Assistant Professor of Management
	Francis Marino Associate Professor of Accounting
	Michael Matraia Lecturer in Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination
	Bart Morrison Assistant Provost for Academic Innovation and Strategy
	Jennifer Niece, CPA Chair of the Business Studies Department, Associate Professor of Accounting Created a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for student volunteers to prepare and electronically file low-income and elderly taxpayers’ returns
	Catherine Pastille Assistant Professor of Management

Internships & Outcomes

Business Major Internships

Experiential Learning Coordinator

We believe strongly that having the opportunity to bring classroom learning to a real-world working environment is essential to developing graduates who are sought after by employers. Assumption’s business program has an Experiential Learning Coordinator dedicated to supporting students, throughout their four years here, in gaining career-building experiential opportunities. The Experiential Learning Coordinator will:

Ensure students have hands-on experiences to apply classroom learning to the real world
Assist students with developing a career portfolio
Provide guidance throughout the job search process

Academic Internships

“Internship in Business” is a 3-credit seminar course in the Business Studies Department that is available to juniors or seniors. The course provides hands-on experience and training, networking with professionals, and assessment of your personal career strengths and interests. You’ll spend a minimum of 120 hours working in the field. During the faculty-led weekly seminar, students discuss how organizational behavior and management concepts apply to their individual placements.

Business Degree-Related Career Internships

All Assumption students may also participate in the College’s Career Internship Program and spend a semester gaining practical experience. This internship may be paid or unpaid and it provides valuable experience, but does not offer academic credit.

Our students have held internships in a variety of organizations, including:

American Chamber of Commerce, Sydney Australia
Citadel Broadcasting
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Greater Media/Boston
John Hancock Financial Services
National Grid
PricewaterhouseCoopers
RDW Group
Smith Barney

Shanell Cartegena

Shanell Cartagena
International Business '16
Education Intern at MyBnk

"My internship at MyBnk is teaching me how to develop, implement and deliver financial programming for young people. I organize events, observe programs at schools and brainstorm ideas to create relationships with young people at local schools. The professors I've had at Assumption have taught me to be open to new opportunities, like this one, and always embrace a challenge with a positive attitude."

Mario Garcia
Accounting '16
Start Intern at PriceWaterhouseCoopers

“During my internship I worked on a consulting project. My group and I created a presentation about brands. We advanced to the final round, where we presented our project to a panel of partners. We won and will be featured in the PwC newsletter!”

Patrick Giroux

Patrick Giroux
Organizational Communication '16
Internship: Marketing Intern at Fidelity Investments

"I worked on the web marketing team for institutional investing at Fidelity. My main responsibilities included updating our internal and external websites, posting news to our intranet, and assisting with the launch of our new social media sites. Following corporate style guides, ensuring all marketing materials were reviewed before using and working on teams for various campaigns allowed me to bring what I learned in the classroom to a real setting."

Catherine LeClerc

Catherine LeClerc
Management ‘17
Human Resource Intern at Design Within Reach

“My classes played an immense role in my success at my internship by teaching me the technical skills I needed. However, it was outside of the classroom through the Student Government Association and the Residence Hall Association that I learned pivotal teamwork skills and time management techniques that helped me to both secure and then flourish at my internship.”

Careers

There is an interesting array of opportunities in business, nonprofit organizations, government or corporate management training programs for business studies graduates. Students are also qualified to pursue an MBA or other graduate degree.

Darius Daniels

Darius Daniels
International Business ‘15
Internship: Intern at Sherwin Williams
Post-grad Plans: Executive Team Leader at Target

“The Assumption community has enabled me to grow as a person and taught me a lot about myself. The Career Development and Internship Center staff played a pivotal role. They helped me secure an internship with Sherwin Williams after my junior year and they also provided me with a number of helpful resources during my job search.”

Courtney Woods
Accounting '15
Post-grad Plans: Staff Accountant at DiCicco, Gulman & Company

"All of the professors in the Business Studies Department, specifically the Accounting professors, were extremely influential in helping me determine my post-grad plans. Every professor in our department has an open door policy and talked through the options for my future with me. They told me how they got where they are not and helped me choose my future path."

Recent employers include:

Ameriprise Financial
Connection Systems and Engineering
Eli Lilly & Company
Enterprise
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
General Electric
Meditech
PricewaterhouseCoopers
State Street Bank
TJX
WB Mason

#ACachieves

Christopher Waung

Accounting and Economics '17

Internal Audit Intern at The Hanover

As an Internal Audit intern, I assist with manual audit testing, sampling, audit research and reviewing reports. My involvement in athletics, student government and residential life at Assumption helped me refine my leadership, organization and communication skills to succeed in this internship.
Brigitta Steinbacher

Marketing '17

IDI Business Operations Intern at Unum

I’m working on a 10-week long project to provide a fully electronic experience for new customers from offer letters to eBills. I meet with department heads to ask questions and determine the process. After I gather my information, I will present my recommendations to senior executives.
Mario Pizzieri

Marketing '18

Marketing Intern at MidState Insurance

At MidState I’ve had the opportunity to assist with Facebook, Google +, Twitter and Instagram campaigns to expand social media exposure. I also utilize HubSpot to maintain inbound marketing campaigns with blogs and content offers.
Alan Harrington

Accounting '17

Internship: Audit Intern at Deloitte & Touche LLP

Through my internship I gained insight into both the financial services and commercial industries while working with a variety of clients. I also learned various aspects of the audit practice as well as gained a deeper understanding of legal matters that are intertwined with audits.
Matthew Rivers

Management and Accounting '16

Internship: Internal Audit Intern at The Hanover Insurance Group; Position: IT Auditor at Wolf & Company

My Assumption experience has enabled me to develop my skills and apply them in areas where they are needed within the community. I’ve gained a breadth of experience and knowledge and look forward to translating it into successful opportunities in the future.
Sarah Massiwer

Accounting '16

Internship: Staff Auditor at Aronson, Aronson and Finning CPAs; Position: Staff Accountant at Aronson, Aronson and Finning CPAs

During my internship I learned about the public accounting field and was exposed to many different industries. I also learned the accounting rules that apply to these industries in order to successfully audit them.

Contact Information

Jennifer Niece, CPA

Chair of the Business Studies Department, Associate Professor of Accounting

jniece@assumption.edu

508-767-7245

2016-2017 Course Catalog