While spring is the perfect season for a fresh start, we cannot move forward unless we appreciate where we came from.
This time last year, our campus had shut down, sports events were canceled, and classes were moving online for virtual learning.
Our Chambers College persevered through a pandemic – both students and faculty – and came out stronger on the other side.
Read what some of our faculty say were some of their their strongest moments from the last year.
In her ILR 548 (Strategic Management for HR) class, Dr. Kelly Nix, teaching associate professor of management, had experiential learning projects with Toyota Motor Company in Spring 2020 and started new experiential learning projects for students with the WVU Talent and Culture and WVU Medicine in the Fall 2020. In ORGL 410 (Youth Leadership Development), the students worked on experiential learning projects with Adventure WV in the Fall 2020. All team projects were virtually based and the outcomes were positive for both the students and organizations. In fact, Toyota indicated they have already implemented the recommendations by the students. Therefore, despite the challenges of COVID-19, Dr. Nix and her students continued with innovative experiential learning.
While great teaching is more than SEIs (Student Evaluation of Instruction), in 2020, we celebrate those Accounting professors that had the highest SEIs in the classroom. In alphabetical order, congratulations to our 2020 top five: Lauren Cooper, Jack Dorminey, Mark Nigrini, Dick Riley and Christian Schaupp. Jack and Mark are repeats from 2019! For the second year-in-a-row, Mark Nigrini has earned the highest SEIs in the department!
Accounting professors also had "A+" research publications: Kip Holderness, Jiwoo Ryou, Trevor Sorensen, and John Treu. Jiwoo and John Treu had hits at The Accounting Review (TAR), arguably the top journal in accounting. For John Treu, it was his second TAR acceptance!
The following Accounting professors had "A" research publications: Lauren Cooper, Kip Holderness, Dick Riley, Jiwoo Ryou, and Trevor Sorensen.
In February, Vantage Ventures celebrated and honored Black History month and announced the start of their newest initiative to engage all entrepreneurs: Vantage Ventures Diversify.
We highlighted the stories of Black entrepreneurs, Morris Morrison, Adrienne Harris and Crystal Good. You can view their Real Talks at the Vantage Ventures YouTube channel.
As we are not currently able to send students abroad during the pandemic, we have found creative ways to bring international activity here. Our Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy sponsored a live virtual event between WVU students and their counterparts in Bahrain.
As part of Dr. Susan Lantz's BCOR 200 course, students from her class and those participating in one the Royal University for Women shared with each other nuances of their respective cultures and business etiquettes. The 75-minute interaction allowed both U.S. and Bahrain students to present, compare, and contrast their business climates.
Our advising center saw a significant increase in student advising appointments and tutoring sessions in Fall 2020 - and the momentum is continuing into the spring, with 645 calls taken during the week of March 23.
Stay up to date on the latest Chambers College news and events, and follow us on social at @wvuchambers.
