Mercy College Transforms the Business School Experience with Centers of Excellence

Mercy College is transforming the business school model with an Executive Faculty team of top-ranked professionals and academics who understand firsthand what employers want—and how to give students the skills they need to stand out in the job market. With an emphasis on learning by doing, these business experts are leading seven new Mercy College School of Business Centers of Excellence to offer students unparalleled experience in the business world.

This new paradigm for business education synthesizes top-tier instruction with a broad spectrum of opportunities for learning outside the classroom through mentoring, skills development, networking, and internships. The School of Business restructuring is a core component of Mercy College’s ongoing commitment to spearheading innovative educational strategies.

Connecting Business Education and Career Success

“Success starts at the top. Our new School of Business Dean, Dr. Ed Weis, was a managing director at Merrill Lynch before he decided to devote himself to creating a visionary new approach to business education,” says Dr. Kimberly Cline, president of Mercy College.  “This approach—which is being unveiled at Mercy College—emphasizes active learning and faculty members whose contacts can open doors for students in global companies.”

Dean Weis has appointed an Executive Faculty of business professionals who were recently in high-level positions with companies such as CitiGroup, JP Morgan, and American Express—and doing the hiring themselves. As such, they are uniquely positioned to understand what employers are seeking and to shape both the classroom instruction and Centers of Excellence to cultivate these skills.

“The core of this exciting new curriculum at Mercy College is ‘active learning’,” explains Dr. Weis. “While we cover the traditional business education concepts, we place much more value on experiential learning.  Our goal is to ensure that our students graduate with a portfolio of skills and experience that enable them to stand out in the business world.”

Dean Weis has approached success differently since his early years. He was a
prodigy who skipped five grades and graduated college at age 17; then earned his Masters in Accounting, Law Degree, and Ph.D. in Finance by age 24. He served as a managing director in investment banking at Merrill Lynch before devoting his energy to the development of the next generation of business leaders.

Centers of Excellence Provide Guidance from the Best

According to Andrew Vatier, a School of Business student who landed an internship at Goldman Sachs, “Mercy College gives you a chance to stand out in the business world—and to lift yourself out of a stack of resumes.”

The Mercy College School of Business has created seven new Centers of Excellence to help students realize their potential outside the classroom.

Each of the Centers of Excellence has its own focus and leadership:

• Strategic Consulting Institute - Students gain executive experience as student consultants for Fortune 500 companies such as Johnson & Johnson, IBM, PepsiCo and MasterCard. Director:  Dr. Ray Manganelli, former CEO, Swiss Re Consulting Services
• Women’s Leadership Institute - A resource center to empower female students to excel personally, professionally and academically through mentoring, networking, skills development and volunteer opportunities. Director: Professor Pamela Chasin, former executive director, JP Morgan 
• Entrepreneurship Institute - Under the tutelage of successful
  entrepreneurs, students create, develop and launch their own businesses,
  potentially funded by venture capitalists. Directors: Professor Mahmoud Wazihullah and Dr. Curt Abel, entrepreneurs
• Center for International Business - Students partner with foreign students and foreign businesses to gain global awareness of business cultures, with a particular focus on China and London. Director: Professor Michael Cheah, former central banker for Singapore
• Life Path Institute - Students acquire the crucial success tools of self-exploration, personal branding, and professional development. Director: Professor Victoria Roberts-Drogin, former executive coach
• Luxury Marketing Institute - Students participate in networking events where leaders of 1,000 member companies share best practices and emerging themes in luxury marketing. Director: Professor Greg Furman, founder of the Luxury Marketing Council
• Center for Business Media - Students learn how to communicate professionally and engage in media and digital media production, while
  networking with industry professionals. Director: Professor Chris Salute, former marketing director of Yahoo!

Amanda Droll, a student who had an internship at MTV Marketing, sums up the Mercy College School of Business distinction: “Mercy doesn’t treat students like they are just a number. The professors give you individual attention that you can’t find anywhere else. Mercy is invested in our future.”

Billy Johansen, a Mercy College student who held an internship at the Federal Reserve Bank, found that participating in one of these Centers had undeniable benefits. “The Strategic Consulting Institute at Mercy College allowed me to gain real world consulting experience, impressed a number of influential business executives, and opened the door for internship opportunities.”

Creating opportunities while giving students the confidence and skills to take advantage of them—that is the core of business education at Mercy College.