The next four issues of The Collegian will be focused on the College of Business, featuring the chairs: professors Victoria Kaskey, Daniel Fox, Robert Stoll and Lance Kaltenbaugh. Breaking down each department within the college will serve to obtain an insight on how much the College of Business offers to students.
Dr. Victoria Kaskey is the chair of two rapidly growing programs: accounting and management information systems.
Kaskey said that while management information systems is a great minor to pair with the other business degrees offered, it is geared to business data and interpretation, not computer science.
In accounting, students learn about credits and debits, producing financial statements, auditing, cost accounting, managerial accounting and taxation. This knowledge is used for students to figure out where they want to go career-wise.
In management information systems, students learn programming, information on databases, network security and system analysis. Again, this basic knowledge is to direct students towards their career.
“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accounting has an expected 6% 10-year growth rate, while management information systems is expected to have a 12% growth rate,” Kaskey said. “Both programs provide great career paths for students, especially since obtaining a job in either of the fields is not as difficult as other occupations.
Kaskey has been the chair of this department for three years after Dr. Kris Parsons made the decision to be a professional instructor across the country.
Kaskey always wanted to be an educator, so she contacted Baldwin-Wallace about teaching part-time. She taught there for one year in entry-level accounting.
B-W taught her that this job was for her, and after reaching out to other universities, Dr. Pittenger (then-Dean of COBE at Ashland University) told her to call back as nothing was available.
Kaskey called once a month for three months.
“[The] poor woman must’ve been so sick of my calls so she gave me a part-time teaching opportunity in the correctional program in Grafton, Ohio, and the next year, I filled in for someone on sabbatical full-time,” Kaskey said.
Later that year, she was told that someone was retiring and if she wanted to be in the running for the full-time position a doctorate degree was needed. Kaskey hurried through the program, defended her dissertation and “never looked back.”
All College of Business and Economics (COBE) students are required to complete an internship. Fortunately, AU has options for students with the J.M. Smucker Company, Cintas and many more firms.
COBE holds two events on the first Thursday in September, both showcasing students and prospective interning companies.
The first is Career Day. During the day, students attend panel discussions from several employers to learn about their companies.
Kaskey is in charge of the second event: Meet the Accountant Night, from 5-7 p.m. Students come to the event with resumes ready to pass out and speak with 15-20 employers such as Rea & Associates, the J.M. Smucker Company, as well as local firms such as Whitcomb and Hess.
Many students gain their internship through this event.
In accounting, one graduate got a job on an auditing team that audited a coal mine and had to travel deep into the coal mines to see the inventory.
Management information systems is focusing on promoting it as a minor in COBE, while introducing new Data Analytics courses.
“Accounting gets a bad ‘rap,’” Kaskey said. “So many people think that accounting is sitting behind a desk pumping numbers all day, but that is often further from the truth. Yes, that is probably true at public firms during tax season, but not all careers have desk jobs in accounting.”
Any questions can be emailed to Kaskey at [email protected].