Rowan University William G. Rohrer College of Business (RCB) as its name suggests follows an industrial model for leverage.
In the year Founded in 1972 and celebrating its 50thTh Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, the Department of Management Studies expanded into the School of Business in 1986 and was dedicated in 2005 to Rohr, a community banker and philanthropist helping South Jersey businesses grow.
Like many of the businesses that Rohrer helped finance, the college named for him has grown exponentially without losing focus on service, community and entrepreneurial spirit.
“Entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial mindset are key to our mission,” said Dr. Sue Lerman, RCB dean since 2015.
The Princeton Review And entrepreneur Magazine He named the college’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program one of the top 50 in the U.S. in 2021, which is supported by university president Ali Houshmand and encouraged by all Rowan schools and colleges.
Lehrman believes the recognition proves that entrepreneurship, taught at RCB and encouraged across campus, means following a desire to do great things.
“It’s about thinking and acting in bold, creative ways,” she said. “Following the model developed by Mr. Rohr and the model strongly advocated by Dr. Haushmand, we support students and community members to develop big ideas and often that means starting a business.”
RCB at a glance
Helping define the college among the 50 are four centers of excellence and a broad range of academic degrees, from certificate and baccalaureate programs through an innovative and customizable MBA.
Features of the College:-
- Centers of Excellence in Experiential Learning, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Professional Development and Responsible Leadership;
- 12 regional leadership advisory councils that shape curriculum and provide mentorship, internships, and often job opportunities for graduates.
- Approximately 2,000 undergraduates and approximately 300 graduate students;
- Over 60 full-time faculty and dedicated adjunct instructors;
- It is one of the few American business schools to hold both AACSB and ABET accreditation.
Business for the greater good
While the meaning of business schools is to train students to turn a profit, Lerman said, RCB also places a strong emphasis on the ways in which business can benefit humanity. For example, this summer high school students as Entrepreneur Academy applied an entrepreneurial lens to the United Nations’ global sustainability goals, such as ending poverty and ensuring clean drinking water.
“We will talk People, planet, profitLerman said. “Historically, business schools have focused solely on profit, but we look at the triple bottom line, which we call ‘the three pillars.’
The objective is to explore the theme from the Dean’s office to the four college centers to the departments and associations.
From an MBA concentration in sustainable business practices to the “South Jersey Accelerator,” a program launched this year to support entrepreneurs in the city, a long-term initiative in which business students help community residents prepare their taxes for free, Lerman said the impact of the community. It is always part of the lesson.
“We’re training business people who strive for a greater purpose,” she says.
Holy places
Stephen Kozachin, RCB’s executive director of external affairs, who directs the Center for Experiential Learning, said last spring’s project with St. John of God Community Services in Westville demonstrates the college’s commitment to business for the greater good.
In that project, 68 RCB students developed a marketing plan, studied supply chain and logistics, and provided staffing guidance to St. Grouse, a specialty St. John’s customer who hopes to soon sell a line of coffee at retail outlets.
“The Holy Places coffee project is an example of good business for the common good,” said Kozachin. “St. John of God’s customers roast, package and distribute coffee through yard sales, online and at some events. It’s not in supermarkets yet, but we hope to help it arrive soon.
A legacy of responsible leaders
Rowan University’s 2022 Alumnus of the Year, RCB graduate Joseph Cosgrove ’00, says the lessons he learned during his undergraduate studies helped set the tone for his business career and continued his career.
CEO of Pentech Health of Glen Mills, Pa
In addition to being named Rowan’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, Cosgrove also received In 2016, Mark was named Inventor of the Year, is a Philly 100 CEO Hall of Famer, and the National Kidney Foundation Business Award and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
None of this would have been possible if he hadn’t learned to put customers – in his case, patients – first.
“There is no greater joy than knowing that the products we make and the services we provide are contributing to a greater quality of care,” he said.
One of the college’s longest-serving faculty members, Dr. Robert Fleming, professor of management and former dean, said the concept of community service, sometimes called “servant leadership” in business, has been a core teaching principle at RCB for decades.
Fleming, who is nationally recognized for his work in fire safety and emergency management, said his own experience, including serving as a volunteer firefighter since 1972, has always informed his teaching.
“We have people teaching our classes who don’t simply read the servant leadership script,” Fleming said. “They lived. And when you have people who have actually done it and share those experiences with students, it enhances the reputation of not only the College of Business, but also Rowan University.
Part of Mr. Rohrer’s legacy
The William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation has given nearly $20 million to the University since 1995, including more than $17 million to the College of Business.
From this, the foundation In 2005, he donated $10 million to support RCB students. In the year In 1999, the foundation awarded Rowan $1 million in business scholarships and, in 1995, an additional $1 million for the William G. (In 2000, the Campbell family of Salem donated $1 million to endow the John B. Campbell Professorial Chair, named for the late president and chairman of the Mannington Mills Board of Directors.) 2017 Pledged $5 million to establish the William G. Rohrer Business Honors College Scholarship Program.
Haddon’s first mayor (who served a total of 36 years) posthumously left millions of dollars to organizations in South Jersey, including William G. School in Haddonfield, Camden County Leukemia Society, American Diabetes Association and Arthritis Foundation.
Building on success
RCB literally built on a decades-long record of success with the opening of the Business Hall in 2017, a gleaming glass and brick building on the north side of Rowan’s Glassboro campus designed to double the size of the college.
Fostering relationships with the business hall and the region, the college offers a variety of professional connections, including opening a student-run coffee shop in the business hall with Sackby’s Coffee in the past year. A speaking engagement with Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens; and its partnership with St. John of God Community Services.
As part of the college’s 50Th In celebration of the anniversary, RCB will outfit 50 first-year students with business attire to attend special events, job fairs and interviews, and host a series of special events to build on its first half-century of success. They include:
Support for RCB 50ThThe college is conducting a fundraising program to help donors make a $50 or other gift to keep the college strong and active for the next 50 years.
“We want to do 50Th A meaningful anniversary for our students, faculty, alumni, donors and community,” said Dean Lerman. “As part of that, we’re hosting events that speak to our mission.”
