Business Professional Association Helps Students Prepare for Business Careers

by 10/12/2009

The Business Department at Misericordia University has launched a new professional organization on campus to help students be better prepared for a career as a business professional. The Business Professional Association (BPA) at Misericordia University will provide experiences, information, and programs to promote business as a profession and will help serve as a bridge from the student’s university experience to the business world.

“The business program at Misericordia University holds certain values that we hope to instill in our students, including ethical behavior, moral and personal conduct, leadership and innovative thinking as they pertain to a career in business,” explains John M. Sumansky, Ph.D., chair of the Misericordia Business Department. “Over the past 10 years, graduates of the business program have seen a 97 percent job placement rate. By establishing a professional association, we hope to build upon that success and continue to ensure that our students are as prepared as possible to take their place as true professionals in business.”

The association will expand upon the learning experience in the classroom and provide students with a unique opportunity to develop their professionalism. One of the first programs gives students an opportunity to network with members of the Executives in Residence Program at Misericordia, a group of experts in their respective fields who have volunteered to serve as mentors, speakers and occasionally adjunct faculty in the growing business department.

BPA programs and activities will include case study and problem solving with business leaders, networking with executives, forums with national business leaders, VIP tours to the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the U.S. Treasury and Department of Commerce.

BPA students will also have the opportunity to participate in upcoming “Networking with Executives in Residence” sessions planned by the Business Department on campus. The first session on Oct. 21 features risk management specialists Arnold Mendelsohn, senior project manager, Fortent, Inc., New York, N.Y., and Marc Gonzalez, chief operating officer, Site2, LLC, Scranton, Pa., who will both be on campus to discuss business continuity and disaster recovery.

The second networking session is Nov. 11 and will provide Misericordia students and local business leaders the opportunity to meet Wayne Chau, vice president of finance and corporate treasurer, Toshiba America, Inc. He will be on campus to discuss how he has seen the corporate financial industry change and his expectations for the future.

The BPA is open primarily to upper class business majors, including juniors, seniors and graduate students in good academic standing in both the traditional degree program and the Expressway Accelerated Degree Program for adult students. Periodically, programs will be opened to freshmen and sophomore students.

For more information on the Business Department at Misericordia University, please contact John M. Sumansky, Ph.D., at (570) 674-6158.

Founded and Sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County’s first four-year college and offers 32 academic majors on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full and part-time formats.

Quick info:

The Misericordia Executives in Residence list includes Gerry Mihalick, Berkshire Asset Management, Inc.; Bryan E. Boyle, Howell Benefits; R. Clements Gover, Wells Fargo Advisors; Jeffrey Laboranti, Merrill Lynch; Mike Sowinski and Minnie Lewis, Landmark Community Bank; Todd Serafin and Jack Jones, Luzerne Bank; Laura Muia, Guard Insurance; Penn Millers Insurance; Stephanie Smith and Joe Survilla, Penn Millers Insurance Company; Ralph Capristo and Barbara Toczko-Maculloch, M&T Bank; Kevin Palmiter, Kristin Pisano and Susan Long, Northwestern Mutual; Sean McGrath, Eastern Insurance; Julie Space, TMG Health; Wayne Chau, Toshiba America, Inc.; David Payne, PNC Bank; Tom Druby, Blue Cross of NEPA; Eric Williams, Sanofi Pasteur; Joe Fisne, Community Medical Center; and Tom Dougher, Prudential.

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