Vision and Mission of 
Business and Information Technology

 

Business and Information Technology (BIT) is Lincoln University’s restructured business department in response to the growing demand for business graduates with degrees that integrate business and information technologies. The department is one of the largest in the School of Social Sciences and Behavioral Studies and offers major/minor programs in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology and Management and minors in Economics and Entrepreneurship. It attracts students from the major Northeastern metropolitan areas of Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, DC, Maryland, Delaware, contiguous and distant states in the United States and foreign countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. This multinational and domestic admixture creates a demographically diverse and intellectually stimulating environment for the student body.

BIT leverages the capabilities of its academic and business-experienced faculty to deliver the best combination of theoretical and experiential practices that emphasize case study analyses, simulations, lectures and applied exercises in state-of-the-art campus facilities and laboratories. Classroom instruction is supplemented with on-site visits to public and private organizations where students network and interact with practitioners and experts in the department’s business disciplines. An active study-abroad program also fosters international exposure and cultural connectivity beyond the boundaries of American academic pedagogy. The department’s curriculum is enriched by a synthesis of liberal arts, humanities and the sciences in addition to its grounding in practical business applications.

A student who majors or minors in one of the department’s programs will be inspired and motivated to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully transition into, and effectively compete, in the global marketplace as managers, leaders and economic entrepreneurs. The department seeks to augment the academic experience of its students by encouraging participation in several extracurricular activities-Business Club, Student in Free Enterprise, National Association of Black Accountants, and others. These student-facilitated activities build project management, teamwork, leadership, management, financial, technological, and entrepreneurial competencies, which are indispensable attributes of the learning organization in a knowledge-based economy.

To graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree, a student must complete a minimum of 120 - 124 credits, which are distributed according to the following schema:

 

Common Core (A)	BIT Core (B)	BIT Major (C)	BIT Minor Emphasis (D)	Foreign Lang/CSC (E)	Academic Enrichment (F)	Free Electives (G)	Total (H)
39 - 41	24	24	15	6 - 8	6	6	120 - 124

A BIT student must satisfy the course requirements in columns A - G. However, because of the department’s emphasis on multidisciplinary bodies of knowledge, a student may optionally pursue a non-business minor providing this request is sanctioned and approved by the advisor and department chairperson. A Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree candidate must also fulfill the course requirements of columns A - G plus any additional language requirements of the department of Foreign Languages. Similar to the BS student, a BA student may also elect to pursue a non-business minor providing he/she receives the appropriate departmental approvals.

Students who graduate from BIT’s programs possess a wide range of pre-professional and integrated academic skills and experiences that prepare them to successfully enter and negotiate the competitive postgraduate job market of increasing change, complexity and ambiguity. The department also encourages its students to pursue advanced degrees (MA, MBA, MS, and PhD.) and professional certifications, such as the Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and others.

BIT subscribes to Wharton’s Dean Patrick Harker’s viewpoint, “Business is the most powerful force for positive change in the world today.” The department of Business and Information Technology is committed to providing the very best business and interdisciplinary undergraduate education that is available in academia to stimulate and facilitate changes in the global marketplace and expand the boundaries of knowledge.

Vision/Mission

Business and Information Technology is a career-oriented department that educates its students for the professions as executives and economic entrepreneurs. Its programs are oriented toward theory and practice by integrating multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and discipline-specific knowledge in the major business fields in response to public and private sector organizational needs. The department aspires to be at the forefront of the knowledge-based industry through its implementation of an Information Technology major/minor and infusion of enterprise resource management technologies in its curriculum.

The global diffusion of knowledge with the Internet as one of the main drivers of disruption, outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing and multinational competition are overturning established public and private sector business practices thereby challenging business departments to become more pedagogically innovative and creative. BIT intends to periodically supplement its current professoriate with new faculty hires that possess diverse skills and interests and cutting-edge competencies to advance the department’s academic agenda.

Since the professions demand students who are intrapreneurs, can influence business practices and improve productivity efficiencies and effectiveness, the department will align with organizations to create and incubate entrepreneurial business ventures, consulting practices, and business laboratories. This exposure will provide students with valuable experiential learning, expand their knowledge on a variety of business disciplines, and build critical problem solving, decision-making, project management, marketing and leadership skills. BIT’s students will gain a competitive edge and be fully prepared to face any challenges they are likely to experience in the globally diversified job market.

In his discussion about innovative companies, Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM CEO, asserts, “The way you will thrive in this environment is by innovating-innovating in technologies, innovating in strategies, innovating in business models.” Transforming the traditional business curriculum is strategically insightful and innovating. The execution of its vision and mission will reposition BIT to attract private and public sector employers who are looking for graduates with a global outlook from a university with a technology-enriched culture of academic rigor, adaptability, creativity, entrepreneurship, team-work and innovation. These attributes are a testimony to the post-modernist vitality of the department of Business and Information Technology.