The Cox School of Business has just introduced a new minor in business for non-business undergraduate students beginning this summer. Prior to this time, non-Cox students could not enroll in business courses because of the large number of business students and a lack of resources.

Most professionals who speak at SMU urge students to take business courses, and now non-business majors can actually partake in that advice. Starting this summer, students can gain a competitive-edge in the Cox Minor in Business Program to help themselves stand out among others when applying for internships and jobs after graduation.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Business Programs Gary Moskowitz stated, “It has been a long time in the making. When you add six courses to Summer I and six courses to Summer II, it’s difficult to even schedule classrooms.”

Moskowitz explained that the new program is designed to provide an introduction to business. The program will also introduce a solid foundation in business basics to complement students’ primary areas of academic interest.

He said, “It is useful for students to have some sort of foundation because most of them will end up in the business world.

“There’s a lot of students that think they won’t be going into business, but guess what, they will. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the arts or if you’re a pre-med student, most likely you’ll still have to deal with accounting or finance,” he said.

The minor in business is an 18-credit-hour program in which students take five required courses and choose one of the two elective courses. Classes will be offered during the summer sessions only and can be taken in any order. Although not required, it is recommended that students take the courses consecutively so they can complete the program in two summers and still have time remaining to participate in an internship.

Classes offered this summer include: accounting concepts, finance concepts, marketing concepts, management concepts, markets and freedom, and personal finance.

These courses were designed and created specifically for the minor because there are no prerequisites for the program. All of the courses will be taught by existing faculty except for Markets and Freedom, which will be taught by the chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

“We’re really excited about that,” Moskowitz said, “but with that I must say we’re excited about all of our professors.”

All students are eligible to take these courses after completing their freshman year, however it is more difficult for seniors because they cannot take undergraduate courses post graduation. If a senior wishes to enroll in the program they would simply to delay their graduation date.

There is no specific GPA requirement for admission “unless your GPA is low enough to get you kicked out of the university,” Moskowitz joked. However, to earn the minor in business, students need both a passing grade for all six courses, and an overall GPA for the six minor classes of at least 2.0.

Moskowitz hopes that the new program will help students when they graduate and start working because they’ll have a good start on the business world because of the preparation and exposure they’ve gained in the business program here at SMU.