2-29-12

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Univ. Plans to O ffer Business Minor

Program will be capped at 400 students per class

Business-minded Cornellians can look forward to a new campus-wide business minor next fall if a proposal by University administrators proposal goes through as planned

In its current form, the University’s “Business@Cornell” proposal will create a business minor available to all undergraduates with a GPA of 3 3 or higher who have taken both an introductory economics and an introductory statistics course by the end of their sophomore year, according to Ronald Seeber, vice provost for land grant affairs The minor will first be available to students in the Class of 2015

management, accounting, finance and marketing The classes will be offered by the Charles H Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the School of Hotel Administration and the Johnson school

Only 400 undergraduates per class will be allowed to enroll in the program for the first year the minor is offered

“We do anticipate expanding,” Thomas said “But we will start with a cap so we can see how big this thing is, and then we can expand in a planned way by adding some capacity

“Students are interested in getting a return on their education.”

J os eph T homas

Joseph Thomas, dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management, attributed the demand for a business minor to changing societal expectations about education “It’s a tough time economically, and students want to show that they have gone to a great liberal arts university but that they have also learned applied skills,” he said “I think there is more interest in having a college education that allows you to go out and do something immediately after graduation students are interested in getting a return on their education ”

To complete the minor, students will have to take at least one class each in the fields of business

Eventually, if there is lots more demand, it does imply that we need to re-purpose or hire new professors that is yet another reason to start with something we know we can manage ”

Seeber said he has been working on the proposal since last year and that he expects the Faculty Senate to approve it at its March meeting If the proposal is approved by the Senate, Seeber will announce the University’s intention to create the minor to the Board of Trustees The board does not, however, have the power to overturn the Senate’s ruling

Last month, Seeber presented the

Student Assembly Hopefuls

Pitch Platforms at For ums

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Planning Board Advances Holiday Inn E xpansion

Hart Hotels’ proposal to dramatically expand its Holiday Inn hotel near the Commons has received substantial support from the community and is well underway to gaining approval for construction, board members said at a meeting of the Planning and Development Board Tuesday

In an effort to increase its guest occupancy on weekdays, Hart Hotels proposes to expand the hotel on South Cayuga Street through two new additions More than 110 rooms in the hotel’s north, south and west guest room wings will be demolished and replaced by a banquet and meeting space, a 10-story tower with 115 new rooms and a rooftop entertainment complex

Govind Acharya, chair of the board, called the proposal “the most ideal sort of project that we get ”

“[The improvements will help in] building our density, bringing more people into the city, improving our tax pays and it’s going to make [the hotel] more aesthetically pleasing I don’t think there was anyone who was opposed to it,” Acharya said

During the board’s meeting on Tuesday, however, some board members expressed their concerns about the renovation’s effects on the neighborhood

In a letter to the board City Transportation Engineer Tim Logue questioned the safety of two new curbcuts, or cuts

A phalanx of students and advocates rallied behind a proposal to construct a GreenStar grocery store at 307 College Ave Tuesday, decrying arcane and obstructionist city parking requirements that they said were preventing the natural foods market from flourishing in the heart of Collegetown The reality, however, may be more complex City officials said at a meeting of the Planning and Development Board Tuesday that developer Josh Lower’s ’05 proposed GreenStar is not being held up by city regulations, as there is no parking requirement for new retail spaces located in apartment buildings in Collegetown

Instead, they said, the GreenStar is being stalled because it is slated for the bottom floor of a bigger project a proposed six-story building, called “Collegetown Crossing,” on College Avenue This building will contain 103 bedrooms that do require parking spaces under