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Volume 27 Issue 3
January 26, 2006
Spotlight on Excellence
Communiversity News
Calendar of Events
Job Announcements
Alcorn State University Gains Approval to Offer New Degree Programs, one in High-Tech Industry, and one in Hospitality and Gaming Management
The New and Highly Sought Degree Programs, the Only Ones of the their Kind Offered in Mississippi, Mark Alcorn’s Continued Expansion of Academic Offerings in Multiple Locations
The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning recently approved a request by Alcorn State University to offer an undergraduate degree program in Computer Networking and Information Technology, and a graduate program in Hospitality and Gaming Management, both to begin in the fall of 2006.
Authorized as part of the Ayers settlement agreement, the program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Networking and Information Technology will be offered at Alcorn’s campus in Vicksburg as well as at the main campus in Lorman, Mississippi. Alcorn is one of the institutions that make up the 8-member Institutions of Higher Learning. While other institutions in the system offer degrees in computer science with varying emphasis, Alcorn’s program will be the only one that focuses specifically on the exponentially growing and lucrative field of computer networking and information technology.
“As more companies become global in their scope and think critically about the most efficient and cost-effective ways to manage information, communicate, and link their various activities, expertise in computer networking and information technology will be invaluable,” said Dr. President Dr. Clinton Bristow, Jr., president of Alcorn. “Individuals who possess these important skills will be highly marketable. As a result of this new academic program, many of these individuals will be Alcornites.”
At the graduate level, Alcorn will also offer beginning fall of 2006 an addition to its already well established Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program in Natchez. Students who successfully complete this rigorous program will earn an MBA, with a specialty in Hospitality and Gaming Management.
Hospitality and gaming represent multi-billion-dollar industries in the state of Mississippi, as they do in other parts of the country as well. Consequently, companies require a growing number of highly trained leaders to administer their multi-faceted operations. Offered through Alcorn’s School of Business, the MBA: Specialty in Hospitality and Gaming Management will equip students with the academic preparation for limitless advancement in these dynamic industries.
Specifically, mid-level managers in the areas of accounting and finance, marketing, operations, and human resources tend to possess knowledge, skills and competencies specific to their respective areas. However, upward movement into the management positions of the various areas and then on to higher management positions in the organization requires a holistic view as well as the ability for integrative and team management. Like the undergraduate degree program in computer networking and information technology, the graduate program in hospitality and gaming management will be the only one of its kind offered in the state of Mississippi.
“Students who complete the new MBA in hospitality and gaming management will have a proven ability to manage change, work in teams to accomplish organizational goals, and possess all important people skills, all assets that successful senior level managers must possess,” said Dr. Bristow. “This is another example of what we mean when we say ‘ASU equals CEO.’”
For more information on the Bachelor of Science degree program in Computer Networking and Information Technology, contact Dr. Kwabena Agyepong, Chairman of the Department of Advanced Technologies, at (601) 877-6482. For more information on the MBA: Specialty in Hospitality and Gaming Management, contact Dr. Steve Wells, Director of the MBA program, at (601) 304-4308.
University Relations Staff
W. Christopher Cason,
Director
Sherita L Bailey, Administrative Assistant,
Writer
Elena Dobrynina, Staff Writer/International Student
Recruiter
Mail:
P.O. Box 389, Alcorn State, MS 39096-7500 ~ Phone:
(601) 877-6130 ~
Email: elenad@alcorn.edu
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Office: WWACB, Suite 511
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