Trinity University

Susie P. Gonzalez
susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu
210-999-8445
Jan. 31, 2012

Trinity University Business Administration Students Act as Project Consultants

Management majors tackle real-world problems, gain invaluable experience

SAN ANTONIO - Business administration seniors taking a management seminar at Trinity University got a taste of real-world project consulting last fall by helping three different companies identify a corporate problem and then try to solve it.

Business administration Professor Rita Kosnik, who has taught the management course at Trinity since 1988, wanted to incorporate a hands-on consulting component to make the class even more relevant for students. In the past, she used corporate case studies. For example, three years ago she included a comprehensive analysis of General Motors, Ford, and Toyota when the automobile industry was struggling financially. Although fascinating and instructive, that course remained "far from the trenches," she said.

After securing approval from her department chair, Professor Richard Butler, and the students, Kosnik identified three candidates for the project - Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, Urology San Antonio, and the Each One Teach One adult literacy program.

Ashley Hamner of San Antonio, a senior majoring in business administration with minors in psychology and Spanish, said she and three other Trinity students developed mission and vision statements for Each One Teach One, which began as a church mission and was only incorporated as a non-profit agency in 2010.

Not only did the students help the agency with its organizational needs, they learned about the pervasive illiteracy problem among San Antonio adults.

Hamner, who plans to work in the hospitality industry and expects to encounter employees with literacy challenges, said, "This was the perspective I need as a person who cares about social justice."

Carolyn Heath, executive director of Each One Teach One, said the free work provided by Trinity students measured in the "tens of thousands of dollars. They did the work of paid consultants."

Senior Emily Endres of Athens, Texas, said her team of Trinity business administration students analyzed and suggested ways the urology medical practice could improve efficiency for patients and health care workers. Some of the students are continuing their efficiency analysis this spring as an independent study class. Endres, who would like to work in the health care field, said the course was a good transition from a life of academics to work.

Kosnik proclaimed the revised approach to her course a success. "I tell the students, 'You won't remember Chapter 4 but you will remember the project you did,'" she said, adding that she is accepting proposals from other companies and non-profits for Trinity students to analyze their management operations.