Connections

The experts agree: students are more likely to succeed in business when professionals contribute to their education. And succeeding in business by having experts in the classroom is just what you can expect when you enrol in Humber's Business Administration program. Just ask these four Business School experts.

Prior to his current job as Program Coordinator of the Business Administration program, Mike Planche worked for years in the financial services industry where professionalism is a key to success. And professionalism certainly defines Mike's approach to teaching. "I want Humber students to develop the thought processes of the successful business people they are going to become." Mike treats classes like business meetings and students like clients. "My goal is to ensure that students get value for their educational dollar by acquiring the skills they need for their business tool box. I pay them with grades, and I congratulate them on a job well done, exactly like I would if they were employees."

Mike tries to reinforce professionalism outside the classroom as well. Each year, he helps organize a "Mocktails" event that resembles speed-dating for the business set. At the sold-out event, industry representatives are seated around a large room and business students get seven minutes to try and exchange their resume for a business card. At the end of seven minutes, a bell rings and students move on to the next potential employer. Mike says Mocktails is a great way for students to learn about opportunities in the business world - and practice the professionalism they learn about in the classroom.

Brian McAteer is a labour relations specialist and teaches Human Resources, Organizational Behaviour, and Principles of Management in the Business Administration program. "I've worked in both union and non-union organizations and have been through the grievance process up to arbitration, have negotiated major components of collective bargaining agreements, and have been in front of labour boards and courts dealing with wrongful dismissals." Drawing upon this experience, Brian says that "I only teach concepts that I know work in the workplace - like human resource attraction, development, retention, and succession planning."

Lisa Berring brings a range of business experience into her classes as well. "I actually consider myself to be an employment specialist and my background reflects this. I have worked in all parts of the field, including hiring and training employees, helping job seekers, finding jobs for individuals with disabilities, and teaching adults in business." From Lisa's perspective, the human resource issues she covers in her classes "are more important today than they have ever been due to increased employment legislation, a competitive global economy, and diversity in the workforce. Students who participate in my classes get a perspective on how and what they can contribute in this exciting climate."

In 2007, Lisa used her employment expertise in anohter way: she helped to launch Humber's first series of online career development courses. Lisa says that these courses "allow younger workers as well as veteran workers to learn strategies to improve their careers using the convenience of online courses."

Richard Yip-Chuck teaches Entrepreneurship in the Business Administration program and also contributes to the co-op component of the program with something he calls "Student Entrepreneurs at Work." In addition to teaching, Richard owns and operates a gift retail business and gives students the opportunity to use the company's resources to launch a new business idea over the course of a co-op term with his company. "Students have to assume responsibility for all aspects of their business idea - planning, budgeting, marketing, and sales. My role is to act as a professional consultant each step of the way." One student used the co-op opportunity to launch a new culinary retail concept that mixed cooking lessons with the sale of kitchenware and other supplies. Another student completely caught Richard off-guard when he leveraged the company's connections to arrange a meeting with top Wal-Mart executives to launch his concept. Richard says that one thing he has definitely learned since starting "Student Entrepreneurs At Work" is to "never under-estimate a Humber Business School student."

Looking to contact your expert in the classroom? Mike Planche is the Program Coordinator of the Business Administration program at Humber's North Campus and can be reached at mike.planche@humber.ca. Pierre-Pascal Gendron is the Program Coordinator at the Lakeshore Campus and can be reached at pierrepascal.gendron@humber.ca.