I’m attempting to take two classes during the first summer session the University of Massachusetts at Amherst offers, however, I need to seek approval from the MBA program at Umass as the second class is a graduate level class, which has a restriction in place of requiring a bachelor’s degree to take, even though I would be taking the class for only undergraduate credit. I think I could handle the course-work for the graduate class and hope Umass will allow me to take it. Once I know the final verdict I’ll let all of you know.
The class I am officially registered and enrolled in is Management 365 – Business and Its Environment, taught by Professor Sarah Stookey. From prior experience with Professor Stookey, I’ve found her to be extremely smart and creative. She encourages the class to learn through discussion and herself introduces us not only to the theories, ideas, and lessons in the textbook, but also to alternative viewpoints.
Looking through the reading list and lesson plans for this class, I must admit I am wicked pumped to be in this class. There are two books for the class, one is Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
- The Allegory of the Cave by Plato
- Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes
- Existentialism by Sarte
- Democracy in America by De Tocqueville
- Che Guevara: Economics and Politics in the Transition to Socialism by Carlos Tablada
- The Koran
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- and much much more (for the curious, you can check out the full list in .pdf format by clicking the following link Management 365 – Reading List
Those readings are quite atypical for a Business Administration class, eh? There are plenty of traditional business articles too, for instance from the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Business Week and Andrew Carnegie’s Wealth. Even though I am a business major, I am interested in a wide range of topics and am wicked excited by the diversity of topics this class will cover.
Below is the official description for this class from the Umass web-site.
“The social, political, technological, and ethical issues confronting contemporary managers and the modern corporation. The role of business in society. The objective of this class is to involve students in thinking carefully about the environment in which business occurs, the relationship between businesses and the environment(s) which they are part of and with which they interact, and the ways in which “the environment” and “business” are created and understood. The course involves two parallel tracks. The first involves becoming more self-conscious about our assumptions and how these affect our choices in the world of business. The second track (and the bulk of the class) is dedicated to examining a series of issues that play important roles in the interactions between business and the environment. These include: work and pay, money and wealth, consumption, class, corporations, community, democracy and markets, and globalization. Historical background and current events are both emphasized.”
I’ll keep you all up to date with how the class is going, and will let you all know soon about the graduate class, sound good?
