Our Academic Programs

  • Accounting

    With the constantly changing business and political environments, accounting is an exciting, dynamic field that requires problem-solving, decision-making and "people" skills.

  • Finance

    Finance majors learn to analyze a variety of topics including financial decisions, value, debt, risk, market efficiency, mergers and acquisitions, investment management, portfolio planning and financial institutions.

  • Management

    A management education is not all in the classroom – students learn by doing here. Students work in teams to manage virtual companies using on-line simulation, applying business principles to make decisions about a future course of action.

  • Marketing

    The Luter School of Business is one of the few undergraduate institutions nationwide to implement a degree program in direct / interactive marketing.

  • Dr. Stephanie Bardwell has been elected as National President of Small Business Institute®
  • The 3rd edition of Contemporary Direct & Interactive Marketing (by Dr. Lisa Spiller) is forthcoming by Prentice Hall Publishing Co. in January 2012.
  • Drs. Lisa Spiller and Jeff Bergner have co-authored a book titled Branding The Candidate: Marketing Strategies to Win Your Vote, now available through Praeger Publishing. (ISBN# 978-0-313-39404-1)
  • Drs. Borga Deniz and Robert Hasbrouck presented their paper Student attitudes toward business statistics: Comparison of data analysis approach vs. traditional approach at the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Montreal, Canada (April 2011).
  • Assistant Director Pamela Pringle presented the paper Team term projects that develop team skills and innovative thinking at the 3rd Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy in Blacksburg, VA (February 2011).
  • Drs. Michael Clayton and Matt Hettche received a Best Paper Award for their work From the field and into the classroom: Information architecture assessment and website usability tests at the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) Direct/Interactive Marketing Research Summit in  San Francisco, CA (October 2010).
  • Dr. Darren Good presented “Daring to Care for Early Career Faculty: Innovative Models to Support Transition and Foster Success,” as a special All Academy presentation at the Academy of Management Conference in Montreal, Canada, on Aug. 2010. Professor Good partnered with Meredith Myers of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and Marc Lavine of University of Mass.
  • Professor Patrick Walker presented a paper, B-Harmony: Examining the legal, ethical, & managerial stakeholder implications associated with the branding strategies of popular online social networks, at the 85th Annual Conference of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Richmond, VA.
  • In 2009, Dr. Thomas Hall was selected to present a research at the Origins of Shareholder Advocacy conference at Yale University.  He was also awarded a research grant to further peruse his research on the original Virginia Company located at Magdalene College, Cambridge University in England this summer.

Vision and Mission Statement of the Luter School of Business

Our vision is to be a preeminent public liberal arts based undergraduate business program and to serve a diverse population of high achieving students.

Our mission is to educate and prepare students for successful careers in business and service to society. We seek to develop students intellectually, professionally, and personally through a rigorous program that will distinguish them as critical thinkers, articulate communicators, and ethical business leaders. The Luter School enrolls a highly selective student body from Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region. Students develop multi-disciplinary competencies and specialized skills necessary to excel in prestigious graduate programs and the global economy. The faculty provides high-quality, student centered instruction that both challenges and inspires students. The faculty produces peer-reviewed, discipline-based, applied and pedagogical research and other intellectual contributions to their respective fields. The Luter School actively engages with private and public sectors to provide leadership, learning, and service opportunities. Quality is assured by maintenance of accreditation with AACSB International.

The Luter School employs an Assurance of Learning process to ensure that our graduates have the proper skills and knowledge necessary to be competitive in their academic and professional endeavors.  The Luter school uses the following learning goals to support the overall mission and vision of the program:

Business Fundamentals

Program Learning Goal: Students will understand and be able to apply core business fundamentals

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will understand discipline-specific terms and concepts

2. Students will be able to integrate and apply discipline-specific concepts to formulate business strategies


Critical Thinking

Program Learning Goal: Students will have the analytical skills necessary to identify and resolve problems and make decisions based on available information

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will be able to recognize and define a problem and identify the information and tools required to solve it

2. Students will be able to apply appropriate analytical techniques to a given business situation, evaluate alternatives, and determine a course of action


Communication

Program Learning Goal: Students will be effective communicators

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will be able to write a well-researched business analysis in a coherent and effective manner

2. Students will demonstrate their skills in organizing a presentation properly, speaking effectively, and thinking critically


Ethics

Program Learning Goal: Students will be able to identify courses of action that lead to ethical and unethical outcomes in the business environment.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will be able to recognize and understand ethical dilemmas

2. Students will be able to apply ethical principles in making decisions

3. Students will demonstrate a recognition of the potential impact of their decisions  

Approved April 22, 2010