Virginia Tech

The Entrepreneur Society

The Entrepreneur Society is a student-run campus organization for student entrepreneurs or students exploring entrepreneurship.  It is designed to help students transform their creative ideas for a business into reality. The club provides members with:

• Resources to learn how to start a business
• Mentors to help provide guidance, encouragement,  and expertise
• A process to help them start their own business
• An opportunity to be involved with another member’s business start up
• Educational seminars, speakers, competitions, workshops, etc.

Online Business Guidebook

The Online Business GuideBook (download here) provides public education on how to start and grow an online business. Founded September 2008, by Virginia Tech Business Information Technology students, the Guidebook provides a 100 page full-color step-by-step tutorial on how to start and grow an online retail business. The Guidebook is actively managed and operated by Virginia Tech Business Information Technology students as part of their undergraduate curriculum (BIT 4594 - Electronic Commerce Systems)

The proceeds that are generated benefit the Virginia Tech Foundation and fund scholarships, research efforts, and student projects.   With both hardcopy and e-book editions, more than 75,000 readers have turned to the Guidebook for advice on establishing, promoting, monitoring, and improving their online business.  At the current growth rate, the Guidebook expects 100,000 readers by this summer.

Internships and Other Experiential Activities

The Department of Management at the Pamplin College of Business emphasizes experiential learning throughout the curriculum.  Students gain valuable work experience through service learning projects with community organizations in the ethical leadership class, through work with clients in the Applied Small Business Consulting course, and through work experience in the internship course and the Cooperative Education Program. The department also encourages students to become involved in student organizations and volunteer activities so they can further develop their leadership skills. 

Management students are eligible to enroll in an internship course (MGT 3754) in their junior or senior year.  Through this course, students are given an opportunity to obtain significant work experience from a local or national business and to learn key techniques to assist in their personal career planning and the job search process.  Students are matched to employers based on mutual interests and needs.  A number of students go on to work full-time at their internship placement following graduation.

The Department of Management also participates in the Cooperative Education Program in which qualified students may alternate a semester of study in the major with a semester of professional employment. The work assignments usually occur during the sophomore and junior years.  Participation in this program has proven to be very effective in helping the participants secure desirable employment positions upon graduation and is highly encouraged.

Business Diversity Center

The Business Diversity Center was formed in 2007 to establish the Pamplin College of Business as a leader for organizational diversity initiatives among colleges of business throughout the world. Their mission is to contribute to greater understanding of the impact of diversity and multiculturalism on individual effectiveness and corporate competitiveness through three areas of focus:

• Teaching: The Center has launched the Business Diversity Minor area of study for undergraduate students at Virginia Tech. The Center also supports the annual student-led Diversity Workshop
• Research: The Center offers support for faculty and graduate students to facilitate the creation of new knowledge in diversity-related areas
• Outreach: The Center offers seminars on diversity-related issues to various organizations

Distinguished Speakers

The Pamplin College of Business offers students and faculty opportunities to learn about current events, business issues, and leadership practices by bringing top executives, newsmakers, and political pundits to speak on campus. The Cutchins Distinguished Lecture series has presented George Stephanopoulos, George Will, David Gergen, and Doris Kearns Goodwin, among others. The Wachovia Distinguished Lecture series has featured CEOs and other senior executives from GE, IBM, 7-Eleven, Ralph Lauren, KPMG, and other companies. The annual Ethics Conference has featured speakers from Tyco, Enron, and other institutions as well as Ralph Nader.

MGT 3754: Management Internships and Career Development
Guided experience in work environments and job search. Through unpaid internships, students have the opportunity to view the inner workings of businesses first hand while working on organizationally meaningful assignments. Class activities prepare students for conducting effective job searches.

MGT 3604: E-Management
This course provides cutting edge experiences, skills, and knowledge in for management majors and other College of Business e-Commerce students who are concerned with the digital transformation of business.  Within a context that examines fundamental changes in management due to the Internet Revolution which are as dramatic as the Industrial Revolution, three themes will be pursued: (1) how these organizations are different from traditional organizations, (2) new implications for knowledge sharing, knowledge management, and communication, and (3) e-based techniques for leadership practices.

MGT 4064: Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurial Leadership
This course examines the leader's role and required skills for new venture creation and fostering innovation and technology development

MGT 4074: Applied Small Business Consulting
Application of accounting, finance, marketing, management, information technology, and management science concepts to small business cases.  On-site consultation with existing firms. Through the experiential studies, students will explore the role of "pro bono" work in the management field.

BIT 4594: Electronic Commerce Systems
During this course, students manage and operate a live electronic commerce venture.   Students study the design and implementation of computer systems on the Internet used for electronic commerce.  The emphasis of the course is on understanding the numerous issues involved in using the web for the production and distribution of goods and services.

Management Major
The curriculum in Management is a solid foundation for a wide variety of future business careers. It is unique within the Pamplin College of Business because it fosters an integrated perspective of business enterprises. Course work in the traditional functional areas (accounting, operations, finance, marketing, information technology) is coupled with a choice of one of two Management nine-hour options: 1) Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Management, or II) Human Resource Management. Students in Management are also eligible to participate in the Department of Management's Leadership minor and Business Diversity minor.

Tech’s curriculum emphasizes the development of versatile skills that are essential to achieve organization goals: cross-functional thinking, analytical problem-solving, leadership, team work, communication skills, and ethical decision-making.

• The capability to manage across functions is of paramount importance in the modern-day business enterprise. Our curriculum enables students to understand how the separate business functions can be integrated to achieve a single, coordinated effort, especially in complex, technologically-based enterprises
• Tomorrow's managers must be able to lead themselves, other individuals, and teams. Students are exposed to state-of-the-art ideas and practices regarding leadership, and are given multiple opportunities to develop their interpersonal skills while applying this knowledge in team projects
• Because effective communication is an essential component of organizational leadership, strong emphasis is placed on development of written and oral communications skills
• Increasingly in the modern business world, organizational success depends upon actions taken in situations requiring complex ethical judgments. Therefore, a concern for ethics is infused in courses throughout the Management curriculum

In addition to fulfilling the Pamplin College of Business requirements for the first two years and the college core course requirements, all Management majors must: 1) meet these specific management major course requirements; and 2) choose one of two options of concentration.

Option 1: Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology Management

This option prepares students to take an entrepreneurial approach in managing within any organizational context, including large organizations as well as new startups. It is also suitable for students who intend to run their own businesses.

Option 2:  Human Resource Management

The purpose of the track is to provide general managers with the knowledge and skills necessary to systematically manage people and human resource processes to help to achieve group and organizational effectiveness. The coursework provides a foundation for students interested in pursuing either general management or human resource management careers.

• Pamplin’s undergraduate program is ranked in the nation’s 50 best business schools by U.S. News & World Report.

• Pamplin ranks No. 42 overall (which puts it in the top 10 percent of the 500-plus U.S. undergraduate programs accredited by AACSB International) and 24th among the public institutions.

• The Pamplin College ranks 25th among U.S. institutions for number of business doctorates produced in 1996-2000, based on data in AACSB’s 2003 Doctoral Faculty Commission Report.

School type: Four Year, Public University: Founded 1872

Student Profile:

Number of undergraduate, full-time students:
23,558

Percentage of undergraduate, full-time male students, female students:
Male 57%, Female 43%

Number of states represented by student body:
44

Number of countries represented by student body:
31

Percentage of international students:
2%

Percentage of minority students:
15.2%

Faculty Profile:

Number of full-time faculty: 1,369
Student/Faculty ratio: 16:1

Athletics:

Athletic division, conference, number of varsity sports:
Virginia Tech is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. NCAA Division I-A. There are men's varsity sports at Tech are football, basketball, baseball, soccer, indoor and outdoor track, swimming and diving, wrestling, tennis, golf, and cross country. Women's varsity sports are basketball, tennis, volleyball, swimming and diving, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and cross country.

Financial:

Cost of tuition: In state: $8,605  Out of state: $21,878

Cost of room and board: $6,024

Percentage of students who receive some financial aid:
60%

Admissions Contact:
201 Burruss Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Phone: (540) 231-6267
E-mail: vtadmiss@vt.edu