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Spotlight Thinking Big Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo, Indiana Indiana University Kokomo's prox- imity to two of the most prominent business schools in Indiana—the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University at Bloomington, and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University in West Lafayette—might seem a disadvan- tage. But IU Kokomo's dean Niranjan Pati views his school's loca- tion as an opportunity to fill a niche. "Larger schools may have more resources, but we can offer small classes, typically 25 to 30 students, all taught by terminally qualified profes- sors. We don't use teaching assistants in either our undergraduate or gradu- ate programs. That is one of our dis- tinctive competencies," says Pati. To further its program, IUK's business school made a commitment to seek AACSB accreditation. "In spite of a limited number of faculty and a small budget, we attained our goal," says Pati. The school was accepted for candidacy in 1993 and earned AACSB accreditation in 2001. "Our main challenge was to find the time and resources," Pati com- ments. "Our faculty and staff really had to go beyond the call of duty to write the reports and put the processes into place to make it hap- pen." IUK's business school is one of only a few programs of its size to earn AACSB accreditation at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The school serves about 350 Clockwise from top: IUK's main campus building; Students who missed their regular graduation, because they qualified for the national Students in Free Enterprise competition, at a special graduation ceremony; The Wellhouse, a prominent campus landmark; Delphi Delco president Jeff Owens at IUK's distinguished lecture series mid-career students; many are employed by two of the largest com- panies in the area, DaimlerChrylser and Delphi Delco. This year, IUK's undergraduate undergraduates and nearly 100 grad- uate students. It accommodates a few full-time MBA students, but most graduate students participate in its part-time program. Most are 64 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 students consistently performed well on the Educational Testing Service's Major Field Test for busi- ness. Students in its investment class, taught by Dianne Roden, also ranked in the top 5 percent at the national Collegiate Investment Challenge, the fifth year in a row they've ranked in the top 10 percent. Ties to the community are espe- cially important for a small school, adds Pati. Therefore, students in its capstone MBA course participate in the Collegiate Management Program, working as consultants to area busi- nesses. This year, they developed a plan to revitalize Kokomo's strug- gling downtown business district. The school also maintains a partner- ship with The Kokomo Tribune and The Kokomo Perspective, local newspa- pers, in which its faculty provide reg- ular columns and book reviews. "These win-win types of partner- ships allow us to reach out into the community," says Pati. He notes that as the dean of a small school, he has a special responsibility to monitor the local environment to find opportuni- ties to keep his school at the fore- front of management education. "Our intent is not to stay where we are, but to improve ourselves and continue to enhance our programs. Even so, we will continue to main- tain our small school atmosphere and maintain our niche," says Pati. "Small schools can think big." ■ z KOKOMO TRIBUNE/ERIC SMITH KOKOMO TRIBUNE/ERIC SMITH