(Music playing, while UNG and Cottrell graphics flash)
(Music stops screen displays the following text, UNG Mike Cottrell College of Business University of North Georgia Strong Graduates. Strong Communities.)
[Student]The Mike Cottrell College of Business has definitely prepared me for my career. My classes don't just have tests. We have projects. We have group projects and we have to learn how to function as an individual and adapt to everybody's personality and still get the job done while still learning and then presenting and having tests on top of everything.
[Director, Center for the Future of North Georgia] We really emphasize getting the students excited and engaged in what's happening in the classroom. It just creates more discussion and the good news is I learn from the students as much as they learn from me.
[Dean Mayo] Our shared collective vision, I hope, is to offer relevant and rigorous business programs that change lives and we want to change the lives of our students and the communities in which they live.
[Partner, Rushton & Company] They're trying to teach students to be life long learners. And, I think that the biggest thing that I've learned is that I don't know everything. The most important lesson that I think I've learned is that you have to be humble in that regard.
[President & CEO, Northeast Georgia Health System] And even now after all these years in business, I'm still learning every day and I think that can be very powerful because it will impress upon a student that it's not over when they get started. They have a role in making sure that they continue to be that leader.
[Assistant professor of Law] I would say the greatest asset of the Mike Cottrell College of Business is its people. And I don't mean by that just by administrators and faculty, but also the students. The students come and really want to learn. The faculty is very dedicated in helping the students reach their full potential.
[Student] The classes are based on every day life situations and that's what students really look for when they're learning something is if it really helps them for the future. You know, there are so many opportunities at this school to be involved and have fun and meet new people and have friendships. So it's not just about the learning, it also helps you learn to grow and mature.
[Assistance professor, Economics] If we present them with facts, information and theory, they remember them. But if we get them involved, they'll retain them.
[Dean Mayo] We are a large school now. We have about 3,000 students but we still have a very small school feel.
[Student]The classrooms are still small and that's what sets us apart from the bigger schools is because we have those relationships with our professors and that develops the students more. It prepares them more. You can ask those professors, "How was your experience? What should I do? How can I do this here?" Instead of having a classroom with a 150 students, you have a classroom of 30 and your professor knows each one of you by name. You're not just a number.
[Student] The classes at the College of Business here prepared me for my internship. The communication skills I learned from group projects and presentations and things like that in class definitely helped. It's really interesting to see the principles that I learn in my management and marketing classes being applied in the real business world. That's a great experience, the internship. I feel like it helps me understand how businesses work. To have that educational background.
[Assistant Professor, Management]I see my colleagues light up. They can talk for hours about the kinds of things they're trying to do in the classroom and they're really interested in making and maintaining that connection with students so that students can then improve and surpass these challenges and really be ready for the workplace. And on the other hand, when I see students talk about the faculty that they really connect with, it's the same thing. They're just as energetic. They're just as motivated. They're just as excited and so there really is a special relationship between faculty and students here.
[Partner, Rushton & Company] It's always been a very good solid business school but with Mike Cottrell's involvement. He decided that he would like the College to make sure that it continues to elevate its status so that it is on the cutting edge of business education. The College has taken hold of that.
[Dean Mayo] If we do a good job in education, it's to look beyond just the laundry list...and we look beyond the chapter 14's and we say "what do people really truly need to be able to be productive and to be able to live good lives and to add to the quality of life in not just the community in which they live but communities all over the world."