Regarding the above, I have talked with Leland Nicholls and the CHD administrative team to gather information in responding to the recommendations from this report. My responses to the recommendations are as follows:
Recommendation: Include more professionals in the field on the Advisory Committee.
Response
A plan is being developed to recruit more individuals from the field who represent and understand the essence of service management in both the private for-profit and public sector business enterprises. Since these individuals reside throughout the country and internationally, a process to recruit and conduct meetings will be initiated through a telecommunication process. The prospects of enabling a video cam to host and communicate at these meetings will also be explored. Students will be an important part of this input process for improving the program, and the capacity to connect students with leaders in the field is felt to be a critical element in moving the program forward.
Recommendation: Pursue funding for aggressively marketing the program.
Response
The Program Director, Associate Dean for Program Development, and the Dean will establish a plan to expand marketing of the program. An important part of this expanded marketing will be the involvement of the Admissions Office. Providing training to a key lead person from that office will be critical to increasing the number of students from high schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin to enter the program over the next five years.
Recommendation: Recruit more American minority students for the program.
Response
Although the program does include a number of students of diversity from international backgrounds and these students provide a diverse perspective to this globally-focused major, an effort to recruit more students of diversity from the United States will be initiated. Since coaches of our athletic teams recruit the highest numbers of diverse students, the program director will meet with these coaches to more thoroughly inform them of the program and the opportunities it can provide to their recruits.
Recommendation: Continue to develop an array of targeted courses.
Response
Because Service Management is a relatively new program in a rapidly emerging field, continuous improvement demands the continual development of new courses. New courses in planning for program include:
- Customer Interaction Center Management
- Service Logistics
- Business GeoGraphics
The latter course is a cutting-edge graphics course, which will require the use of very sophisticated global data used to predict market needs and buying trends around the world.
Recommendation: Address overlap of Service Operations and Product Operations courses.
Response
Dr. Nicholls will continue to work closely with Dr. Williamson and others in CTEM’s Business Department to reduce overlap of courses or course content, especially for students majoring in service management. It is anticipated that some overlap will occur as some courses support several programs; however, efforts to direct text lessons and course objectives toward the needs of students in SVMT will be emphasized.
Recommendation: Continue to assess distance learning technologies.
Response
Distance education courses will continue to be developed as the program negotiates more articulation agreements with several WTCS institutions and UW System colleges. These web-based courses can also be made available to students other than the cohort groups arranged through articulation agreements.