How faculty in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business have reimagined the college’s management and leadership major is spotlighted in the July edition of MTSU’s “Out of the Blue” television magazine program.

Leigh Anne Clark, a professor in the Department of Management, discussed the revamped major during an interview with program host Andrew Oppmann, vice president of marketing and communications.

You can watch her eight-minute segment below:

Clark noted that with the popularity of new programs in recent years such as supply chain management and business innovation and entrepreneurship in response to market needs, faculty decided that the management degree, one of the college’s oldest degree offerings, needed a fresh look as well.

“One thing we teach our students is you’ve always got to be evolving with the times and looking at the environment and changing what you’re offering,” said Clark, adding that management faculty took over two years “to look at what the market wanted, to look at what we were offering, and to evolve that product for students.”

Looking at surveys from national associations of employers and college graduates as well as data from the Jones College’s Business and Economic Research Center, the importance of attributes such as soft skills, leadership ability and emotional intelligence emerged, she said.

“They (employers) want people to be able to communicate, to think, problem solve, to critically think to solve conflicts,” Clark said, noting that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence presents unique challenges in the workforce. “The world is changing, and the skill sets that people need are really focused on those human skill sets.”

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. 

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play. Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)