Dean has big plans for University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee business school

SARASOTA -- With an eye on creating a summit to benefit local businesses and starting some type of "Shark Tank"-style event at area middle and high schools, the dean of University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee's College of Business has big plans for the future of his school.

Jim Curran, a professor at the school since 2005, was appointed college of business dean in February. Since then, he's still held onto the interim dean title at the university's College of Hospitality & Tourism Leadership, juggling two jobs.

With the recent hire of Patrick Moreo to take over the hospitality school, Curran will be able to return to the business school as his sole focus in July. Until then, Regional Chancellor Sandra Stone joked recently, Curran still has two sets of keys.

"His dedication to the college, the students and to USF Sarasota-Manatee is humbling and we are all grateful for his leadership during this transition," Stone said at a 40th anniversary gala celebrating the school.

With an aim to better serve local businesses in the community and increase enrollment, Curran has already come up with new ideas for his home school, as well as implementing new majors and certificates into the college's offerings.

"We've already changed some things around," Curran said.

Program changes

In terms of academics, the information technology major was moved out of the hospitality school into the business school effective for the fall 2015 semester. The program had previously been bounced around for a while, Curran said, while officials tried to find the best home for it. With the major in the business program, Curran

was able to bring on Bhubanesh Unhelkar to lead the program.

"It will be phenomenal," he said.

This fall -- after hearing from the business community -- the college of business is introducing a risk management/insurance minor, a new "Big Data for I.T." certificate and new concentrations in "Big Data for I.T."

Right now, business college enrollment hovers between 750 and 800, offering five areas of focus: general business, accounting, finance, management and marketing.

Accounting is one of the most successful programs and can't keep up with community demand, Curran said.

"I can't produce enough accountants to satisfy the demand," he said.

Accounting isn't necessarily an attractive major to business students, and the college is working on trying to bolster its image by reaching out to area alumni to share their success stories and expose students to more of what the business is really like.

For students who come from small family businesses, the general business major is popular because it covers all the different aspects of running an operation.

"You have to be a generalist," he said.

The other areas are equally important in a business field, Curran said, adding sales and marketing need to bring in customers for accountants.

Community connections

A daylong business summit may be coming, if Curran's plans pan out. He envisions an event -- driven by the needs of the community and coordinated with local chambers -- with a keynote speaker, hot topic breakout sessions with faculty experts and an area where top business students can show off some of their work.

"I'm kind of excited about that idea," Curran said. "It would not be hard."

Curran rattled off breakout session he thinks would be of interest: social media strategies, branding, data analytics, human resources, finance, technology and cybersecurity.

The only limit? Curran wants to do the summit in a day.

"We'd probably have to cull the list down substantially," he said.

The summit would have benefits for all sides, said Charlie Terenzio, director of communications and marketing.

"We'd showcase our base of experts for businesses and organizations to use as a resource," he said.

As dean, Curran would also like to expand the outreach into Manatee and Sarasota schools with more programs for middle and high school students, including some type of business development competition, like the popular television show "Shark Tank".

Students, or teams or students, would work to develop their own product, pitch it to a panel of judges and then win some kind of prize. Details will have to be figured out down the road, but the college of business is in the perfect place to reach back in that sense, Curran said. The K-12 students could work with USF students through development, local business leaders could be on the panel of judges and sponsors could join in to help create prizes.

"I just think it would be a cool exercise," he said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 841-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Dean has big plans for University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee business school ."