In a nation-wide competition between student groups involved in their University's Small Business Institutes, a group of four SSU students won the 1998 Region IX Undergraduate Case-of-the-Year Award. Thomas Cirimele, Rochelle Brown, Dana Blake and Tanya Meade of the "Microsource" team from SSU submitted the award-winning case. Competing against at least 30 other student groups from universities such as CSU Bakersfield, CSU Hayward and CSU Fullerton, these students worked with Microsource Corporation to develop a winning human resources and employee policy plan.
"It was a real honor for us to win while competing against such formidable competitors. The students did a super job," stated program director Armand Gilinsky, business professor at SSU.
The undergraduate cases submitted for the award are client-cases in which students work as consultants for a semester in a small business while receiving academic credit. Currently there are 21 SSU students working on 10 projects in fields such as marketing planning, strategic planning and systems planning. Under the guidance of Gilinsky, these students work closely within the business, usually directly with the owner/operator, and create solutions for real business problems.
The Small Business Institute at SSU is one of approximately 300 other such programs at universities across the nation that are a part of the nation-wide Small Business Institute Directors' Association. These programs simultaneously educate their students as small business consultants and provide assistance to the small business community.
"The cornerstone of our program is education for our students in communication, critical thinking and teamwork, the three crucial aspects of emerging business students needed by the business community," said Gilinsky. "SSU's Small Business Institute provides the kind of effective and crucial training needed by students in the business field and will continue to do so into the 21st Century."
