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Starting in the fall of 2016, the Business Honors program will add a new dimension.

In their Introduction to Business course, College of Business Administration Honors students will take part in a Business in Action project, where they will be given $500 as capital to develop and execute their own business plans. The honors students will be divided into five teams and will have to learn to address problems that new businesses face.

The goal is to turn a profit that will then be donated to a social service organization of the team’s choosing.

Since 1999, Ira Sprotzer, chair of the Marketing, Advertising, & Legal Studies Department, has acted as director of the College of Business Administration’s Honors Program. Generously supported by Henry Brackman ’62 and his wife, Susan, and Gilbert “Chip” Rossi ’74, the program has graduated approximately 300 students.

The incoming honors students take business core courses together and also have the option to live together their first year at ������ý����. This allows students to build long-lasting relationships while also partaking in an academic experience that is both challenging and rewarding. In addition to completing honors core business courses, the program requires students to work individually with a faculty mentor on an honors thesis on a topic of their choice.

“The most rewarding part of my involvement in the program is witnessing the academic growth and personal maturity that is achieved,” Sprotzer says. “Of course, none of this could be accomplished without the support of the faculty, administration and alumni.”

Natalie Taptykoff ’16, a recent graduate of the program and the 2016 undergraduate Commencement speaker, agrees with Sprotzer. “The Business Honors Program professors and faculty members are an asset to the program, always going that extra mile, encouraging students to challenge themselves and think outside the box.”

In addition to the CBA Honors Learning Community, there will be a Marketing Learning Community and a Business Administration Learning Community in the fall of 2016. Each of the learning communities will have a corporate sponsor and mentor. The CBA Honors Learning Community is being sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Company with David Fortunati as the corporate mentor. The Marketing Learning Community is being sponsored by GHO Ventures LLC with Dr. Greg Olsen as the corporate mentor, and the Business Administration Learning Community is being sponsored by OKKA-Mullica Hill with T.J. Coakley as the corporate. Due to their generous donations of money and time approximately 75 freshmen will take part in the Business in Action Program and start their own businesses in the fall semester.

For more information on the CBA Honors program and/or the other learning communities, or to learn how you can get involved, contact Ira Sprotzer at sprotzer@rider.edu.