Archive: Business & Technology

Wells College today announced that Robert J. Ellis will direct its new center for business and entrepreneurship in the liberal arts. The center is the College’s newest academic addition, and is the first step toward the College adding a dedicated business major to its listings.

Ellis, of Cortland, N.Y., brings a unique combination of academic talents and business skills to Wells. Most recently a financial services strategic consultant, Ellis has an extensive background in retail sales and marketing of financial products and services. He also has experience in the fields of banking, brokerage, asset management and insurance, and he has taught undergraduate classes in small business management, financial services management, principles of electronic commerce, and federal taxation. Ellis earned his B.B.A. degree from the University of Michigan, and his M.B.A from the Harvard Business School. An author of fiction and an avid traveler, Ellis brings an appreciation of the liberal arts’ focus on experiential learning and broad educational foundations.

According to Provost for Academic and Student Life Leslie Miller-Bernal, Ellis’ vision for the new center aligns with the one developed by the community over the course of its strategic planning process. As the director of center for business and entrepreneurship in the liberal arts, Ellis will be primarily responsible for innovative curriculum development and the melding of the new program with current areas of study. In addition, he’ll build the center’s programmatic initiatives, forging connections with alumnae and alumni of Wells, widening experiential learning opportunities with local, national, and international businesses, and building new lecture series and co-curricular clubs that benefit Wells and the surrounding communities.

"Liberal arts values are needed now more than ever in the world of business,” says Ellis. “Liberal arts are based on reasoning and persuasion, backed up with a strong component of ethics and critical thinking. I am very excited to be working with the Wells Community to combine liberal arts ideals with interactive and experiential business training in finance, investments, accounting, marketing, operations and strategy to help develop the types of business leaders the world needs for a more-balanced future."

Wells unveiled its plan to add a center for business and entrepreneurship in the liberal arts earlier this spring. Wells students can already study business through the College’s economics and management major, or through an independent major, but Provost Leslie Miller-Bernal says there is room for the College to make a unique contribution to the field of business study by expanding its offerings. In particular, Wells’ new center will incorporate arts administration, non-profit management, green business, and entrepreneurship with general business basics. Additionally, Wells plans to offer students a wealth of hands-on opportunities, both through its deep connection to the local economy, its extensive experiential learning program, and through its own businesses in Aurora Inn, Inc.

“Students who study at the center for business and entrepreneurship will be, first and foremost, graduates of a strong liberal arts curriculum that stresses critical thinking, ethical citizenship, cross-disciplinary exploration, and communication skills,” says Miller-Bernal. “We believe that will serve both our graduates, and the business world at large, very well.”

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