Five of fifteen student advisory board members check in with the dean. From left: John Wiggins, Dorian Watson, David Heider, Dean Farmer, Lori Meyers and Rob Havey.

This board consists of 20 business-savvy men and women, most of them Virginians, who share the pride in SOBE. Founding member Paul H. Fox, who rose to corporate vice president during a 42-year career with Reynolds Metals Company, recalls an early board meeting when the group set goals for the School of Business. Then "the dean, the faculty and the board took dead aim on all of them, and we didn't let up 'til we could write by each one ­ mission accomplished." Accreditation and bringing "the building and its technology up to 21st century standards" were at the top of the list. He adds, "And, of course, this could not have happened without President Patricia Cormier." Another early member, Wayne Oakes, newly retired senior VP and director of DIMON International, says of the school, "It's been gratifying to see it develop. Well worth the time invested to see the school, and Longwood in general, upgraded and improved over the years."

Gary MacDonald, president, The Sedona Group agrees: "I get a real sense of satisfaction seeing the Business School make significant strides. I think that the entire process of becoming AACSB accredited has put the school in a position to attract better students and produce better graduates.

With Berkwood's vision, along with President Cormier's vision, it's fast becoming a great business school."

An alumni board, created two years ago, now functions in much the same way as the corporate board.

Another measure of success is the Major Field Test, a two-hour business competency exam given to over 10,000 senior business students each year. Says Dean Farmer, "When I got here, MFT scores were at the 30th to 35th percentile. In the last three years they've been above 90 with the May 2000 graduates being in the 99th percentile. This one assessment tells me that student learning is taking place in the Business School at a pretty high level."

Student learning depends on good faculty, and, according to the Dean, the "right" faculty are those who can embrace the mission, vision and values: "When I hire faculty, we go through these values. I tell them, 'You've proved to us you're a good teacher, and you have sufficient research; now we want to talk about the big stuff. I want you to look at these values, and you tell me which ones you agree or disagree with because if you disagree with too many of them, we're not going to bring you here to Longwood. If you don't share these values, then you can't help us carry the mission and the vision which are built on the values.'"

FACULTY

"Diverse and highly qualified" describe the Business School faculty. A 50/50 male to female ratio and 15 percent minority faculty support the "diverse"; advanced degrees coupled with business experience and connections support the "highly qualified."