Susquehanna Launches Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship Education

• 08/28/17

SELINSGROVE, PA – Beginning this fall, Susquehanna University’s newly established Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship Education will assist teachers in bringing economic and business education into K–12 classrooms in the region.

Led by Dr. Emma Fleck, associate professor of management in Susquehanna’s Sigmund Weis School of Business, the center will serve the local community by hosting workshops for educators on how to help school-age students learn about economics, entrepreneurship and business. The workshops will also count as free continuing education credits for participating teachers and will be followed by lectures that are free and open to the public.

“We are very excited to help those who educate children of all ages develop new and innovative ways to integrate business education into their classrooms,” Fleck says. “At Susquehanna, our mission is to serve and nothing like this exists within a 90-minute drive of Susquehanna; so providing this type of resource for teachers is needed and will benefit thousands of students.”

The center is affiliated with the national Council for Economic Education, the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. that is focused on personal finance, business and economics education. “The affiliation allows us to tap into a network of professionals to help run workshops,” says Matthew Rousu, interim dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business.

“We are excited about this center. One of Susquehanna University’s missions is to serve the community, and what better way than to leverage our AACSB-accredited Sigmund Weis School of Business to improve K-12 education.”

A calendar of events for the 2017-18 academic year is still being developed, but four events have already been scheduled:

• Dan Kuester, Kansas State University: Finding Economics Concepts in the Big Bang Theory, The Office and Other Television Shows. The lecture begins at 7 p.m., Monday, November 6, in Degenstein Center Theater, located in the Degenstein Campus Center.
• Erin Yetter, Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis and James Tierney, Penn State University: Using Children’s Literature, Music, Movement and More to Teach Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship. This all-day workshop is set for January 15, 2018, 8:45 a.m.–3 p.m. There will be specific breakout sessions for K–5 teachers and 6–12 grade teachers. There will not be a lecture after this workshop.
• Brian O’Roark, Robert Morris University: Economic Lessons from The Hunger Games, Divergent and Other Dystopian Novels. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m., Monday, January 29, in Faylor Hall located in Fisher Hall.  
• Michelle Vachris, Christopher Newport University: Pride and Profit: The Intersection of Adam Smith and Jane Austin. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, in Faylor Hall located in Fisher Hall.

“As adults, today’s students will encounter economics and business issues in a number of ways—as employees, as consumers, as voters and in managing their own finances,” Fleck says. “It’s more important than ever that we give our children the skills they need to meet these challenges with the skills they need to be successful.”