The King's Connection Magazine Volume 24 // Number 1 | Page 15
FEATURED ARTICLE
LARGEST GIFTS IN KING’S HISTORY
New business school
launches thanks to
$8.5 million gifts
by Dan VanKeeken, Vice-President of Institutional Advancement
T
hanks to two record pledges from major donors totalling
$8.5 million over 10 years, The King’s University College
is launching a School of Business this year. Building on the
existing and successful Bachelor of Commerce program
which launched over a decade ago, King’s will expand to
be a leading provider of Christian business education in
Western Canada.
These are the largest donations in King’s history.
“These gifts are a major vote of confidence from our
supporting community,” says President DR. MELANIE
HUMPHREYS. “We are truly grateful these amazing new
—
gifts will allow us to expand our Commerce program
through leading-edge initiatives, setting King’s apart from
many other undergraduate business programs in Western
Canada. Our current Commerce program is highly regarded
and has helped launch many successful careers, but limited
funding has so far restricted our ability to broaden our course
offerings and deepen the expertise representative on our
full-time faculty.”
The new School of Business at King’s will add up to six
new accounting and finance-related courses—as well as a
new course called Environmentally and Socially Sustainable
Business—to the current Commerce program. The
accounting and finance courses will allow those pursuing
their Accounting designation to complete their studies at
King’s. The appointment of a fourth full-time, tenure-track
faculty member with a focus on entrepreneurship, marketing,
and/or international business will also be recruited. Further
discussions will ensue over the next months regarding
the possibilities for programs such as Professional &
Distance Education, Global Learning Experience, Student
Entrepreneurship, and Corporate Leader Mentorship.
is poised to deliver the next level of leading edge education
in business and meet a crucial opportunity in the broader
Christian community, partnering with a group of visionary
advisors and sponsors to help us achieve this challenge.”
BACKGROUND
The King’s University College School of Business will be
distinct in that:
•
The Christian faith matters and should make a difference
in how we go about doing business.
•
Business is to be a benefit to people, society and
the environment.
•
In our society, business has become one of the leading
social institutions and has a role to play in both defining
and enacting meaning in people’s lives and caring for
our environment.
•
Christian business education should expand a student’s
view beyond our own society to that of world issues.
•
King’s Commerce faculty is required to remain scholarly
active by engaging and contributing to the dialog
and literature in their area of expertise. Presently all
Commerce faculty either hold a doctorate or are in the
process of obtaining a doctorate degree.
•
The curriculum is delivered in a Christian liberal arts
context, expanding a student’s knowledge in many
academic areas and specifically addressing the larger
questions of our lives.
•
While other Christian post-secondary institutions in
Alberta offer business courses, King’s will be the only
one to do so as a full School of Business.
“Our four-year B.Com degree is already well recognized in
the business community,” says Dr. Humphreys. “Now King’s
The King’s Connection /// Summer 2014 /// 13