Seton Hall University Launches Business Humanities Minor

Every graduate, whatever field of study and career they pursue, ends up doing "business" in some form or another. Education, pharmaceuticals, medicine, publishing, technology, government: every sector works within budgets, collaborates in teams, manages projects over time, markets products and services, finances and promotes innovation, and interacts with employees and various other stakeholders, including customers, contractors, patients, students, vendors, boards, investors and neighbors. Employers, more than ever, seek graduates who are adept at telling compelling stories, sensitively navigating social and cultural contexts, empathizing with different perspectives, being genuinely creative and thinking ethically and critically. The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to launch a unique Minor in Business Humanities program in collaboration with the Stillman School of Business that enables students in any major, from management to physics to french, to cultivate these abilities by studying the intersection of literature, philosophy, history, religion, political and social theory, and languages as they intersect with business cases and topics.

The 18-credit minor is open to all students at Seton Hall University who wish to graduate with fluency in business and with the abilities that employers call "soft skills." Graduates of the Minor in Business Humanities will be able to interview confidently with concrete examples of how their innovative and critical thinking, cultural literacy and the principles of humanistic management to bear on their work. Just as importantly, the Minor in Business Humanities, like the Minor in Business and the five-year B.A./B.S. plus M.B.A. dual degree, affords Seton Hall students the ability simultaneously to pursue their passion for any subject, from creative writing to sociology to political science, and to learn the fundamentals of management to launch successful business careers. Business Humanities Minors will stand out on the job market as leaders who can communicate, read a room, think from different perspectives and adapt with the times: "Exactly the foundational business knowledge students need to prepare for a successful career and life," said John Strapp, co-founder and chairman at The Kinetix Group.

Speaking of the new Minor in Business Humanities, Associate Professor of Management, Elizabeth McCrea, Ph.D., says "among other things, studying the humanities promotes moral awareness, empathy and imagination; it fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cultivating emotional and cultural intelligence and helping to develop critical, adaptive and innovative thinkers are all essential skills in today's business environment. Likewise, a business education provides humanities students with concrete skills to better understand and effectively analyze, plan, organize, manage and lead organizations and/or movements that can, if run ethically, generate other positive ethical outcomes. Integrating the two fields helps students of all backgrounds envision, critically evaluate, design and implement effective solutions to complex moral problems in business and society."

Details of the new minor are here. Students interested in adding the Minor in Business Humanities can begin by taking the introductory courses: PHIL 1125 Business Ethics and BMGT 2501 Principles of Management, which is required for those who are not registered as business students. Students who are already registered as business students already take PHIL 1125 as part of their major. For more information regarding the Minor in Business Humanities, students should reach out to Abe Zakhem or Elizabeth McCrea.

Categories: Arts and Culture, Business, Education