When: June 10, 2021, 1:45 pm - Thursday

Where: Ezell 205

Session 4

Session Abstract

Christian business educators have the unique challenge of simultaneously achieving excellence in business education and fidelity to Christian mission.  In this first session on teaching and education participants will hear five peers describe their unique perspectives.

 

Paper Abstracts

Michael Williams and Dave Smith, Pepperdine University, “Measuring Fidelity to Mission: How Christian Colleges and Universities Market their Residential Undergraduate and Online MBA Programs”

The authors study undergraduate and online MBA degree programs offered by twenty faith-based universities.  Institutions are categorized according as orthodox, critical mass, or pluralistic as expressed on internet web pages.  Additionally, the ethos of each institution is explored by examining the mission and vision collected from web pages.   Findings suggest that a majority of schools describe their online MBA programs using less orthodox rhetoric and place less emphasis on a uniquely Christian ethos relative to the undergraduate program.  To explain these findings, the authors explore influences including the role of regional culture, and average age for the respective programs.

 

Donita Brown and Nina Morel, Lipscomb University, “Self-Care for Healthcare Graduate Students: Preliminary Findings from a Text-based Virtual Coaching Pilot Project”

Even before the pandemic, research shows health care workers experience high need for physical, social, and emotional self-care. These findings, in concert with research showing student retention increases and burnout decreases when students practice self-care, led the researchers to create a self-care coaching model for students in Lipscomb’s healthcare master’s programs. This pilot program is designed to test a model to offer self-care, habit and leadership coaching in the context of a master’s degree program. The desired result is healthier practices for students and greater awareness of coaching practices they can use with their own colleagues and subordinates.

 

Kevin Cabe, Indiana Wesleyan University, “How Old is This Textbook?”

At a time when trends are measured in minutes not years, where timelines make this morning’s news old, this presentation is about a course that uses a 250 year old textbook.  Accounting ethics is an ever changing topic that is a major foundation for the career preparation of accountants.  An accounting ethics course using Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1776) as a guide certainly raises the eyebrows of students. The author developed this course to provide students with principled decision making tools by integrating concepts from virtue ethics with biblical principles.

Speakers

Andy Borchers, Lipscomb University, Convener

• Michael Williams and Dave Smith, Pepperdine University, “Measuring Fidelity to Mission: How Christian Colleges and Universities Market their Residential Undergraduate and Online MBA Programs”
• Donita Brown and Nina Morel, Lipscomb University, “Self-Care for Healthcare Graduate Students: Preliminary Findings from a Text-based Virtual Coaching Pilot Project”
• Kevin Cabe, Indiana Wesleyan University, “How Old is This Textbook?”