UW College of Business Reorganizes Minor Programs It Offers

The University of Wyoming College of Business (COB) is undergoing a reorganization of the minor programs it offers. Specifically, the plan calls for adding, restructuring and deleting (temporarily and permanently) some existing minors.

Under the plan, which goes into effect in the spring 2020 semester, the COB has decided to make all business minors follow a 3 + 2 course approach, in which all COB minors will be 15 credit hours. This means that all minors will have three core courses and two upper-division economics elective courses. Previously, minors in the COB ranged from 15 to 28 credit hours.

“The reorganization is a part of the college-wide effort to streamline our courses and degree offerings in order to facilitate timely graduation; better use of resources; and to better respond to requests from our Wyoming industry and community partners,” says Alexandre “Sasha” Skiba, an associate professor of economics and chair of the COB Policy and Curriculum Committee.

Skiba says a prime example of streamlining is the replacement of the business minor with the entrepreneurship minor that is open to students outside of the COB. The old business minor was not a practical option as it required 28 credit hours.

“This allows students to add a minor without adding significant time to their program,” Skiba says. “Students who are interested in multiple minors can use those courses as their electives and have concentrations in multiple areas of business.”

Business minors that will be added are:

-- Data analytics. This replaces the information management minor and is a collaborative effort with a core class from each department.

-- Entrepreneurship. This is for non-COB majors and replaces the business minor. This minor requires less prerequisites, so it can be completed in less time.

-- Professional and technical selling. This minor has an industry and donor focus, and coursework requirements align with the business major.

-- Management of human resources. This replaces the management minor, and coursework requirements align with the business major.

Business minors that will be restructured are:

-- Decision science. Prerequisite courses that are unnecessary and impede progress will be removed.

-- Marketing. Elective options no longer taught were removed; coursework requirements were aligned with the major; and prerequisite courses that are unnecessary and impede progress were removed.

-- Accounting. Elective options no longer taught were removed, and coursework requirements were aligned with the major.

-- Finance. Elective options no longer taught were removed, and coursework requirements were aligned with the major.

-- Banking and financial services. Elective options no longer taught were removed.

-- Economics. The minor was revamped to follow the same 3 + 2 structure as other COB minors, and coursework requirements were aligned with the major.

Minors that will be eliminated temporarily are sustainable business practices and international business. Three minors will be permanently eliminated. They are business (for non-COB majors), marketing communications and management.

While the revised list of minors takes effect in spring 2020, the new list won’t appear until the new course catalog comes out in fall 2020.

“None of the minors require any additional resources,” Skiba says. “These are the classes we already teach with the existing faculty. This was a big point of emphasis through this reorganization effort.”