Bertolon School of Business

K. Brewer Doran, Dean

Bertolon School of Business Mission

Bertolon School of Business Mission
Our mission is to empower students from diverse backgrounds to become business and community leaders and to provide a foundation for life-long learning and a spirit of community engagement. We deliver high quality, affordable undergraduate and graduate business education through small classes, state-of-the-art technology, committed faculty, and outreach to the business community. 

• Foundation for life-long learning: Our students develop communication, technology and critical thinking skills, a respect for diverse perspectives and experiences, and an understanding of global and ethical issues.
• Community engagement: Our teaching philosophy fosters an outreach to the community, including small- and medium-sized organizations, supporting business development. We use the talents and resources of the Bertolon School of Business to enrich the community.
• Committed faculty: Our faculty’s first priority is to our students, providing them with career-oriented education and professional advice. To support that goal, faculty members pursue applied research, and/or practice in their professional discipline.

The Bertolon School of Business also adheres to the following learning goals for our undergraduate students to ensure that they are meeting the expectations for business graduates:

• Ethical responsibilities: Our graduates will be able to recognize ethical issues and dilemmas and be able to make ethically based decisions and recommendations.
• Globalization and multicultural understanding: Our graduates will have a working knowledge of the global economy and business cultures.
• Communication and Professional skills: Our graduates will be effective communicators and leaders and will have professional interpersonal skills.
• Analytical thinking and reasoning skills: Our graduates will be able to use analytical thinking and reasoning skills to solve problems and make decisions and recommendations.
• Content knowledge: Our graduates will learn the business core and respective concentration content knowledge and will be able to apply that knowledge in their respective concentrations. 

The Departments

The Bertolon School is organized into three departments: Accounting and Finance, Management and Marketing and Decision Sciences. The Bertolon School offers the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), the Bachelor of Science in Fire Science Administration (through the Management Department), and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program. Subject concentrations in the BSBA degree program are available in Accounting, Corporate Finance/Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Hospitality Management, Human Resources Management, International Business, Management, Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing, and Operations Management. Graduates of the Bertolon School are successful entrepreneurs as well as successfully employed in public and private management, marketing, manufacturing, services and accounting firms, and in federal and state government agencies.

The Center for Entrepreneurial Activities 

The Center for Entrepreneurial Activity (CEA) comprises a group of faculty, students, and administrators who believe that the economic future of our local community rests firmly on the small businesses that abound in this area and on the new ventures that Salem State students and others will establish here. Our mission is to support those business ventures through educational, research, and consulting efforts in order to sustain and encourage entrepreneurial activity throughout the community.

Our goals include creating an undergraduate entrepreneurial mindset and support that mindset through exposure to entrepreneurship as part of the liberal arts core curriculum; developing networking opportunities for students, alumni, entrepreneurs, and small business managers; and promoting creativity in a wide range of fields. We excite students about the possibility of turning their personal passions into their life-work. 

The Center for International Business and Economic Studies

The Center for International Business and Economic Studies (CIBES) is structured to “serve as a resource center for business organizations and the community at large,” to assist the Bertolon School of Business and Salem State to “prepare students for careers in a global economy,” and to provide “an environment sensitive to a diverse population.” CIBES has a two-fold mission: first, it develops international business and economics programs and curricula, and second, it assists small to midsize businesses in the region to export their products and services to other countries and/or import what they need.

The Small Business Development Center

The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Northeast Regional Office at Salem State provides counseling, educational programs, technical assistance and information to the small business community. The Center is a partnership of U.S. Small Business Administration and the Executive Office of Economic Affairs through the University of Massachusetts at Amherst under a cooperative agreement, and is a resource of the SBA’s Business Development Service network. The Center is committed to outreach programs within its geographic area. The Center’s staff provides counseling on a pre-scheduled basis in many communities and continually seeks to expand the program to additional cities and towns North of Boston. More information about the Center may be obtained by visiting its website at salemstate.edu/academics/schools/2172.php.