The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

from: The Black Collegian

Before 3M and four HBCUs partnered to focus on a new field in sales and customer service, these HBCUs offered little or no educational content to support the financially lucrative careers of business’ frontline professionals. Today, students of the business schools at Xavier University of New Orleans, La., Tuskegee University of Tuskegee, Ala., North Carolina A&T University of Greensboro, N.C, and Southern University of Baton Rouge, La., are attending courses in sales and customer service, actively engaging in roleplay exercises and sales simulation, and presenting complex business plans. Xavier University’s department of business, under the leadership of Dr. Joe Ricks, assistant professor of sales and marketing, and associate chair of the department, partnered with 3M to help create a new strategic direction in business education. The relationship helped Dr. Ricks and the Xavier academic team design and offer courses in “Personal Selling,” “Customer Relations Management,” and “Multi-Variable Data Analysis.” The courses in sales and customer service are now requirements of a new minor in Sales at Xavier. (more…)