General Information

(251) 460-7167

Mitchell College of Business website
https://www.southalabama.edu/colleges/mcob

Faculty/Staff

Title	Name
Dean	Michael Capella
Associate Dean	William Gillis
Director of Graduate Programs	Jessica Franks

The Mitchell College of Business offers the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Master of Accounting, Master of Business Administration, and Doctor of Philosophy. The foundation of the College is quality instruction in all undergraduate and graduate programs. Our instructional mission is to prepare our graduate and undergraduate students for professional careers in the fields of accounting, economics, finance, real estate, management, entrepreneurship, marketing, international business, and supply chain management through a curriculum designed for both broad exposure to each field and in-depth coverage within a specific field of choice.

Mission

The Mitchell College of Business provides value-added experiential business education opportunities to undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students along the Gulf Coast through innovative engagement with constituents, while advancing the area's economic and social well-being.

Priorities

1. Instruction
   The highest responsibility of the College is the instruction of its students and primary emphasis is placed on excellent teaching. In so doing, the College affirms its commitment to the University focus on excellence, lifelong learning and the education of the whole person. The College fulfills its instructional mission through the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree program for undergraduates and the Master of Business Administration, Master of Accounting, and Doctor of Philosophy programs at the graduate level.
2. Intellectual Contributions
   The College encourages and supports faculty basic and applied scholarship as well as instructional development for the purposes of expanding knowledge, enhancing classroom instruction, and contributing to regional economic development. Scholarship is broadly defined to include investigative efforts that lead to the origination, the integration, or the application of knowledge pertinent to the various fields of business. A program of continuing scholarship is the responsibility of each faculty member. The College is responsible for using its resources to encourage, support, and reward faculty scholarship.
3. Service
   The College's service mission is to engage in activities that support and contribute to the development of the University, community and region, and to provide a vehicle for the continuing development of faculty and staff through interaction with the College's numerous constituents. This mission is accomplished through participation in the College's external programs, and through the efforts of individual faculty and staff.

South Alabama Center for Business Analytics, Real Estate and Economic Development (SABRE)

SABRE offers a comprehensive range of services and resources for those in business, industry, government, education, and economic and community development. Drawing on the expertise of its staff and Mitchell College of Business faculty members, SABRE can customize strategic planning, personnel training, data analysis and visualization, consulting, economic impact analysis and forecasting, financial statement evaluation, site location assessment, and digital dashboard development, and much more, to best meet its clients’ most critical needs. For those studying at the University of South Alabama, SABRE partners with Mitchell College of Business faculty and PhD students to pursue wide-ranging research opportunities. For undergraduates, SABRE provides support and advising for those pursuing the real estate concentration and also oversees USA Jaguar Realty, a first in the nation university-sanctioned company for real estate students, designed to educate and license the next generation of real estate professionals. Each year, SABRE also hosts and conducts multiple professional education seminars and conferences.

The Melton Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The Melton Center impacts the Central Gulf Coast region by stimulating and nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation. The Center leverages federal, state, and local resources to impact and expand the entrepreneurial culture at the University of South Alabama and the Central Gulf Coast region through education, engagement, and development opportunities. The activities of the Melton Center directly support the service mission of the Mitchell College of Business to contribute to the economic development of the region.

Career Development Center

The University Career Development Center acts as a liaison between employers and students. Business and professional firms of national significance visit the campus regularly to interview prospective graduates.

Scholarships

The Mitchell College of Business offers prestigious scholarships to entering freshmen students who are majoring in the Mitchell College of Business. Contact the Office of Enrollment Services, (251) 460-6494, for application procedures, deadline dates and more information about the Abraham Mitchell Business Scholarships. In addition, scholarships for eligible students in the Mitchell College of Business are made available by local and regional firms in Accounting, Management, Marketing, Real Estate, and Finance. (Refer to the Financial Aid section of this Bulletin for details.) Visit JagSPOT on the University’s website to apply.

Cooperative Education Program

The Cooperative Education Program is available to students in the Mitchell College of Business. This program offers qualifying students opportunities to work part-time while attending school as a full-time student or alternate full-time employment with course work on a rotating semester basis. For details contact:

Director, Career Development
111 Student Services Drive, Suite 1310, University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002
(251) 460-6188

Transfer Students

The Office of Student Services in the Mitchell College of Business evaluates for credit all courses transferred from other colleges and universities. Degree credit will be given only for those courses which meet the requirements for the degree program of the College. Transfer credit for major-specific courses will only be given for courses taken at an AACSB accredited institution. Students transferring into the Mitchell College of Business with fewer than 45 hours will be required to take BUS 150, Introduction to Business. Students transferring into the College with 46-60 hours are highly encouraged to take BUS 150. Students transferring from a community college may have a maximum of 61 semester hours accepted toward the degree program. No junior or senior-level courses listed in the curriculum of the Mitchell College of Business will be accepted from a community college for degree credit.

Transient Course Credit

Students enrolled in the Mitchell College of Business who wish to take a course at another institution for transfer credit while remaining enrolled at the university must be in good academic standing (a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher) and submit a Transient Credit form to the University of South Alabama Registrar. Transient credit approval for upper division courses will only be given for courses taken at AACSB accredited institutions.

Before completing the transient request form, meet with your academic advisor to make sure that the course you intend to take will apply to your degree.

Departments of Instruction

Admission to the Mitchell College of Business

Students may transfer from other colleges in the University to the Mitchell College of Business. Students transferring into the Mitchell College of Business with fewer than 45 hours will be required to take BUS 150, Introduction to Business. Students transferring into the College with 46-60 hours are highly encouraged to take BUS 150. Degree requirements are defined by the University Bulletin in effect for the semester of entry into the College.

College Requirements

Student classifications in MCOB are Business Administration and Declared Major. Students enrolling in the College are assigned to Business Administration as their major until they have completed EH 101 and BUS 150 and have a 2.0 USA GPA. After fulfilling these requirements, students must declare a major selected from the fields of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Real Estate, Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing Management, Professional Sales, International Business, Supply Chain Management, or General Business. In Economics and Finance, and Management, a concentration must also be declared. Students must have completed or be in the process of completing eighteen (18) hours of the 200 Business Techniques Core before enrolling in the Upper Division Business Core. MCOB students should officially declare a major before taking major courses or business electives.

Students attending other colleges, including community colleges, who are planning to enter the Mitchell College of Business must take at least 50% of the required business credit hours and at least six (6) out of nine (9) major courses at the University of South Alabama. Transfer credit will only be awarded for upper-division major courses taken at AACSB-accredited institutions.

Each student is responsible for meeting all requirements of the degree program. Before registering for any course, students must complete any prerequisites listed in course descriptions in this Bulletin. The Office of Student Services is available to all students for the evaluation of their degree program records. When an exception is made in a student's program, written approval of the exception by the Associate Dean must be placed in the student's file. Failure to properly document exceptions may delay graduation.

Requirements for a Second Major in Business, Dual Major Across Colleges, and Minors in Business

Undergraduate students enrolled in the Mitchell College of Business who plan to add a second major to their curriculum must meet all requirements for the second major. Courses included in the first major cannot be counted toward the second major requirements. Students not enrolled in the Mitchell College of Business who are interested in a dual major in business or a minor in business must meet with the Director of Student Services in the MCOB Office of Student Services for information and course planning.

All Course Requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree

All students enrolled in the Mitchell College of Business are required to take specified business courses and courses in other colleges of the University. Additionally, a major field of study must be selected in Accounting, Economics and Finance, Real Estate, Management, Marketing Management, Professional Sales, International Business, General Business, or Supply Chain Management.

General Business, Accounting, and Marketing Management are the only majors with all upper-division business courses available online. The 300 and 400-level courses necessary to complete these majors are delivered online at least one time each academic year. The tentative schedules for online delivery for these majors are available from the MCOB Office of Student Services. In addition, most of the General Business 100 and 200 level courses are available online. Students wishing to take all of these courses online should see the Director of Advising in the MCOB Office of Student Services to have the online attribute placed on their account in order to receive preference for online class selection.

To graduate, students must complete a minimum of 122 semester hours with an overall institution grade-point average of 2.0 (38 hours of general education requirements and 84 hours of business courses). In addition, a 2.0 GPA is required in the 200 level Pre-professional business core (ACC 211, ACC 212, ECO 215, ECO 216, BUS 245, BUS 265, FIN 200, BUS 240/CIS 250). For these Pre-professional business core courses, only one grade of D is allowed in ACC 212, BUS 240/CIS 250, BUS 265, ECO 215, ECO 216, or FIN 200. A 2.0 GPA is required in the 300-level business core courses, and a 2.0 GPA is required for all courses counted in the Major.

All students enrolling in the Mitchell College of Business must complete at least fifty percent of all business credit hours and at least six of the nine courses counted toward the major at the University of South Alabama.

All students must petition for graduation according to University requirements explained elsewhere in this Bulletin.

Minors

Minors in the Mitchell College of Business

The Mitchell College of Business offers minors for both business and non-business students. Business students may elect minors in Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics, Finance, I/O Psychology, Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Professional Sales, International Business, and Real Estate. Because of the high overlap between majors, Management students may not minor in Entrepreneurship. Students in other colleges may elect, with the approval of their department chair, a minor in the Mitchell College of Business. Minors for non-business majors are offered in Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Business, I/O Psychology, General Management, International Business, Marketing and Real Estate. A 2.0 is required for the courses applied toward the minor. Students must complete at least 50% of the courses counted towards the minor at the University of South Alabama. With the exception of psychology classes needed for the I/O Psychology minor, only courses taken at an AACSB-accredited institution may count towards a business minor. Except as otherwise noted in the Bulletin, courses used for the business minor may not also count as major courses. Courses used for a first business minor may not be used for a second business minor. Specific course requirements for each minor may be found in the individual departments’ bulletin information.