The Massachusetts–South Africa Technology Fellowship (M-SAT) is a new program led by Bentley Professor of Marketing Abdolreza Eshghi in concert with South Africa Partners, a Boston-based nonprofit. Funded through a $396,000 grant by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department, M-SAT brings together mid-level professionals from Massachusetts and South Africa to build relationships with peers, promote cultural competency and strengthen professional skills.

It’s not unusual to run into a business leader who’s keen on history, watches the History Channel and Ken Burns documentaries, and reads biographies by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

But is there a reason beyond personal interest to consider the past? Should business students study history in college?

As a history professor, I have a vested interest in saying “yes.” But I also have reasons. Here are two:

What Courses Matter Most in College?

Learning in unexpected places

I only remember two of the courses I took in college, and neither was in my major.

I went to college in the 1970s as a pre-medical student, and my college curriculum was dominated by courses that were pre-requisite for medical school. None of those courses matter now. By the time I began my professional career, everything I learned in those courses was obsolete, and the textbooks I used are now yellowed museum pieces in my library.

On March 14 in Washington, D.C., a group of business school educators and administrators gathered at the National Academy of Sciences to meet with leaders from the private and public sectors and have a conversation on an unlikely topic: climate change education for future business leaders.

What should be the role of the liberal arts in business education? As we witness huge increases in the cost of formal education, every student has a right to ask what the best use of their time and investment in higher education should be. As educators, we owe it to them to justify the mix of professional training and personal enrichment we offer them.

One of the most inspiring moments in the American political process is the inauguration of a president, with its peaceful transfer of power and the president’s promise to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.” I am unfailingly moved by the majesty and simplicity of the ceremony, and reminded how much students can learn from the study of our Constitution.

As the winter chill sets in, I am warmly recalling a teaching experience I had at Bentley in spring 2012. That’s when I taught the history of sports for the first time.

My students may have been a little jarred by the experience. Initially enthusiastic, these sports-loving undergrads encountered considerably more history, and completed vastly more reading and writing, than any of them anticipated.

Biotech: Not Just for Geeks

Business students get high marks for scientific literacy

In a down

Where is the action on climate change? The answer may surprise you.

It’s in business.