Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Today’s business student will pursue a career that, more than ever, spans multiple industries and even multiple specialties. Every student needs to be prepared with skills and attitudes that cross organizational boundaries and business disciplines.
One hundred years after its founding in 1920, Heider College of Business has reinvented its curriculum to bring out the very best in our students.
From conversations with dozens of industry leaders, alumni and corporate partners, a common set of desired qualities emerged—the managerial mind: the Analytical Mindset, the Cross-Cultural Mindset, the Collaborative Mindset, the Action Mindset, the Service Mindset, and the Reflective Mindset. They represent the qualities we expect Creighton alumni to bring to their workplaces.
Together, these six mindsets complement each other and articulate the mission of our educational approach. From the outset of their educational journey, Creighton business students will recognize the importance of developing broad attributes essential to their effectiveness as 21st century professionals.
Senior Associate Dean Debbie Wells, PhD, sees the Heider Mindset Curriculum as a big-picture approach to business education that goes far beyond a mere checklist of information business students must master. It defines, instead, who we are trying to help them become.
“Historically, the Heider College of Business curriculum has grouped courses into categories, such as ‘lower-division’ or ‘upper-division core.’ Through the Heider Mindset Curriculum, we more intentionally educate for excellence, by rearranging the information in a way that helps students understand how particular courses move them closer toward development of important mindsets,” Dr. Wells says.
It makes perfect sense. The Heider College of Business educates strong thinkers (the Analytical Mindset) who appreciate diverse perspectives (the Cross-Cultural Mindset) and can work well with others (the Collaborative Mindset) to adapt and improve (the Action Mindset) for good (the Service Mindset) with intention (the Reflective Mindset).
"The Heider Mindsets capture this cross-functionality, helping students develop broad leadership talents in addition to depth in chosen majors," Dr. Wells says. "The curriculum sets Heider College of Business apart because it recognizes that resolving problems today, and in the future, requires broad and creative thinking and a high degree of collaboration among diverse individuals.”
HOW DO WE ACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE?
Students at the Heider College of Business excel in their areas of study because we reinforce our innovative curriculum with a transformative, service-focused mission. We are as committed to helping them advance their careers through internships as we are to building their capacity to care for others through service trips. Donors’ generosity allows us to maintain this careful balance of nourishing both the hearts and the minds of future business leaders.
