College of Business
Partnerships and Community Engagement
Community Centers and Programs
The College of Business (COB) community-centered programs are designed to address the needs of the campus and local West Baltimore Community. The COB Centers and program offerings are community focused and provide the following support services for community development: consumer education, entrepreneurship, research, service learning. Leveraging the college's Career Excellence Program, Data and Financial Experiential Program Labs and ground floor Entrepreneurship Center and VITA Operations, the collective are a community hub designed to bring the broader West Baltimore community and university closer together.
The Center for Strategic Entrepreneurship (CSE)
The CSE’s mission is to advance the social and economic impact of entrepreneurial activities in the West Baltimore community through research, education, publication, and service. Centrally located, the CSE will be a resource for the campus and community. Through the efforts of the CSE, CSU’s College of Business will play a major role in leading conversations on entrepreneurship and will provide business support for founders, early-stage ideas, and small businesses that are looking for capital and advisement. The founding director is Dr. Ronald C. Williams, assistant professor of management.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
The VITA program offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, the elderly and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals. A signature program within the College of Business’s Consumer Education Programs, VITA Center, has been in operation for 10 years and will expand its community reach by adding consumer finance literacy and wealth building foci designed to help community members develop their financial IQ and develop long term budget, income, and investment strategies. The founding director is Professor Hyacinth Ezeka, assistant professor of accounting.
Partners in Education
A professional development program for K-12 educators who want to learn instructional strategies for teaching practical business and entrepreneurial principles and collaborating on research. The program will seek to engage public school students, supporting the pipeline development for Gen-Alpha generation future Coppin students. Partners in Education will establish a teacher fellows’ program as a summer institute for enrichment on Coppin’s campus; bringing together K-12 community partners interested in advancing business and entrepreneurial education in the primary and secondary public-school systems. Educators will be exposed to interesting experiential learning opportunities to expand student business and entrepreneurial learning in the classroom by providing curriculum and co-curricular activities.
Career Excellence Program
A career services program utilized to support an internship provider program and mentoring program for COB majors. This program will focus on soft skill development, assuring students are career ready and exposed to research and community learning opportunities. The program will seek to engage current College of Business students, supporting the professional development of our matriculating students. The Career Excellence Program will establish the internship provider and mentorship program as a professional network; bringing together business and corporate partners interested in recruiting, developing, and retaining College of Business students for employment opportunities. Students will be exposed to resume and interview preparation, business etiquette, dressing for success, career search through Occupational Insight, and employment opportunities to assure employability and readiness upon graduation.
Capital Markets Program
A program that curates financial data and analytics for the community and COB program centers. The state-of-the-art simulation lab will expose students to the world of finance and investments. Building on the finance curriculum, the Capital Markets program seeks to employ teachings on financial and investment strategy development, introduction to careers in finance and investments, introduction to global markets, and teaching and learning corporate finance. The lab will provide hands on experiences for students and an opportunity to build master’s level curriculum for practitioners in the finance, banking, and investment world.
PNC Mobile Branch and Financial Learning Lab
PNC Retail Banking, in conjunction with Community Development Banking, has launched a new outreach program at Coppin State University. The mobile branch and experiential learning experience is now available on Coppin's campus. In partnership with the College of Business, the schedule has been set to offer at no cost financial literacy education, banking services, and banking career exploration to all Coppin student, faculty, staff, and community.