The Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Business Institute at Montgomery College will provide innovative, high quality business educational opportunities to the citizens of Montgomery County.  The focused programs in the Institute are designed to provide students with the skills, values and experiences which are essential in the rapidly changing, global high technology world of business today.  Building on the strong foundations in place on the three campuses and in Continuing Education, the Business Institute will meet the needs of recent high school graduates preparing for later transfer to four year institutions and for entry into the workforce; returning students seeking new skills; and businesses seeking to improve the competencies of their workforce.  The programs of the Business Institute will be developed in partnership with and will benefit from the resources of the Montgomery College Information Technology Institute.

                The initiatives of the Business Institute will be phased in as programs are developed and funding goals are achieved.  In Phase One, the College has implemented a special program for outstanding second year business students.  Phase Two activities will  focus on professional development opportunities for faculty and lay the foundation for expanding College efforts to meet business and technology training needs of employers and employed adults.  In Phase Three, the Business Institute will expand  offerings to enhance the College’s ability to meet in a more extensive and complete manner the training needs of the business community. State of the market information technology will be integrated into all Institute programs.

Phase One Goals

                The first initiative of the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Business Institute creates a program  for second year college students who demonstrate outstanding potential and interest in the field of business.  The program is selective and small scale, bringing  together highly talented students in a strong and close knit community of scholars.  The purpose of this program is to provide two-year college students, who often choose these colleges because of income or personal reasons, a chance for a collegiate experience that parallels that of the best business schools in the country.  Students completing this program will have had unique opportunities which will expand their transfer options  The cornerstones of the program are high quality seminar-style coursework with the College’s best faculty, scholarships, internships, and lectures.  The use of information technology will be integrated into all aspects of the program and emphasis will be placed on developing transfer options at four year schools which have strong business programs.

                By focusing on second year students, faculty will have had an opportunity to become acquainted with business majors during their freshman year and identify those who can best benefit based on a variety of criteria rather than solely based on grade point average.