by M. C. Jennings | Apr 6, 2022 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Online, Online Learning, Uncategorized
Dr. Nancy Kucinski
College Professor of Management and the Online Business Programs Director
Dr. Nancy Kucinski might be the definition of homegrown talent. Not only is she an Abilene native, but she comes from a family of professors instilling in her a calling to Christian Higher Education. “My father was a professor when I was born and I essentially grew up on a small university campus. Plus, both of my brothers are retired professors, so academia has always been part of my life.”
Kucinski comes to ACU from Hardin-Simmons University where she has been a Professor of Political Science and Management, as well as a former Dean of Graduate Studies. She graduated from Hardin-Simmons University with a Bachelor of Political Science and went on to receive her Masters of Public Administration from Texas Tech. Nancy holds not one, but TWO PhDs — a Ph.D. in Organizations, Strategy, and International Studies from UT Dallas and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas Tech.
Nancy began leading ACU Online and COBA’s online programs last fall when she was named a College Professor of Management and the Online Business Programs Director. She is currently leading her first ACU online course: Management and Organizational Behavior and is excited to teach the Graduate Leadership course next term.
As with many people, the pandemic provided a turning point in her career. “Over the last two to three years, I can see how God has been working in my life to make this opportunity at ACU the exact right place for me to be. Even though I had been teaching online for several years, it wasn’t until the pandemic that I began to really study and learn how to be the best professor I could be in the virtual learning environment. I also have been interested in new research areas, like environmental sustainability that align with the Christian mission of ACU as we are stewards of His creation. Besides God drawing me to ACU, the people here are so supportive and inspiring. And, as they say… life is better as a Wildcat!”
While online education may seem anonymous, Dr. Kucinski does her best to interact with and view each student as their own person. “My approach to teaching is to see each student as an individual. Each has different needs and styles of learning. My desire is to provide the best possible learning opportunities for my students and I’m always open to learning from them.”
Kucinski’s position is a joint appointment with COBA and ACU Online. COBA Dean Brad Crisp is enthusiastic about the future of the online programs saying, “We are so excited to have Dr. Kucinski lead our online business programs. She is an experienced administrator who knows what it takes to build and grow high-quality academic programs that serve Christian business professionals.”
Outside of work, Nancy loves to hike with her husband, Dale who is a retired airline pilot, and their Weimaraners, Maya and Marci. She also enjoys traveling, especially to Salzburg, Austria where she often teaches in an international studies program and to visit her son Neal who lives in San Antonio. It might surprise her students to know that she has a private pilot’s license, learning to fly when she was in college.
Being an adventurer is a trait that enables her to cast a vision for what she’d like to accomplish in this new role. “My dream for our Online Business Programs is to reach even more students. We provide quality learning opportunities and because our programs are offered online, more students are able to access our programs.”
Click here to learn more about ACU’s online programs and how they could change your professional future.
by Maddy Crockett | Mar 3, 2022 | Academics, COBA Events, Current Students
“Perhaps this was meant to be.” When thinking about the cancellation of Leadership Summit earlier this year, these are not the words one expects to hear. Yet a pivot from the disappointment of the canceled course to bring the student experience to Abilene has created an opportunity like no other.
Leadership Summit, 2020
Leadership Summit is a weeklong mountain-top experience that combines an executive conference-style environment featuring high-profile speakers with a close-knit community. It has been a beloved COBA event for the past two decades. Last year, the virus canceled the event. This year, hoping to resume the tradition, disappointment struck again. The Young Life camp facility where the course was to be held sustained damage from a burst water pipe in the kitchen on the day that students, speakers, faculty and staff arrived. Because there was no water in the camp due to the damage, Leadership Summit had to be canceled, leaving students, speakers, and faculty devastated.
In the days that followed the cancellation, communication was frequent and plans were made to allow students enrolled in the course the opportunity to complete the credit hours needed for Leadership Summit. Part of the new coursework included watching videos from past Summit speakers and writing reflections on the content.
A Slice of Summit, 2022
However, Dr. Dennis Marquardt, Director of the Lytle Center for Faith and Leadership, said it still didn’t feel quite right. “We had selected speakers specifically for this experience [Summit] – I couldn’t believe we were missing this.” After the cancellation, Dr. Marquardt and his team spent the next two weeks in prayer and listening to student’s stories of how they were impacted by the experience.
With the rest of the spring semester remaining and the impacts of the recent events felt throughout the college, Dr. Marquardt pondered the potential to make the best of the situation. “God allowed these speakers to be on the list and students to be in the program. How can we be good stewards of that despite the change?”
As this question lingered, the idea for “A Slice of Summit” began to emerge. If the students couldn’t go to Summit, could Summit be brought to the students? The speaker list for the year had long been set with the content planned out in advance. Perhaps the speakers would be willing to come to Abilene to speak with the students here?
Elise Mitchel speaking at the first “A Slice of Summit” event.
And so, the idea became a reality. What began as an ask to one speaker – Elise Mitchell – turned into a series featuring five of the guest speakers with an opportunity for the Summit students to gather, share meals together, and be uplifted by the speakers and mentors pouring into them. Elise Mitchell, Kent Brantley, Mo Isom, and others are joining the students in Abilene over the remainder of the semester to share their Summit message in person. Marquardt shared that the speakers have jumped at the new opportunity to travel to Abilene and share the message they had prepared to share in January.
A Slice of Summit, 2022
While Leadership Summit is a packed week full of content, “A Slice of Summit” is sprinkled throughout the semester. Typically, the longer the semester goes on, the more worn down students become. The hope is that these “slices” will encourage students in the perfect moments; key junctures to uplift and encourage them in the middle of their challenges. Marquardt said, “It is all falling into place.”
While the last two years of cancellations have been discouraging, Dr. Marquardt said they aren’t giving up and are already planning for the future. The date for next year’s Leadership Summit is set and preparations are underway to ensure the travel plans work better for students and speakers. In the meantime, the Lytle Center is able to bring a little slice of that Leadership Summit pie to the ACU campus. Students can learn more about guest speakers through the Lytle Center, the COBA Newsletter, or the Compass app. To learn more about Leadership Summit, click here.
by Lindsey May | Feb 4, 2022 | Academics, Careers In..., COBA Faculty, COBA Staff, College Decisions, Current Students, Human Resource Management, Management, Outcomes, Placement stories, Professional Development, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
While many students long for the excitement of faraway places, you don’t have to look far from home for a valuable internship. For junior business management major Berkley Bruckner, this was exactly the case. Located in her hometown of Amarillo, TX, Fairly Group gave her the opportunity to enhance her career development, prepare her for difficult hiring scenarios, and strengthen her confidence in both decision-making and communications with like-minded professionals. The Fairly Group is a risk consulting firm advising clients throughout the United States and in over 100 countries in several business segments including corporate risk, human capital and benefits, and a broad array of risk consulting specialties. They are also the largest insurance broker in the Texas Panhandle.
Berkley was able to intern alongside the HR Director and learn first-hand the daily processes of human resources. “I was mainly a part of the hiring process for Fairly group and their sister company Occunet. I would look at resumes people would send in to the company website or I would go to Indeed and look for potential people to hire. I would also schedule interviews with the HR director and had the opportunity to sit in on the first initial phone interview with prospective job candidates.” This enabled her to put into practice what she had been learning about hiring new employees, including bias-free interviewing processes. Berkley also was included in a workshop that helped her gain more perspective on empathy for her co-workers.
“I participated in a workshop while interning for this company and it was one of the greatest lessons I learned. It was about having an outward mindset and how to always try and take into consideration the people around us. Even if we have conflicts or get frustrated with our coworkers, we never know what they are going through so we should try and be open minded and empathetic towards them and not try to retaliate against them.” Not only did Berkley learn about the strategic and logistical processes of working in Human Resource Management, she was also able to gain insight on the relational side of working with and for other people.
Like many other companies, the pandemic has been an agent of change for the workplace for the Fairly Group. This gave 
Berkley the opportunity to be in an in-person work environment while learning how to include and be intentional with the company’s remote employees. “I would say that almost 25% of the company was working virtually, and this was an initial challenge to work collaboratively with them and stay in contact, but I grew in this area tremendously.”
Berkley’s experiences in COBA prepared her to take on the workload of this internship through purposeful classes, connections with faculty and staff, and her involvement with the ACU Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. In addition to COBA classes, she has been involved in Freshmen Follies, Sing Song, Delta Theta, and has been a mentor group leader for Wildcat Week. Her involvement on campus gave her the practice she needed to connect with future employers. She advises future interns to “try and get to know as many people as you can in the company you intern for and connect with them on LinkedIn. They could be great connections to have in the future when you go into your career and pursue bigger opportunities.”
Through her internship, Berkley was able to put into action the lessons she has learned in the classroom and through her SHRM on how to recruit potential job candidates, communicate effectively with co-workers, and step outside of her comfort zone to further develop her leadership qualities. And not only did she gain invaluable experience in a work environment very new to her, she was able to spend the summer in her hometown – the best of both worlds. If you are a student looking for help with an internship or job preparation or searches, contact COBA’s Professional Development Manager, Steph Brown at stephanie.brown@acu.edu.
by Maddy Crockett | Jan 14, 2022 | Academics, Current Students, Marketing, Student Spotlights, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
Did you know that in 2021 business was the #1 minor at ACU? Many ACU students find that their degree is enhanced with a minor in business, giving them even more professional avenues to explore. Senior Allie Nichols, an Advertising and Public Relations major from Abilene, Texas, is one of those students who was able to meld her major and minor in an internship last summer. Allie interned at Imaginuity, a digital marketing agency based in Dallas and shared how her experience at ACU and in COBA aided her in her time with the company.
Allie’s position at Imaginuity was as a client partnership intern. She explains, “I would sit in on all client meetings, build decks for the clients, etc. I got to do client partnerships work, social media work, and even creative work.” She was able to see first-hand what the day to day operations of a marketing agency looked like. Allie also attained knowledge in how to communicate with co-workers, clients, and her audiences as well as learning how to work with teams at the company.
“I have grown in confidence in my ability to work and gained real work experience,” Allie shared. This experience at 
Imaginuity has proved very beneficial as it led to a future job and she continued to work for the agency remotely throughout the fall semester.
Allie’s internship enriched her learning environment, both on campus and at the agency. She advises students looking for marketing internships to take an internship where you can learn multiple parts of an agency or facility. “I love that I got a taste of three different aspects in my agency because they wanted me to learn it all to see what I like.”
Even though Allie is not majoring in business, she felt that the COBA professors have shown her the same kind of care and value that business majors receive. She has appreciated the ways her professors have included and poured into her, whether it be through hand-written cards or simply showing interest in her well-being. She has also enjoyed getting exposure to the business side of marketing in addition to what she has learned through her major, the blend of which has given her a broader foundation for her future career.
COBA seeks to help our majors and minors alike gain internship opportunities that provide them with experience for their future careers, whether at home or far away. Interested in receiving more information about our internship program? Email COBA’s professional development manager, Steph Brown, at stephanie.brown@acu.edu.
by M. C. Jennings | Dec 14, 2021 | Academics, College Decisions, Current Students, Marketing, Professional Development, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
Isabella Maradiaga
Have you ever heard the saying “getting a view from 50,000 feet?” Isabella Maradiaga, senior marketing and graphic design major from Tegucigalpa, Honduras quite literally did just that. Last summer, Isabella completed an internship as a Junior Design Intern with Chicago based independent global brand consultant and creative agency, 50,000feet. As their website describes, 50,000feet “develops integrated experiences for the world’s most respected brands.”
Maradiaga was able to spend part of her internship at the agency in Chicago while also working remotely. She worked alongside disciplinary teams to develop and support client brands as well as assisting designers and creative directors on a daily basis using software like Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and MailChimp. Additionally, she contributed in client and agency initiatives through strategic exploration and design assets.
In this role, Maradiaga was able to see how her double major could be integrated into her future work saying, “Pursuing a dual degree in college has been a challenging process. Through this internship, I was able to see how strategic business concepts merge with the creative practice of graphic design. My position as Junior Design Intern was an opportunity to narrow the career path I’m choosing post-graduation. Most importantly, I experienced a work environment that I can only aspire to have in the future. Designers, developers, writers, and all team members collaborate for a shared vision. The people at 50,000feet inspired and motivated me, and I am beyond thankful for the experience they provided.”
Some of the greatest lessons that Isabella learned during her internship were centered on creativity in the business world. “Creativity looks different for everyone. I honestly believe that we have mistakenly identified creatives as the people who pursue careers in art and design alone. There is creativity in design. There is creativity in strategy. There is creativity in business.”
Internships often give students experience and insight that they can take into their future careers. Isabella was no exception. “This internship exposed me to the agency environment that I desire to be in after graduation. I learned more than I could have imagined during the three months of this internship. Now, I can say with confidence that I plan to pursue a career in brand consulting/management.”
A great internship helps students grow and mature as they are stretched beyond what they have learned in the classroom. Isabella’s experience tested her in new ways. “Learning requires an abundance of humility. The College of Business has done an outstanding job at providing opportunities and courses that prepare students for their careers. However, putting all four years of education into practice is challenging. Starting any kind of job means developing new skills, adapting to an environment, understanding company culture, and many other learning opportunities. Approaching new seasons with humility is vital to our personal and professional growth. Most importantly, it is with this same humility that we should approach others as they begin their careers.”
Maradiaga has some advice for students as they look for their own internships. “Don’t be limited by the job postings you see online. Just because you don’t see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. I contacted numerous agencies that were not actively hiring for internships and heard back from most of them. Whether they have open positions or not, you are already making yourself available. Do your research, find companies you love, and pursue them intentionally.”
Isabella takes a “first day at work” pic
Isabella felt well prepared for her internship as she became involved with COBA’s professional development program and did her part to grow and develop herself by becoming involved on campus. “The professional development opportunities at ACU are endless. This place provides experiences that most people don’t get until they are out of school. Besides the academic excellence that is provided in the College of Business, I’ve benefited from many roles at ACU that have shaped my work ethic. During my time at ACU, I’ve served as Vice-President for the International Students Association, President of the American Marketing Association, Marketing Director for the Student Government Association, Design Director for Ko Jo Kai, President of Wildcat Ventures, and student ambassador for the College of Business Administration. All of these experiences have been crucial to my growth as a Christian professional.”
Inspired by “the standard of excellence that we communally pursue” at ACU, Isabella says that the glory belongs to God. “The Lord truly deserves all the glory for every opportunity, experience, and achievement in life. He’s been gracious at placing me in the right place, at the right time.”
Current and prospective students can learn more about the professional development program in the College of Business by contacting Steph Brown at stephanie.brown@acu.edu.
by Katherine Norris | Oct 25, 2021 | Academics, Careers In..., College Decisions, Current Students, Faith Infusion, Financial Management, Management, Student Spotlights, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
Destanie Crist, senior financial management major from Valley Center, CA, hit the ground running when she stepped foot on the campus of ACU. She quickly became involved on campus and is active in leadership roles for multiple student organizations and currently serves as the fund manager for STAR (Student Trading and Research). This past summer, Destanie interned for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in Irvine, CA where she was able to learn about a variety of roles at the organization. “During my internship, I was trained in four rotations under the Commercial Real Estate Bank division. Each week I would hear from a variety of executives and senior managers about their line of business whether it was Treasury Services or Commercial Term Lending. After my training, I was given a specific case study where I had to take everything that I learned and apply it to a presentation, loan decision, and underwriting process. At the end of that week, I had to present the final decision that I made alone or with a team to a group of senior executives. The final two weeks were immersion weeks where I conducted real loans and sat with sales teams. I also had many networking opportunities where I learned from people both inside and outside of the commercial bank and made some really sweet friends.”
The internship experience was valuable for many reasons. Destanie said, “The people I met, connections I made, and friends developed over this summer were by far my favorite part. JPMC and specifically the Irvine office has some of the most incredibly hardworking and driven people I have ever met. The immersion weeks where we worked with real clients and finally got to put all that training to the test was truly fulfilling. I pitched an idea to improve one of the processes in the bank with a few other interns and spent most of my internship working on that idea with a senior executive who I respect and greatly appreciate to bring this project to life!”
With so many great experiences to choose from, we asked Destanie what the greatest lesson she had learned was. “Be yourself, always work hard even when nobody expects you to, and talk to everyone and anyone you can regardless of their title because you can learn from them.” Destanie made it a goal to always put these principles into action. She went the extra mile to help herself stand out from the crowd and encourages future interns to do the same. “Whether it was showing up to work 20 minutes early to make sure all the technology was working for the day, staying late to help with community service projects, organizing meetings with my peers to complete case studies, and setting up Zooms to learn more about different parts of the bank and its people. I was blessed to be able to work closely with analysts and executives who taught me their ways and asked for my feedback or ideas for improvement. It was a huge eye-opener and it allowed me to see how much JPMC cares about each employee and values their ideas or improvement suggestions.”
Internships provide students with opportunities to not only learn about potential future careers but also to reflect on how to improve their skills at graduation. “This experience has shaped a lot of my mentality and approach to jobs or tasks in the future. It opened my eyes to the fact that people who are in more senior roles than you truly care about you and see the potential we hold as the younger generation for the advancement of the future. It also pushed me to understand the greater importance of work-life balance and the emphasis people must place on it to maintain their best selves. I would also say it taught me to not be afraid of speaking up and sharing ideas I have that could potentially help better a process or the firm as a whole. It is a strong foundation that has allowed me to learn a variety of skills and meet incredible people that I can turn to if I ever need help or a suggestion.”
Internships offer students a great foundation for their future careers through exploration, experience, and connections as well as stretching them both personally and professionally. “A lot of growth happened during my internship. I would say professionally I feel more prepared to graduate. Learning the fundamentals in school is crucial; however, after working in this internship over the summer, I would argue to say having experience by working a summer job or internship in the profession you are interested in allows you to see the purpose and gift of college to a greater extent. My faith was challenged and encouraged. I was able to share God and love with others around me in a respectful and caring way while also being encouraged by others in the workplace who know the Lord. Overall, I think the most growth happened in myself and developing who I am as Destanie both inside and outside of the office.”
Destanie was offered a full-time position as a Commercial Real Estate Analyst at JPMC and will be working for the company after graduation. She feels that her time at ACU prepared her for this internship and career through her experience as a leader in various clubs, class presentations, and intentionally getting to know each person in the process. Destanie encourages any student who is thinking about participating in an internship to “first and foremost remember who God is. Remember that regardless of your background, financial status, GPA, or college you are attending God can and will do great things through you. You must trust Him by taking that leap of faith or chance and putting your best foot forward. I applied to a variety of firms both big and small. God is the one who opens the doors and shuts them. He blessed me with this internship and a full-time offer. I put in the work of filling out resumes and cover letters and researching companies that fit the mission I wanted to be a part of. He was the one to open the door and help me through the intensive process to this job!”
Students who are interested in having an internship experience like this one or who would like help preparing for their job search can contact Steph Brown, COBA’s Professional Development Manager, at stephanie.brown@acu.edu.
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