Why Pursuing a Business Education Makes Perfect Sense in a Hyper-Competitive Market

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WNIS News Time now, 9.06. Stay tuned for Ask the Expert with Regent University up next here on AM 790 WNIS.

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Good morning.

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Welcome to AM790 WNAS. I'm Holly Williams here sitting in with the Ask the Experts shows that we do so wonderfully every Saturday. And I am so happy to be here. I've been having such a great discussion. Regent University is in the house. So we've got Dr. Doris Gomez and Dr. Greg Stone. Dr. Doris Gomez, Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership. And then we have also Dr. Greg Stone, Director of the MBA program at Regent University. Welcome, doctors.

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Thank you for having us. Good to be here. Yes, we're so glad that you're here. A little dreary outside, not my fault. We don't blame you. Okay, thank goodness. don't blame you. So let's chit chat. We've got so much to uncover. We've been doing that for the past half hour, the three of us chit chatting, but we'll start with Master of Business Administration. I think that goes to you, Dr. Dorr.

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Well, I'll be happy to kick it off, but I really want to talk,  have Dr. Stone talk about it because he is  the  chair of this program.  But what I want to start out with is that I so often hear  from prospective students,  I don't need a degree, I can be successful without a degree.  while that might be true for some,

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a very small minority I have to add, right, the majority of us really benefit from education, from a business education.  And that is really why we are here  today to really encourage and to share a little bit more about the programs that we do offer at Regent University  and why it really  will make sense for a lot of folks to pursue further education, especially in the sector of business,  which is just a business is everywhere.

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Well, yeah, the MBA programs  are like  the thing. Absolutely. If you want to pursue business,  whether it be for somebody else or be on your own. Yes.  MBA programs, now we turn it to you, Dr. Stone. Talk to us about the MBA program at Regent. Well, we're excited because we're unique. We're different from  many of the programs out there  and unique with some very unique characteristics. Number one, we teach

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our subject matter from an entrepreneurial perspective.  Now, that doesn't mean you have to want to be an entrepreneur, but it means we're going to give you the entrepreneurial tool sets. We're going to give you the research tools that you need, the marketing tools that you need, the accounting and finance tools that you need so that  you know how all these elements work together and how they can come together to benefit an organization, manage an organization, lead an organization.

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get those things done. So we call it the entrepreneurial tool set. And it's great for whether you want to introduce a new product or service in an existing business, that's entrepreneurship, or whether you want to start your own business at some point because you're motivated, you're inspired, you're just really excited about wanting to work on something and pursue it. So that entrepreneurial tool set is one of the key characteristics of our program. That's pretty awesome.  I really like that. I want to go be an entrepreneur.

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Yes.  my own radio station. Wouldn't I love that? Absolutely. absolutely would. Yeah. But  so what did you want to add anything else more to the MBA program? Well, it is, right? I mean, what I want  listeners  to be aware of that you can pursue an MBA program at any time, right? So we were talking about that. That's right. Any time, any place. Any time, any place.

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We do offer our MBA program 100 % online. We also offer it on campus. So you do have an option, right? If you really, really say, you know,  I prefer to be on campus in the  classroom, traditional, face-to-face,  we offer that. Do you find more online or more? You do? More traditional. Would it be with the younger set? No, no, with everybody.  Increasingly so, online education. Regent University has been one of the first universities

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in the nation to offer an online degree program. And that was actually our PhD in organizational leadership program when nobody else was really doing it and nobody even thought it's possible. And so we started offering that in the mid 90s. Wow. Actually. So by now we really know what we are doing. I was just going to say And we're doing it really well. so the traditional student that comes to Regent University is really what we could.

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what we term the adult learner, right? And those are individuals that already have a job,  that  many of them already have families.  So for them to simply say, I'm gonna pause my life, know, uproot my family and move to Virginia Beach is simply not feasible.  And so the online option is becoming increasingly, increasingly more attractive to a lot of our students. Well, that makes sense for somebody like me.

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You know, I'm much older now. I do have a four-year degree in communications. I'm single again.  And  it's like perfect. It is. It's a perfect opportunity, is what I'm looking for. The perfect opportunity to further my degree,  further my education.  Further your education, know, open additional doors of opportunities.

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That's what education does.  And especially, for example, in an area like business, right? Business, if you really think about organizations, every single organization, every single industry requires business mindsets. There's no radio station, no hospital,  no church, no for-profit or not-for-profit  that does not need individuals that really have  business sense  and business understanding.

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to really help advance the organization. Yeah, that's so well said and that's so true. We see it every day. We live it  every day. do. And, okay, so anything you want to add more to the MBA program? Well, one of the things unique about us is most universities focus on what we call the C-word, competencies.  Now, we have two C-words. Obviously, competency is important and we want you to have the skill sets that you need.

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But the other C word that we focus on is character.  Character is extraordinarily important and it's a two-way street.  We were just talking about the online education and a lot of students think, a lot of people think, well there's just, that's so impersonal. Well it is if you let it be impersonal.  But we reach out and initiate conversations. We initiate a relationship. We build a relationship over the course of a program.

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If you apply to our program and you get accepted, you get a telephone call from me welcoming you into the program. You get a follow-up email telling you some of the details of what you're getting into. You get  me for the entire program  to interact with you, deal with you, pray with you if we need to do that. So that character element,  you're bringing your character to us. We're taking the spiritual aspect of that. We're  implementing

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biblical principles into the coursework so that you have an ethical framework to be able to go out there and be effective in what you're doing. And one of the most unique feedback mechanisms I get is when somebody has hired  one of our graduates and they call me up and say, you know what's best about your graduate? And I'll go, no, what are you finding to be best? They go, I can go home and sleep at night. Right.

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They don't have to worry about the business. They don't have to worry about things walking away and going away. They know they've hired somebody who has that character element. So competency and character are the two elements that we really focus on in this program. So here's a question for both of you with these classes online.  So back in the 90s, we didn't have Zoom. No, we didn't have anything like that. Was it a lot of Skyping? What do you do?  How does that work? Or you just  have the education

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Sent to you, I mean you have the class. What's the word I'm looking for? Right, well how does it work right now? Or back then? Yeah, all of it. Because you're absolutely right. What you did in the 90s is nothing what you're doing today. is nothing what we do today. And it's lot easier now today to really engage online. We the pony express. Now you're laughing, but literally we would go in in the mid 90s and

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record on cassette tapes lectures for a particular course. Oh, I'm sorry, like cassette tapes?  Any of those? an antique term.  Yeah, might have to explain that a little bit  to your listeners.  A cassette tape? Really, what's that? Then we would send a set of cassette tapes out with the textbook and a study guide, and the students would literally fill out assignments and mail them to them, to us.

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we would grade them, put them back in the mail to the students. So we were using the US Postal Service. That is the Pony Express. The Pony Express. there was more Pony than Express on many occasions.  But it worked out. It was the start of it. Then as technology came in, we started seeing technology evolve. Then we had this thing called the internet came along. And then people were trying to...

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figure out how to use the internet and how to be able to use that. So what started out as cassette recordings of lectures  turned into more dynamic recordings and turned into where a student could access an asynchronous education and experiences with  media such as Blackboard, which is one of the things that we use that students interact with. yeah,  it's been a lot of changes in technology that have advanced it.

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and made it easier to communicate, more effective to communicate with students than it was writing letters back in the mid-90s. So if anybody has any questions for the doctor, 627-7979, 627-7979, we're speaking with Regent University. We've got Dr. Doris Gomez, Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership, and Dr. Greg Stone, Director of the MBA program at Regent University. If I can't say Greg one more time.

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I apologize. It is a difficult name, right? Yeah Too many syllables I Think do we have somebody on the line? We've got Linda from Virginia Beach online marketing degree programs. Hey Linda, welcome to the show. Hi, how are you? Doing well. How are you? I'm doing great  I was just inquiring I was online and I was looking at the business and leadership Programs that they had

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And I was looking at currently in marketing, but I was looking more to further my education on digital and e-commerce. Just, you know, obviously with COVID, you know, it's really changed the way that people are buying and doing business now. So I would definitely like to get more educated in that space. Do you have a program that would fit that?

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Yes, we do, Linda. Thanks so much for your question and for calling in.  Clearly, you are on the cutting edge there and you are very forward looking. So I just wanted to commend you on that. You are absolutely right. COVID-19, right, the pandemic has changed the landscape  on how we do business, how we  continue to do business.  So we do have  several options actually in that arena, certainly our MBA program.

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does focus in  the marketing concentration has several courses that focus on e-marketing and digital marketing.  In addition, you know, what also might be very, very useful to you moving forward is if you focus a little bit more on the analytics, on the business analytics  aspect of business. As you know, marketing  is data-driven, right?

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the Google search terms, all of that, right? There's no single marketing department that does not follow those statistics.  And it's simply a growing field and it's increasingly competitive.  As you know, as a marketing professional, you need to remain on the cutting edge in there.  And so business analytics is certainly also a wonderful option for you. We offer an entire degree.

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a master of science in business analytics that would certainly give you a lot of the analytics tools and the software  to do that if you are interested in more that aspect of data analytics.  But  if you wanted to  maintain more in the marketing space, focused business space,  then the MBA program was a concentration in marketing and then  the digital e-marketing courses are certainly part of that.

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And that's a really great  point because when we were talking about the entrepreneurial  set up when you were discussing the MBA program and how you have all these different facets that build that entrepreneurial mindset, right? You're teaching that.  So now  you add the technology into the mix big time, like Linda just said, with e-commerce and  all the analytics. It's the future. More so than it has been. Like we're here. Absolutely.

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I guess that's got to be all a part of it. Yes, absolutely. So great question, Linda. Thank you so much for calling. We  appreciate it. Thank you. AM 790 WNIS. If anybody else would have questions for Regent University's Dr. Doris Gomez, Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership, and Dr. Greg Stone, Director of the MBA program at Regent University, please give us a call this morning. 627-7979, 627-7979.

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So what time are we at? have Mike Fitzgerald on the board. I adore this engineer of ours.  How much more time do we have, Mike, before the break? About 10 more minutes. About 10 more minutes. So let's move on. Let's move on, because we're talking about, we have different ideas that we wanted to do different segments this morning. And this might ring a bell for some people. Master of Science in Business Analytics  and Master of Science in Accounting with CPA tracks. So we just touched on the analytic part of things. And I'm assuming that's the same concept there.

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But now let's Master of Science in accounting. Yes. With CPH. What does that look like these days? Yes. What does that look like?  It's a tremendous opportunity.  You know, the MS in accounting with CPA track, it's not about learning how to do bookkeeping, right? Right.  It is not that. It is not that.  You're not going to become a bookkeeper. So I just want to to dispel all fears. Right. Let's squash that. You're not behind a desk. You're not crunching. Yeah, that's right.

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But CPAs, Certified Public Accountants, right? Those are the people that you go to with your taxes, especially businesses need them, right? If you have a more complex tax situation, you certainly need a CPA, but you need to be certified. And the amazing thing is that it is a growing, a continuously growing profession, and our MS in accounting with CPA, the CPA, that's a certification that you earn, you actually have to take an exam for that.

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and the organization behind that that is kind of stewarding the quality and the integrity of that profession actually requires individuals to have 150 credit hours. So that's also, just to bring it round Robin here, for a CPA you do have to have an MBA. You do, you have to have a master's degree. have have a master's in business. absolutely. Then that makes sense.

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And so the MS in accounting, we are very excited about it. It's one of our newest programs. We are officially gonna be launching that fall of 2021. So it's brand new. is very exciting. I'm very excited. Now will you be heading that up? I will oversee that as the Dean, but Dr. Henry Singletary will be heading that up. He himself is a CPA.

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and has had a CPA practice for many years. So he is just a tremendous professional and scholar at the same time.  But when we created this program,  I really said, know,  I want to have a program that really positions students beyond a simple degree.  I want them to be ready to go and ready to launch into their careers.  And so we are partnering with one of the major, major CPA exam prep organizations in the country.

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which is Becker,  which is recognized by the four largest accounting firms,  like PricewaterhouseCooper, right?  Those organizations.  students will  be able to track along their curriculum as they take courses with us,  they are ready to actually sit for their exams right at the end. So not only do they receive a degree,

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which is required for the examination, but they will also sit for the CPA exams. And it's  all done. One stop shop. All covered through the tuition. It's all integrated.  It's a very comprehensive program. It can be completed as quickly as a year, 12 months, right? If you're full-time or part-time in about 16 months.  It's a tremendous opportunity.

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And CPAs are amongst the most qualified professionals in the business area.  mean,  companies need them.  can  launch out on your own, right? Have your own CPA firm, is tremendous. So we have somebody on the line. You won't believe it.  We have Mayor Bobby Dyer. Bobby Dyer! Hello! Oh my goodness!

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Stone, how are you? Doing great, Bob. Good to hear from you. Good morning. Good morning, Mayor. He is a university. I just wanted to give a shout out just to let you all know that the mayor of Virginia Beaches also was in the first  cognate of the School of Leadership at Regent University.  And let me tell you how much I was able to utilize my  skills that I learned. Please do.

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Wow, yes, Dr. Dyer, thank you so much for calling in, Yeah,  give us an idea. Can you stay with us for five more minutes? Yeah, I sure can. Well, just real fast. Give us an overview of what you  experienced during the program.  Well, I tell you  what. Well, you're the mayor, so I think you did pretty doggone well, but go ahead.  Well, I'll tell you what, it taught me.

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It gave me a definitely,  know, forgive me, I'm on GPS here, so you might hear something. I'm on my way to do a ribbon cutting  and open up another business in Virginia. Wonderful.  And but it gave me a lot of the essential skills I needed, especially in communication, persuasion, motivating people, understanding how businesses work and how people fit into the but it gave me a very people oriented.

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approach that you know bill you know businesses are just building some brick and mortar but it really comes down to how to treat people and you know work with other people resolve conflicts.  And tell you what it's been invaluable to me in my career in politics  and you know the privilege of serving as mayor. You know that's so cool to hear because doctor stone was saying before how  the entrepreneurial spirit.

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and what you have to engage in in these programs and the MBA programs and such. You you are talking about from soup to nuts when you're either running a business or you're involved in a business. And so it makes sense when you were talking about he's got to know numbers for the city. He's got to make sure of all the people that work for him and for the city and all the departments. My head spinning. All the departments that he's overseeing. And he gets that

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glimpse of how it's all running through board meetings and so forth. And it's got to be pretty incredible to contain all of that  on, you know, on that scale. the other thing too, you know, we got to depend on,  you know, money and we got to bring in these new businesses and technology.  And through my understanding with Regent University, I was able to start a process improvement task force.

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yet that help really help out but i also sounds now starting a uh... at task force on uh... technology and innovation to bring those businesses here and the objective is to keep keep our graduates uh... right here and provide that you know so families don't get busted up and uh... people graduate from regent no d u and i'll do you be a in hampton university

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and got to move to Northern Virginia. We want to keep them right here. Keep them right here. Dr. Stone, you want to add anything to that with the iodine? He's absolutely right. It's the kind of thing where you want to get the entire skill set here and be able to come back and let the community benefit from all of that management skills, all of those leadership skills  that are  effective and can the community can benefit from the economic base that gets grown.

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Mom and Pop businesses are the backbone of the United States. Absolutely. And this community, especially  in Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads, because  you drive down the street, you don't see big, huge major corporations. You see mom and pop business after business after business. That's a big mantra for us at the station group. And that's support local. We do it all the time. And I can tell you a lot of the jocks that talk about it, we actually really do it. That's where the economy is. Absolutely.

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Absolutely. Mayor, thank you so much for for giving us a call this morning. Have a  wonderful morning and be safe out there on the roads. And I'll tell you what, WNAS is my favorite station and, you know, keep on doing great work for the community. Thank you all very much. And I'm proud to be a regional woman, a colleague of both Dr. Gomez and Dr. Stone. Oh, right on. OK, Mayor, have a great day. We're coming.  OK, take care. Bye bye.

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AM 790 WNIS 627-7979 627-7979. All right, we'll take a short break. We'll see you on the other side. AM 790 WNIS.

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AM790  WNIS. I'm Holly Williams sitting in this morning for the Ask the Experts show with Regent University.  If you have questions, we've been talking about a  bunch of things that are going on with Regent. 627-7979-627-7979.  Let me talk to you, let me introduce the guests one more time. This might trigger a thought and a phone call from you, the listener. Dr. Doris Gomez, she's Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership.

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We also have Dr. Greg Stone. He's the director of the MBA program at Regent University. We've touched on quite a few things. And if you are just tuning in, please call. Even if we touched on that subject, they're here to answer your questions.  And we've been having a nice little morning. We did. tell you the truth. We surely did. We're going to move on to the next topic.  And off mic, we were talking about this. The executive mentorship program. So  I personally was...

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telling you guys my personal mentorship, if you will, situation years ago. As a matter of fact, Lynn, who is your sales  gal,  who is also a very dear friend of mine,  we were having lunch yesterday and I was just telling her the importance of a mentor.  When you're just starting out in any kind of a situation, radio,  a mom and pop, whatever it is, I had a mentor that helped me greatly  and I'm still in contact with him to this day.

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So with that being said, tell me what you have to offer with the mentorship program. Yes, well thank you. Thank you for asking the question.  This is a program I'm very passionate about.  We launched a program in fall of 2019 and the thought behind it was that  our students receive tremendous education.  They receive tremendous mentorship from their faculty.

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because we are very, very student focused and student centric at Regent University.  We want to pour into our students in every way we can.  But what  I sensed was still missing was another level, right? Another layer of mentorship and coaching and help  above and beyond  the curriculum and the faculty.  And so  we dreamed up, right, an executive mentorship program, especially.

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for our business students, right? Because we know how competitive it is out there.  And how little,  whenever I talk to students, right, they always said, and I mentored a lot of students over the years, and a lot of faculty do, right? Because there's such a tremendous need  above and beyond. You I want to know  what it's really like out there. What can I do?  How can I improve? How can I polish my resume? Things like that, basic things.  And so said, well,

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We gotta do something about that, right? But the reality is that a lot of students, can't afford, right? There are coaches and mentors out there that do it for a business, right? But I mean, that costs a lot of money, right? And who has that at that stage as you're still trying to establish your careers, you still establish yourself in your professional life. And so said, well, we can do that. Let's see what happens. Well, what does that look like, Doctor? Seriously, so am I...

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graduated already? No, you are current student, are an enrolled student in one of our business programs at the School of Business and Leadership. You can apply to receive and to be matched with an executive mentor. We have about 170 executive mentors that have already

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that have volunteered to serve as an executive mentor. Those are not just our own graduates.  A lot of them are because  they are now CEOs, executives,  but we have a lot of folks in our community, right? From Sentara,  the  Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce,  across the nation really, executives from a united way,  from government, from the military that have volunteered to serve our students.

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They are not getting paid.  They have volunteered to say, I want to pour into the students.  And so students also apply. They fill out a profile. They tell us, what do you want?  What are you hoping to achieve as we are matching you with a mentor? And so sometimes students say, listen,  I'm very interested in breaking into the healthcare industry, but I don't know how.

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Right? I just know that I would like to break into this industry. It's not my background.  How do I do that? Right? And so we go through our database and say, well, we have these many executive mentors and we match those students with the mentor. And then once they are matched, we just let them lose. Right? We provide an orientation for both mentor and mentee.  And we ask for an engagement of at least six months. Oh, nice. at least six months, at least.

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once a month. And I tell you something too, what probably happens is that they stay friends and they stay connected for a very long time. They do. Right after six months. do. And it goes beyond the six months and that is certainly entirely up to them. So let me me play this for you.  I'm  a student. I don't know what I want to do. Yeah. We have that too. I'm coming to you doctor  and I want this mentorship program desperately.  More importantly why is because I don't know.

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what the heck industry I wanna go into. I just like, I love business. So now what do I do? Who you gonna hook me up with? Well, we have those generalists as well.  Those are experienced experience leaders that have been on executive levels like VP and above level. Maybe for several different companies as well. several different  companies, different industries.  we select  and approve those mentors because we also know their character.

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And so they  are able to handle that. You know, they're unknown. It's like, I don't know what I want. You know, I'm here,  I just want to improve my life, which is part of education, right? A lot of our students are in our master's programs.  They simply want to improve their life, right? Their livelihoods, right? They want to break through some barriers that they have experienced and education does that.

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but they're not very clear what they wanna do with it.  And so we match them with those mentors and what I hear over and over and over again, it just opens so much  of  a horizon for our students. I was like, I've never considered that, or I didn't even know about that.  We have one individual and she wanted to be matched. said, I don't know,  I think I want to break into more the...

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you know, the television business. And so we said, well, do we have anybody in television? yeah. Well, really you're going to think right off the bat, she wants to get on screen. She wants to get on the call. There's a lot of people that want to do behind. Absolutely. behind.  And so we found somebody. found somebody. So, you know, we, have great connections.  We found somebody and now

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both of them, they're writing a book together. I mean, just amazing opportunities. You're kidding. Oh, I got the That's wonderful. So who wants to talk to Dr. Doris Gomez and Dr. Greg Stone, Regent University, online and on campus in Virginia Beach? You can learn everything and anything from anywhere from Regent. 627-7979-627-7979. Something that just hit me too, if I may. Yes. So with COVID last year, lot of people were...

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not just financially devastated, but emotionally and  sometimes physically  if they took sick and didn't get over it.  What did you find happening with Regent last year with the students? How did you keep, and I would think the mentorship program was a big help in keeping their  spirits high. Absolutely. Well, it is, right?  It's a multi-layered approach, right? I always say,

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We surround our students with a circle of support. The mentorship program is one aspect, right? Because it keeps your vision, your hope, right? There's something beyond. keeps you focused, it keeps you going.  And it keeps you aware of the possibilities, right? I can be that person, right? I have what it takes.  But in addition to that, it's an amazing support. You know, the faculty and staff that we have at Regent University and School of Business and Leadership.

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They are dedicated to our students. We see our students not just as a number or just as an enrollment, right?  It's an individual person that in  our conviction, God has brought to Regent University for a very particular person. And it is our responsibility and honor  to guide and be with the students from beginning to end and build them up, empower them into all that they can accomplish. And so when COVID hit,

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None of that has changed. We simply did more of what we're doing because we realized students needed more. There were tremendous, as you know, tremendous suffering, tremendous pain. The graduates of last year. The graduates.  We had to move to a virtual  commissioning and commencement, right? All of that is significant in addition of the fear, right? There is so much. Our students have lost loved ones.

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have encountered COVID, some very severely so, that they had to be hospitalized. But we worked with every single student individually and developed a plan for them individually. And that's our strength. There is no cookie cutter approach, right? We listen to the students. The students know they can reach out to us.  There is no layer. They can  reach out to Dr. Stone directly, right? An email, a phone call. They can reach out to me directly, an email, a phone call.

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I don't have  a layer of what you have to jump through these hoops until you can get to me, right?  They have my number, they can call me. How about you, Dr. Stone? Do you want to add anything to the mentorship program? Absolutely tremendous, and we're excited. I had a student who just recently came to me and said, I'm interested in a marketing mentor. I want to go into marketing. I've been inspired by the courses that I've taken.

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And so we were able to set up with our Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations, Claire Foster, to be the mentor to this particular student.  her tremendous background and experience, especially in digital, plus Claire is one of our  adjunct faculty members too. She teaches the digital landscape  in our marketing program in the MBA. So we're excited to be able to bring  mentor and mentee together.

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And this gal, this student is just totally excited about the opportunity that she's going to get to work with an expert in the field to help hone in the direction that she wants to go with her life. And Claire sounds phenomenal. I can't wait to meet her one day.  And number two, Claire is actually going to teach that new mentee how you have to keep up  with the technology.  That's something where we forget  what we have to do because it's always changing.

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And I can admit, I can be a little lazy. I can be a little lazy because sometimes it gets overwhelming.  I don't have that side of the brain so active. My creative side is more active  than that side, than the analytical side. And that's fine, I know it, I can admit it. But what it takes for me to just keep reading and learning about it and being involved on the social platforms and being involved in the digital  situations, it's...

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That's a  feat in itself, I think. Am I wrong? Yes, it is.  And you'll learn how to keep up with those technologies. can be a full-time job. It is a full-time job.  And you need professionals in that field to really help you explain.  It is really that important. And you really got to do that. I want you guys to come here give us a class.  I'm thinking.  Yes.

36:38
Happy, happy to do it. Sign us  up. So if you're just joining us, I'm so happy to be here. Regent University is in the house. I got Dr. Doris Gomez, Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership, Dr. Greg Stone, Director of the MBA program at Regent University. We have been  talking about everything and anything  this morning, and it's only an hour we have, so we could be going on all day long. But if you are thinking about furthering your education, Regent is a beautiful campus.

37:08
You don't have to even go to the campus. You can do everything online.  But  the knowledge is power. And I think with Dr. Gomez and Dr. Stone telling us the bits of information that they're conveying about the MBA program, the mentorship program, which I, the excitement in Dr. Gomez when she was discussing it, so important, so valuable, keeping up with the technology of today,  you know.

37:35
you want to further your education, Regent sounds like the perfect place to go. So anything you guys want to add to that or something else that we want to? Well, it really is. It's a wonderful school. And I know I shared with you before we came on air, I always ask students every opportunity I have to talk to them. So let me know what you heard in terms of our marketing materials, what you've read on the website, you know that.

38:04
that brought you to Regent that made you  decide to apply and actually start with us. Did we under deliver? I'll be doing everything that you were promised and every single student I talk to, and I know they are not lying because  students are very honest, right? And they have the comfort level with us.  They are telling the truth.  And every single student I talk to says, you know, you are over delivering.  What you are offering at Regent University,

38:33
is so much more than I've ever experienced anywhere else.  And students come to us,  several already have another master's degree, right? So they have been at a lot of different schools, but they said they are something very special at Regent University. Let me ask this question, because  is everybody back on campus?

38:54
We are offering on-campus classes.  like for you guys,  Well, we  are and we are not. So we are very flexible. Very flexible because I think as a new student,  know, everything that you're saying, I want to make sure  you're tangible. I want to make sure that if I knock on your door,  that Dr. Gomez is going to be there. Or at least, know, because  as much as this technology is happening, and maybe I'm a little old school and I get that.

39:22
But there's nothing like a sit down with a professor. There is nothing like a sit down with a professor. I don't understand this concept. And I want to make an appointment. I feel I'm paying the tuition. I need just some basic, I promise prof I won't take, but 15, 20 minutes of your time. And there's nothing like that.

39:44
And we welcome it, we love it. We love if we have students like that, that actually take us up on our offer, right? It's like,  call us, email us. I was one of those. Come by, wonderful.  Because  that's also where learning occurs, where relationship occurs. And now, of course, you know, so many students might say, what I am in Florida, I'm not planning to come on campus, so how can I take advantage of it? Well, the beautiful tool of Zoom, right?  We are on Zoom.

40:13
all the time. I bet you are. We make appointments. Dr. Stone, we're on Zoom. Well, it's great, right? And I have to say, if it would not have been for COVID, I don't think we would have entered into that space as purposefully as we are now. It's amazing. We did here at the station, not the on-air jocks, but the sales staff. They certainly had their meetings faithfully every week, and everybody was on a Zoom.

40:42
Absolutely. I'll assume a call. So  I have a lot of appointments this way. You know, where people can see me, I can see them.  And we are able to bridge that gap. Right. We bridge the distance.  And it's very effective. And it's so important too, because especially with the MBA program, would think, Dr. Stone, you  you're giving them articles to read. You're giving them books to read. You're giving them a curriculum.  And so pull out this part of the curriculum,  doctor.

41:12
Because I don't understand that at all. And you have it in front of you, Zooming, he has it or she has it in front of her. And then you can take that time and break it down. But  you still have that physical contact. That's got to be, to me, that's the most important thing. And Zoom's letting us pull in the experts too.

41:31
That's the neat part about it  was, you know, it's one thing to invite you into the classroom.  But then to invite you into a Zoom meeting, it doesn't matter where you are located.  And it gives us better access to the experts. So we can pull them in for class discussions and things online. We can record it.  And then it can be for an asynchronous listening to it when  it fits the student's schedule and those kind of things.

41:57
Again, the technology has been tremendous in helping us gain access to new capabilities and new personalization of contacts and interactions with students. So if you're just joining the conversation, we're in the studio with Regent University's Dr. Doris Gomez, Dean of the Regent University School of Business and Leadership, and Dr. Greg Stone, Director of the MBA program at Regent University. Give us a call. 627-7979-627-

42:25
7979, and let me stress this again. We might have covered it and you're just tuning in, please call. It doesn't matter, they wanna talk about everything that they're offering on that master's level, that next step after you get your undergrad.  And if you're looking to pursue, I one time did  want to pursue. I didn't though, unfortunately, but we were talking about that earlier.

42:49
It's never too late. It's never too late.  Dr. Gomez, it's never too late.  I had asked a question  when we were off mic.  and I'm just, this is a sidebar,  unless there's something else you guys want to discuss,  but let's get a little, we're not gonna get personal. Yes. But I did ask this question. Dr. Gomez, we're gonna start with you.  Did you always want to be an educator? Well, actually I didn't. Right? That was not my plan at all. I didn't have a vision for it.

43:17
So just to explain to the listener a little bit, as you probably have detected, I'm not from around here with my accent, strange. You know, I also don't sound like a Hispanic. So I'm Cuban by marriage only. My husband is Cuban American, but I'm originally from Austria. So I grew up in Austria.

43:39
and I did my MBA there. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. I family business.  I grew up in the business, I did everything in the business,  and the plan was for me to take over the family business. I did my MBA in Austria, I loved it,  traveled the world for purchasing, manufacturing, all of that, what you have to do in business.  business brought me actually to New York City.

44:06
And while I was here, I actually found out about Regent University  and they were announcing a new degree program at Regent University, a PhD in organizational leadership  taught from a crisis perspective. And I knew enough about leadership at that point  that I realized there's no product, no company  as good. If you don't have good leadership, you can destroy it all in a heartbeat. And so I was so convinced and I said,

44:34
this is it, this is what I have to do and I must do. I didn't know anything about region at this point.  Didn't even know where Virginia Beach was. I didn't know anything. was up in New York City, in Manhattan. Having a good time.  Oh my goodness, what a great city. Oh, beautiful. Wonderful.  But that was kind of my  path. then  shortly,  as I was progressing through the degree program,  it became increasingly clear to me  that

45:03
what I was doing was not necessarily, and I say it, right, I'm very, very much inspired by my faith and God directs my steps. That was not what God had for me. But I didn't know what else. But how grateful you are from the family situation and what you've learned. of course, Regent is so happy to have you be a part of their program. built a foundation and understanding and appreciation for business, for entrepreneurship.

45:32
for family businesses, all the dynamics that go in with that product development, mean everything.  I've done it, I've seen it.  But then  step by step it became clear that I was actually  landing more and more in higher education and now I work at the place  that I love. Well, we're glad you're here.  Okay, Dr. Stone, your turn. Wanted to be an educator? Didn't even cross my mind.

46:01
It wasn't even on the radar. It wasn't even on the radar.  My first career was in law enforcement and I  involved in  directing a police academy back in Indiana.  Left there and took a position in hospital administration.  Both positions involved teaching at the time, although I didn't connect the dots. And then finished up a PhD and decided that I wanted to get into higher education, which

46:28
which I did, found out I love teaching adult students. They're motivated, they're inspired, and I loved helping them discover their God-given gifts, skills, talents, and abilities, and push the envelope on their own capabilities, was what they were doing, and so ended up in 1995 coming to Regent to fill a faculty position and have been there ever since, and just having a blast every day of my life. Well, that's fantastic, you know, and I guess,

46:58
When you are in the higher education realm,  they are so, students are so focused. Even if they, like we talked earlier, they don't know what they want to do in business, but they know that they're doing this MBA,  doing this masters,  and  hopefully they're gonna go on to a PhD.  They have great examples with you two, Dr. Gomez and Dr. Stone, but  it just is like, they're dedicated.

47:25
It's not like us undergrads that, we're party, hoo hoo! You know? Which is part of life, right? Which is part of life. That's the right of you, and I think it all is important, but it is true.  Once you enter a master's or then later doctoral degree, you really know what you want to do, for the most part, right? Not everything might be crystal clear, but you're much more focused. Much more. I want this, I need this. Yes, yes. Right? How much time do we have, Mike? Oh, we do have, we have two minutes. We've got Heidi from Suffolk.

47:55
Hey, Heidi, welcome to WNIS.  Hello? Hello, hello? There you are.

48:10
Okay, we don't,  so what we'll do, Heidi, you hang up dear and then Dr. Gomez and Dr. Stone will tell you  where they're coming from with that because we don't have that much time. Who wants to take it? Yes, yes.  So  thank you, Heidi. The MS in Accounting program is a 30 credit hour program  and it offers two tracks that you can choose from and it also prepares you for the CPA exams parallel.

48:38
So it's a great program. It begins fall 2021. Applications are available.  So just go come to our website and start your application  www.region.edu forward slash business  and you can find us.  Okay. That sounds like a plan. Yay. And we were talking about the CPA program. Yes.  It's a tremendous, tremendous program.

49:02
and it provides so many opportunities for our students. Dr. Stone, did you want to add anything to it? No, think she's absolutely right. mean, it's a tremendous program. There's more and more demand for CPAs all the time. It's just really good. OK, well, we're going to wrap things up. Thank you both for being here. It was wonderful meeting you. Thank you for having us. I feel smarter already. Mike, thank you for doing the board, my friend Mike Fitzgerald. And just remember, it's never too It's never too late. AM 790 WNIS. This is Regent University, and this is a

49:32
Ask the Expert Show. Go ahead, Mike.

49:52
The Seeding Program was sponsored and paid for by Regent University, who's entirely responsible for its content.