Technology management is a valuable, if not vital skill for those in the science industries, and thanks to the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, it’s now an undergraduate minor. The technology management minor, which kicked off this fall with two new classes, is specifically designed for engineering, biological, and physical sciences majors to gain a business perspective of the disciplines they are studying. “The minor gives students an extra skill set in the business arena,” says Holly Bishop-Green, the programming director for the undergraduate minor. “It provides them an extra context for the environment in which they will be working.”

Introducing the TechnoCultural Studies Major at UC Davis UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management Web site Tech Minor Website E-mail contact for Tech Minor Technocultural Studies

Mandeep Singh, a computer science major who had previously worked in the private sector and who recently changed his minor from economics to technology management, also notes the value of the project management skills that the minor emphasizes. “This minor has the potential to provide its students with a strong business edge,” says Singh, who is taking both of the technology management classes offered this quarter. “It gives employers the option of picking a smart employee versus picking a smart employee who is also business savvy.”

Michael Maher, one of Singh’s professors, agrees. “There’s no doubt they’ll have a real leg-up when they go into the market,” he says. Singh happens to be a computer science major, but the tech management minor is open to students with majors in a variety of scientific disciplines. For example, exercise biology, food biochemistry, and geology majors are invited to apply, along with many others in the Colleges of Engineering, Biological Sciences, and Physical Sciences (see the tech minor Web site for a complete list of eligible majors).

Statistics show that about 40 to 50 percent of undergraduates — regardless of major — work in private industries at some point in their career, according to Paul Griffin, a professor and associate dean in the Graduate School of Management. Thus, the new minor benefits non-business students by providing them an understanding of the way private industry works. “Technology management is not just working with computers and building bridges,” Griffin says.

In order to enroll in the program, students must first take prerequisite classes including accounting, calculus, and statistics. Courses for the minor include “Financing New Business Ventures,” “Marketing for the Technology-based Enterprise,” and “Supply Chain Planning and Management,” among others. Maher, a GSM professor who teaches a Cost and Quality Management class, says he completed a great deal of research and talked to faculty around the country to prepare the course; he even co-authored the textbook with a former classmate of his, combining their respective management and technology expertise.

“Students are performing well,” Maher says, adding that students are sticking around a fifth year just to take the new classes. “They’re tuned in and asking very, very good questions. So far I’m happy.”

The idea for the minor grew out of an initiative to place more emphasis on the undergraduate business education, and it came to fruition when campus administrators gave the GSM a budget and asked them to put a program together. Once GSM received the final go-ahead to organize the minor, it took about six months to put together, during which informational meetings took place for faculty advisors and the first applicants began applying for the fall quarter.

Enrollment is currently limited and selective; admission will take place on a quarterly basis. Although Maher says that it will take some time for the minor program to get off and running more solidly, the program is expected to grow in the near future. Two hundred students—more than double the current number of enrolled students—will eventually be accepted into the program in a phase-in process. Faculty and staff say they hope to bolster their outreach efforts to students in order to encourage them to enroll. Singh, the tech management student, says in the future he hopes to see more practical business projects as a part of the classes and more interaction between the undergraduates and MBA students. (Singh, like many technology management minors, is thinking about pursuing an MBA himself.)

“I recommend this minor to all eligible undergrads as an excellent first step in their aspiration to stand out in a crowd and become the stuff that leaders are made of,” Singh says. For questions and more information, email TechMinor@gsm.ucdavis.edu.