One of America’s fastest growing private companies is turning to the Professional Sales Institute (PSI) at Illinois State University as a prime source for connecting with highly qualified graduates. The Institute represents a unique partnership between the business sector and higher education and is recognized as a premier resource for university students and sales professionals in the nation.

“We are delighted to welcome MSDSonline® as a gold level partner,” said PSI Director, Mike Boehm. “When companies know they can help insure their own success by supporting our sales faculty and students, it is a winning partnership for everyone.”

Founded in 1996 and based in Chicago, MSDSonline® has increased its revenue by 30% every year, an accomplishment recognized three times on Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies. In 2008 the company hired more than 30 sales representatives, and has aggressive plans to further expand its sales force. According to Boehm, MSDSonline® representatives will visit the College of Business this winter to personally share career opportunities with students.

MSDSonline’s mission is helping its customers improve employee safety, streamline compliance recordkeeping and reduce potential exposures to workplace hazards and risks. The firm provides on-demand EH&S compliance solutions for managing material safety data sheets (MSDSs), reporting workplace incidents, training employees and administering other critical safety information.

For more information on the Professional Sales Institute contact Mike Boehm mboehm@ilstu.edu.

The Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies (IES) in the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods (MQM) at Illinois State University received a significant vote of confidence in the form of a recent $55,000 grant from the Coleman Foundation, Inc.  Since 1981, the Coleman Foundation, Inc.  has invested more than $44 million to promote entrepreneurship as a profession.

“Support from the Coleman Foundation, Inc. attests to the already high quality of the Illinois State University entrepreneurship program, our students and talented faculty,” said Jim Jawahar, chair of the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods, who co-authored the grant with IES Director, Mark Hoelscher.

Learn more about what the Coleman Foundation Inc. grant means to the College of Business faculty and students.

The University Sales Education Foundation has announced it’s choices for the Top University Sales Education Programs of 2009. The Professional Sales Institute – College of Business had the honor of beginning recognized as one of these top programs.

To create this list, The University Sales Education Foundation (USEF) reviewed university programs that focus on professional selling.  Listed programs require completion of a minimum of three sales-specific courses, the offering of sales internships, and university recognition upon program completion.  The chosen schools provided USEF with details of their programs and student offerings.  Students from those programs have opportunities to obtain classroom training and hands-on experience specific to professional sales.

Over 275 students, including 92 sales majors, take sales classes at Illinois State. In addition to substantial industry involvement, students benefit from small class sizes and an experience-based curriculum utilizing state-of-the-art role-play training facilities. Each of the four core-faculty teaching full time in the sales program boasts both a PhD as well as significant sales experience.

The Illinois State iTunes U site has been officially added to the iTunes Store. There is a fairly rigorous approval process prior to being accepted by Apple into the Store, and the University is now among the select group of colleges and universities listed on the iTunes U tab of the iTunes Store.This inclusion means that users no longer have to visit the local iTunes U launch page (www.itunesu.ilstu.edu) to reach the public site on iTunes U. They may simply navigate from within the iTunes U tab to the list of colleges and universities and find Illinois State on the list. More importantly, it means that the public content on the iTunes U site is now searchable by anyone in the world who visits the iTunes Store.

The iTunes U working group has worked to make this happen over the past year or so, adding over 600 tracks on the site. The University would like to see many more take advantage of this resource to share classroom and informational material, promoting the University to the Internet at large.

Any staff or instructors interested in iTunes U may join the working group’s listserv, which can be found by clicking on ITUNES-L and then clicking on the people icon to join.

For more information about iTunes U in general, start with the University Computer Help Desk’s article, which leads to many more articles on specific aspects of iTunes U.

Also available from the Help Desk is an overview article on campus options for posting content.

For the sixth straight time, Illinois State is ranked as one of 100 best values in public colleges in the country according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

“Illinois State University has once again proven to be a high quality academic institution at an affordable price,” said President Al Bowman. “Our students, faculty and staff already know what Kiplinger’s has once again made apparent – we are one of the first-choice institutions in Illinois. To be in the company of some of the finest public institutions in the nation is one more indicator that we are achieving our goals through the University’s strategic plan, Educating Illinois.”

Illinois State ranked 89th on the list, up five spots from the November 2008 list. The University was one of only two in Illinois to make the list, with the second being the University of Illinois.

Kiplinger’s rankings are based on data provided by more than 500 public four-year colleges supplemented by the magazine’s independent research. Ranking measures include ACT scores, admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios, the percentage of faculty with the highest degree in their field, how much each school spends on instruction for each student, how much each school spends on library facilities, and four-and six-year graduation rates.

Kiplinger’s then ranks each school on a combination of quality and cost components, including cost for in-state students (tuition, mandatory fees, room, board and estimated expenses for books and supplies), the average for each student with need after subtracting grants (but not loans), the average cost for a student without need after subtracting merit-based grants, the average percentage of need met by aid and the average debt a student accumulates prior to graduation.

Kiplinger’s places greater overall weight on quality, which accounts for about two-thirds of the final score, than on cost. Other institutions on the list include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Florida, University of Virginia and College of William and Mary. To see information about the selection, go to http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/.