Business Students and Faculty Achieve Success in Book Publication

September 19, 2017

Freshmen in colleges and universities around the nation sometimes view their professors as adversaries whose only goal is to put them through the wringer of challenging projects and impossible exams. But the reality is that most faculty enjoy teaching students and want to develop mentorships with them that go beyond the classroom. One professor and his marketing students at Oklahoma Baptist University have found a unique way to influence change and encourage student success.

Dr. Daryl Green, Dickinson Chair of Business and assistant professor of business, has developed a book alongside his students that is designed to help freshmen find success throughout their first year in college. The book, “101 Questions to Ask Your Professor,” helps students more successfully transition from high school to college by providing them with helpful hints on how to build better relationships with their professors.

According to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics, only 59 percent of full-time undergraduate students acquire a degree from the same institution where they started, and across the nation, the highest drop-out rate consistently occurs during a student’s freshman year of study. Sadly, most students do not realize how fostering faculty relationships are critical to their individual success in college and after graduation.

When Green discovered he would be teaching the personal selling and sales management course, he decided to challenge his marketing students with a unique final project, one which would carry more significance than other projects. He decided to have his students use the semester to develop a book and sell it for a good cause. Normally, it takes years of hard work to write and publish a book, but Green was asking his students to publish in less than four months.

Green believes in the ability of his students to achieve more than what is expected from them.

“I visited MIT several years for the Department of Energy,” he said. “The faculty and students there believed in innovation. I believe this is a mindset. I think this project showed what brilliant students can do when challenged.”

The student co-authors from the MKTG 3343 course (selling/ sales management) include Emmalee Ewbank, Samuel Guillaume, McKenzie Lumry, Daniel Maranell, Connelly Rader, Zachary Romoser, Jessica Schooler, Jacob Vanderslice and Michael Vetter.

Schooler, a senior marketing major, noted that this project was especially challenging.

"The biggest challenge in this project was coordinating with every student to get his or her input on time to add to the book,” she said. “It isn’t always easy working on a big project, like writing a book, with a large group of people."

Though the project required ample time and effort, Schooler and her classmates are incredibly proud of their accomplishment. They hope that students around the world will be empowered through this book by cultivating meaningful relationships in college, especially with their professors.

“101 Questions to Ask Your Professor” is available at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and at many other online bookstores and book retailers.