Drury University selected Robin Sronce as dean of the Breech School of Business Administration, to succeed Michael Shirley, who retired. An associate professor of management and Drury faculty member since 2006, Sronce holds bachelor’s degrees in business and sociology from Drury and an MBA and doctorate from Southern Illinois University. Working previously for the business school as coordinator of communication and outreach, Sronce also has helped run Drury’s Breech Business Week the past two years.
Panther Pride “In 2006, I came on as a management professor, so I teach courses mainly in the management area. I teach a general management course that all the students have, project management, human resources management, international management – so a variety of courses. Over time, I have taken on some roles in addition to my teaching, so I’ve been working with Dr. Shirley for the last few years on some different initiatives. Recently, I was put in the position that we’ve called the coordinator of communication and outreach. I worked with other areas on campus, and we started things like Breech Business Week.”
Business Week “The idea is to connect the students to professionals in the community and give them some career-prep activities. We have what we call a professor-for-a-day program where speakers from various businesses come in and talk to our classes. We had more than 20 professionals in classes this week. We had a speed-networking event with more alumni and professionals that the students were able to work with. Then, we had various workshops on LinkedIn, on the first day of the job – what they’d need to know about benefits – to give them extra information.”
Relationship Manager “As a dean of a business school, I think you’re responsible for relationships – internal relationships with the students and the faculty, things like curriculum and any changes we’d make in that area and enrollment management. Also, you’re involved with other parts of the university. I’ll be working with marketing and communications on our website and other marketing materials. I’ll be working with development and alumni to come up with some alumni recognitions and some development initiatives. Then, we’ll talk about increasing enrollment.”
Department Specs “Right now, in the day school, we have about 200 specialized majors. In the evening program, where there is a general business degree, there’s about 140. … Our top majors right now are really finance and management. Our accounting major is really strong. And marketing and (economics) are our other majors, and they do well. Right now, there are 16 full-time faculty, and we are hiring a couple of additional positions.”
Career Path “When I graduated from Drury, I moved to Carbondale, [Ill.], and was working for my husband’s family business. From there, I got my MBA. They let me teach at the community college, and that seemed to be a good fit for me, so I went on to do the Ph.D. program. From there, I went to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and I worked there for three years. It was great, but after three cold winters, I saw the Drury job open up, and I thought I should get back to Missouri.”[[In-content Ad]]
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