In an 80-year-old former freshman dormitory, St. Vincent College is creating a new home for its Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government.

V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Gary Quinlivan, dean of the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government at St. Vincent College, on the second floor of Aurelius Hall, which will be the business school's new home. Click photo for larger image.

But before it ever started blowing out walls and installing new windows and a glass-filled lobby as part of the $3.2 million renovation of Aurelius Hall, the small Benedictine college changed the way it prepares students for real-world careers.

It revamped its curriculum to include more emphasis on international business, marketing and such management tools as lean manufacturing, as well as writing courses and foreign languages to better equip graduates for future jobs. "I think it will pay off for us," said Gary Quinlivan, named business school dean when St. Vincent launched the McKenna School in 2001.

The changes reflect the signs of the times. With a sluggish job market for graduates and business school entrants on the decline -- applications to full-time MBA programs fell 53 percent last year from 2002, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council in McLean, Va. -- many business schools are strengthening their programs by adding courses with more practical skills.

"I don't think there's any great secret about the fact that the marketplace continually sends a message to business school academics that it's concerned about the lack of real-world relevance in what we're teaching," said Jim Stalder, dean of business at Duquesne University.

At Duquesne, which has 1,800 students enrolled in the A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration and the John F. Donahue Graduate School of Business, Stalder has encouraged more courses that develop leadership and hands-on skills, most notably sports marketing. Former Pittsburgh Pirates marketing vice president Steve Greenberg was hired to help students connect with jobs and internships at professional teams.

Liz Chantz, a 2003 graduate, interviewed for positions with several National Football League teams, including the Steelers, before landing a job with baseball's Florida Marlins as that team was beginning a season that ended with its capturing a World Series championship.

Other areas Duquesne is emphasizing include entrepreneurship and small business. In small business, for example, it partners with the FBI on courses in cyber crime that provide real-life examples of how terrorists can disrupt the supply chains of companies.

At Robert Morris University, marketing and management course students solve problems for actual clients, such as developing a recruiting plan to help the FBI attract more minorities and females, a shoppers' behavior study for Robert Wholey & Co. fish market and an advertising campaign for a local Harley-Davidson outlet.

Students divide into teams to develop the plans that include a detailed power-point presentation. They dress in business attire for a final presentation to the client company. Teams earn cash awards for their projects.

"My bottom line philosophy is to make things very hands-on," said Dean Manna, head of the school's department of management and marketing. "They get exposure to problems that companies have and see their solutions being implemented and used in running a real business."

Even at Carnegie Mellon University, whose MBA students historically have been some of the most sought-after in the country, there have been changes to accommodate the real world.

These include the development of so-called "tracks'' that integrate business courses with technology, engineering and other specialties outside the business school. In an integrated product development course, for instance, business, engineering and design students are creating products for sports footwear and apparel maker New Balance. When Ford Motor sponsored the same class, it patented five products generated by CMU students.

It is in this competitive environment that Quinlivan, Saint Vincent's business school dean, turned to the school's advisory council of outside experts including executives from Sony, Allegheny Technologies, Timken, Federated Investors and Kennametal Corp., the Latrobe tool manufacturer founded by the family of the school's namesake, for help in designing courses.

"From their input, we designed courses with a lot more applications and tools at the high-end level of business," said Quinlivan, who joined Saint Vincent in 1981 to teach economics. In an international finance management course, for example, teams of students are assigned to develop an export plan for local companies such as Berkley Medical Resources, Fairchance, Fayette County, which wanted to ship goods to Peru. Once the students come up with a plan, they attend the company's board of directors meeting to present it.

"Companies want to see something on [students'] resumes," said Quinlivan, who believes that the new offerings have helped boost enrollment in the college's business school majors from 249 in 2001 to a current 307. Total enrollment at Saint Vincent in the fall 2003 semester was 1,440.

College President Jim Will, a retired steel industry executive who's been running Saint Vincent since 2000, is shooting for 400 students in the business school, a goal Quinlivan expects to reach in three years.

Besides its undergraduate program, the McKenna School offers a master's degree in accounting and a master's certificate in operational excellence. And an MBA "is on the drawing board," said Quinlivan.

The program would likely be tailored for working executives and would focus on operations management, he said. "We don't want to be just another MBA program; it would be for people who are already working."