NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson, dean of the TSU College of Business, has received the coveted Milton Wilson Award for exceptional service. The award is given by the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable, an organization dedicated to providing a forum for deans of HBCU business schools to address opportunities and challenges associated with enhancing business programs and initiatives.
Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson
Lownes-Jackson, now in her ninth year as dean at TSU, and more than 40 years in higher education, was recognized for her leadership, service and commitment to the academic profession.
“It is truly an honor to receive the Milton Wilson Award named in recognition of a true visionary trailblazer,” Lownes-Jackson said, as she received the award at the 2022 HBCU Business Deans Roundtable in Westlake, Texas, June 2-4.
“I am most grateful to the Executive Committee and the Selection Committee of the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable for seeing some of Milton Wilson’s entrepreneurial qualities and personal attributes in me. As I continue my daily walk through life, I will continue to strive to carry Dr. Wilson’s torch of dedicated commitment to business excellence in higher education.”
The highest honor bestowed by the National HBCU Deans Roundtable, the Milton Wilson Award is named after Dr. Milton Wilson, the founder of Howard University and Southern University’s schools of business, and the first dean to attain American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation for two HBCUs’ schools of business. Milton was also among the nation’s first 100 African American CPAs, and one of the first seven African Americans to earn a doctoral degree in accounting in the nation.
Lownes-Jackson, the first African American woman to receive an MBA degree from Vanderbilt University, began her academic career at TSU where she rose through the ranks from Instructor to full professor, associate dean of the College of Business, and interim TSU provost, before heading the College of Business. Lownes-Jackson also holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.(TSU
News Service) – Tennessee State University’s Hospitality and Tourism
program in the College of Business is helping students capitalize on the
state’s multibillion-dollar tourism and hospitality industry.
Last
year, Nashville took in $7 billion from tourists, according to the Nashville
Convention and Visitors Corporation.
Zuhair Al-Bunni, a TSU junior majoring in business administration with an emphasis in hospitality. (TSU Media Relations)
TSU
has been a leader among other local colleges in providing education in Tourism
and Hospitality to meet the needs of the booming industry in Nashville.
“The
partnerships we’ve cultivated with businesses and organizations across the city
have been vital to our success as educators,” says TSU President Glenda Glover.
“From the
Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., to the Music City Center, to a long
list of hotels and entertainment attractions across Davidson County, these
community partners have helped launch careers for area university students. In
return, these organizations receive ambitious, energetic young minds who help
meet a growing employment need as the Music City’s brand continues to draw
millions from across the globe eager to experience our rich and friendly
culture.”
Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson, Dean of the College of
Business at TSU, echoes President Glover’s sentiments that the university is in
a unique position to provide students the very best education and workforce
preparation in the industry.
“We
are fortunate to be located in a city that is on the move!” says Dr.
Lownes-Jackson.
“In
2018 alone, 15 new hotels and 131 new restaurants opened and Nashville was
repeatedly named as one of the best travel destinations of the year. This
represents a tremendous opportunity for our students to grow and lead within an
industry that is thriving in Nashville.”
The
College of Business dean adds that TSU’s Hospitality and Tourism program
combines “rigorous academic training with real-world experience in the
industry.”
Zuhair
Al-Bunni is a junior majoring in business administration with an emphasis in
hospitality. Through TSU’s Hospitality and Tourism program, he currently has an
internship at a local hotel, and plans to one day be a general manager at one.
“The
program at TSU is helping to give me real-world experience,” says Al-Bunni.
“The market is expected to keep on booming. So when I graduate, I will have all
I need to be successful in this industry.”
The university’s Hospitality Management program in
particular gives students the opportunity to build their entrepreneurial,
managerial, functional, operational, and analytical skill set to maximize their
success.
Because of Nashville’s lucrative tourism industry,
they are able to benefit from a dynamic local, national, and global competitive
environment.
“The
College of Business has partnered with the leaders of Nashville hotels,
restaurant groups, and others within the tourism industry to provide our
students with a forward-thinking experience that will prepare them to lead
within the industry,” says Dr. Chunxing Fan, chair of the Department of
Business Administration.
There
were 71,140 hospitality industry jobs in Nashville in 2018, and 15.8 million
visitors traveled to the Greater Nashville area in fiscal year 2019, a 7
percent increase over FY18’s 14.8 million, according to NCVC.
“It is no secret
that Nashville’s economic boom is intimately tied to its growing hospitality
and tourism community,” says Marie Sueing, NCVC’s vice president of
multi-cultural community relations.
“A professional
workforce is critical to the continued success of this industry, and great
programs such as the one offered at Tennessee State University will help to
prepare individuals for the many career opportunities available in the
hospitality and tourism field. Of equal importance, is having a rich and
diverse workforce to ensure that visitors from all over the world feel welcome
in all of our communities. TSU will play a significant role in helping to fill
the need for these leadership positions throughout Music City.”
To learn more about TSU’s College of Business Hospitality Management curriculum and its other programs, visit www.tnstate.edu/business/index.aspx.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees. TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
In a letter informing the dean and administration of the reaffirmation of the undergraduate and graduate business programs, the AACSB International commended the college for its “strengths and effective practices.”
It cited, among other achievements, the establishment of “specific” advisory boards that have helped the college gain wide access to industry and the business community; the successful development of an intra-university partnership, which promotes the university and the college’s missions; as well as the development of program initiatives designed to improve retention and graduation.
The AACSB International Executive Vice President and Chief Accrediting Officer, Robert D. Reid, congratulated the university and college administrations, students, faculty and staff for the achievement. He noted that it takes “a great deal” of commitment and determination to earn and maintain an AACSB International accreditation, and applauded the University for initiating efforts, which have helped to distinguish the TSU business program.
“Business schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty and professional staff must make a commitment to ongoing continuous improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver the highest quality of education to students,” Reid said.
Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson, Dean of the College of Business
The Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Mark Hardy, in congratulating the Dean, Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson and the faculty, staff and student of the College of Business, called the reaccreditation “an outstanding” achievement for the college.
“The reaffirmation demonstrates the quality of the instruction and the exceptional nature of the learning environment that is evident in the college,” he said. “I am extremely pleased the college continues to be a distinguished leader among business schools in Nashville and across the country.”
For Dean Lownes-Jackson, upon hearing the news of the reaffirmation, she gave the credit to her “outstanding” faculty, “vibrant” corporate advisory boards, and “dedicated” staff and administrators.
“Our success in maintaining AACSB International accreditation is built on the solid framework of dynamic faculty who are committed to providing quality instruction for our business students and who produce meaningful academic research that informs business thinking and academic practices globally,” Lownes-Jackson said.
Like the AACSB International, the dean said the corporate advisory boards of the college help to ensure the curriculum provides students with the knowledge and skills that the business world needs.
“This is also attributed to our dedicated staff and administrators who work tirelessly to make our college a warm and supportive environment to propel student learning and ultimately, future career achievement,” Dr. Lownes-Jackson added.
Called the “hallmark of excellence” in business education, AACSB International accreditation is held by less than 5 percent of the world’s business programs, according to the AACSB International webpage. Only 687 institutions in 50 countries and territories hold AACSB accreditations.
TSU holds the distinction of the being the first public university in Nashville to attain the AACSB International accreditation in 1994, and the first public HBCU in the nation to simultaneously receive the accreditation in its undergraduate and graduate business programs the same year.
This achievement has not only been in words, but also in the caliber of students the college continues to graduate and how those graduates are impacting the world in various industries. In its annual “People & Places Readers’ Poll” of the Best of Nashville for 2012, the “Nashville Scene” designated the TSU MBA Program one of the best MBA programs in the area.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With nearly 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
