Introduction
Combine an interest in teaching with the challenges of the business world. Marketing and business teachers build their programs around courses that includes marketing, sales and service; business management and administration; sports, entertainment, tourism and hospitality services; finance; communications and informations systems to name a few. They also spend about half their time out in the community supervising students in work experiences. UW-Stout’s program in Marketing and Business Education prepares you for teaching at secondary and post-secondary levels, as well as a variety of careers in business.
Interested?
The program combines liberal studies with marketing and business technical and professional studies. Business and Marketing technical courses prepare you to be the technical expert. You will encounter a wide range of courses that evolve your human and resource management skills, your leadership style, and your ability to develop creative, innovative, and inventive solutions to solve emerging business and marketing opportunities.
Professional courses include teaching methods, organization and administration of Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSO) like DECA/DEX, FBLA/PBL and BPA. You will also learn how to lead and create and manage real-world learning experiences that are coordinated between schools and business and industry. In addition to classroom experiences, you apply theories through project and problem based learning experiences that happen within elementary, middle, and high school settings. Student teaching caps off your education. Participation in collegiate WBEA keeps you involved in the field.
Since MBE is career and technical education oriented, you must amass 4,000 hours of work experience. It is not a requirement for graduation, but must be completed before you can be certified to teach in Wisconsin. Many students work the 4,000 hours before enrolling in the program. Other students work during or after their college career to meet this requirement.
Preparing for UW-Stout
High school students should take the traditional college preparatory classes. Participation in DECA, FBLA or BPA or other school organizations is helpful. Prior work experience is recommended.
Starting Out
During your first semesters at UW-Stout, you enroll in a combination of general education and introductory courses. General education courses include English composition, speech, psychology, science, government, math and physical education. Introductory courses such as principles of vocational education, general marketing and introduction to marketing education help you gain an overview of the field and the opportunities available. Faculty are eager to help you make the right decisions about courses and your career. Help is also available through the Advisement and Career Center, the Counseling Center, and Career Services.
As You Progress
Although you continue to enroll in general education courses throughout your years at Stout, professional courses fill most of your schedule after the first few semesters.
In addition to meeting the requirements for the degree, a Business Administration minor is easily achievable. Course work in management, financial and managerial accounting, business law and electives meet the requirements of both the major and minor. Just one extra course — Economics II — is needed for the minor.
Most students decide to add the option in Business Education certification in addition to marketing education. Adding this certification allows you to teach K-12 and post-secondary general business courses, including Accounting and Computer Applications, General Business, Business Law, and others. Easily added on to your program, the certification includes 19 professional credits.
About one-half of the graduates of the program enter teaching positions while the others choose careers in marketing with a variety of businesses.
Entry Positions
Graduates become middle and high school marketing and business teachers. These disciplines are commonplace within the comprehensive public high school and are valued for their ability to move students into dynamic, career sustaining professions. Those individuals seeking to enter business and industry professions discover careers in pharmaceutics sales, purchasing, sales, advertising, distribution channel management, and others. The career ladder for marketing and business education teachers includes positions such as district level coordinators of career and technical education, teacher educators in universities, researchers, and curriculum specialists. Graduates of the program from 2006-07 reported beginning salaries ranging from $32,000 to $46,000.