Academic Team:
Matthias Vogel (matvogel@uoregon.edu)
First-Year Experience Seminar Instructor
Madelyn Rutledge (mrutled3@uoregon.edu)
FIG Assistant
9 credits
UGST 109 First Year Experience Seminar – 1 Credit
CRN: 16271: T: 6:00- 6:50pm, PETR 103 BA 101Z
Intro to Business Administration – 4 credits
CRN: 10658: MW: 10:00am-11:50am, LIL 182 GER 141
German for Business – 4 credits
CRN: 16948: TR: 12:00pm- 1:50pm, COL 45
About the FIG:
In our FIG we get down to business right away. We learn about basic concepts of business and economics in real-world settings in the United States and in Germany which we combine with learning the German language. Germany is one of the largest economies in the world and the biggest in Europe. Knowledge of German for business opens doors for internships, careers, and post-college success. Besides, we will have fun together as we explore ways to study language and to get ahead. This FIG is for highly motivated achievers who mean business and get satisfaction from striving for success.
GER 141 German for Business - CoreEd or major satisfying course
Introduction to German language and culture to start building meaningful relationships and personal connections with peers and potential business partners on different career paths. Coursework includes interpreting authentic German language sources (reading/listening/viewing) and producing language in presentational and interpersonal modes of communication (oral and written discussions, presentations) in familiar, everyday contexts.
No prior experience with German language required, new language learners are welcome!
BA 101 Introduction to Business Administration - CoreEd or major satisfying course
This course is designed to challenge you to learn about private enterprise and to better understand how organizations operate within that environment. The course will help you understand and think carefully about the economic dimensions of your life. You have four roles in the private enterprise system: consumer, employee, owner and citizen. To make informed decisions in each of these roles, you need to understand both the basic principles of the system and its complexity.You will begin building your understanding by studying the kinds of decisions that are made in organizations, the models managers use to help them make the decisions and how those decisions are shaped by the competitive environment. You will be actively involved in making business decisions in a competitive environment and using the underlying models to improve your decisions over time.
Your decision-making experience should help you to appreciate each of your economic roles. As a consumer, understanding an organization's marketing decisions should provide insight upon your impact as a consumer; understanding human resource management decisions should help you understand your present and future employment relationships; and understanding entrepreneurship and how stock markets work should help you understand the potential of ownership. Most importantly, building your understanding of how the whole system works should prepare you to meet your duties as a citizen with responsibility in setting the rules that shape business decisions and give definition to society.
Building understanding is like building anything else. You need raw materials and you need to engage in an active process that combines the raw materials into something new. In this case, the raw materials are business vocabulary, concepts, and models that are provided in the course. The active process will involve teamwork and in-class participation.