Throughout the semester, students view a series of 30-minute videos in which a faculty representative from each department offers a primer on their area of focus, whether that is economics or entrepreneurship or hospitality management. Each video is followed up with a classroom activity that helps students further understand (and decide if they enjoy) the material. During the finance module, for instance, Blue Hens are given a stock project in which they have to determine, based on a variety of metrics, which of two competing companies in a given industry is the better investment option. Through it all, Bayuk offers helpful strategies for time management and academic planning.

“I email them after every class to say: Here is what we covered, here is what you need to do for next time and here is what you need to be thinking about,” Bayuk said. “I want to do what I can to keep them from missing deadlines. And I tell them straight up: This is not going to happen in every class. But I hope to make their lives a little bit easier at the beginning.”

Students are also given a so-called Lerner Passport, a curated list of opportunities for narrowing one’s business interests and connecting with like-minded peers. This alerts the class to chances for, say, listening to high-profile speakers from the hospitality world, like Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery fame, or sitting in on a meeting of the Blue Hen Investment Club, a group of undergraduates responsible for managing a portion of the University’s endowment.

For Sanika Nawathe, a first-year marketing major and Honors College student who took BUAD 110 in the fall of 2020, entering the business school proved overwhelming at first. But by the end of a semester in Bayuk’s class, she felt better equipped to navigate UD’s course catalog and, ultimately, her own future.

“I had this preconceived notion that accounting was boring — just staring at numbers all day, working alone with a calculator,” she said. “But in BUAD 110, I realized there is so much more to it than that. After being introduced to a case study in which a person was stealing money out of a nonprofit’s account, I felt especially drawn in by the field of forensic accounting. Now I’ve declared a second major in accounting.”

Grace Zhang, a junior honors student, had a similar experience as a first-year student. She enrolled in Lerner thinking she wanted to study only marketing, but she soon discovered a passion for data science. If not for Bayuk’s guidance in BUAD 110, she said, she may not have realized her true calling — a triple major in finance, marketing and management information systems — until much later in her academic career.

“Professor Bayuk is so accessible, and being able to approach her with questions — whether about scheduling or advice on my internship search process — has been a pivotal part of my experience in the business school,” Zhang said. “Future students should know they are not on their own. All you have to do is reach out.”

Right from the start, these Blue Hens are offered opportunities for real-world experience. Through one project, all members of Bayuk’s class (and the other sections of BUAD 110) are paired with a company — restaurant, engineering firm, publisher, etc. — with a problem to solve. The students conduct research to see how these businesses can, for instance, better attract clients or ramp up their marketing efforts. In many cases, the solutions are implemented. Nawathe’s group, for example, worked for an LA-based recording label on developing social media campaigns to promote two emerging artists (those names are confidential, due to a non-disclosure agreement).

“I would never have considered the music industry or thought to look into a record company for a business internship,” Nawathe said. “But thanks to this class, I now know this is an option. I am grateful to have had this exposure so early on.”

Throughout the semester, students interact with TAs, teacher assistants who are veterans of the course, for additional help or clarification on assignments, as well as an all-important student perspective on the business school experience. Because BUAD 110 doubles as a First Year Seminar, peer mentors are also a major part of the course, and they shed light on broader issues pertaining to the college experience — topics range from alcohol abuse to the University’s academic honesty policy to registration and course choice.

“We have a really cool program that allows for coffee dates with underclassmen,” said Summer Kehl, a senior honors student in the business school who serves as both a TA and a peer mentor for the BUAD 110 set. “You never know what’s going to come up. Sometimes, it’s ‘How do I study?’ Other times, it’s ‘I’m homesick.’ We are really there for whatever they need.”

Part of Kehl’s motivation for taking this on, she said, is paying forward the exceptional experience she had as a student herself in Bayuk’s course. Because the class allowed her to determine her operations management major early on, she is set to graduate on time even after taking one semester off. And she has already applied some of what she’s learned to the family business, a tree farm in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania.

“When I was going through the college decision process, I didn’t want to be just a number,” Kehl said. “I wanted to actually be something at school — I wanted to make an impact — and I also wanted the school to have an impact on me. BUAD 110 really gave me that ability to be something more than a number, to connect with my peers and professors. It changed entirely the course of my college experience.”

More than anything, Bayuk said, these relationships are the thing she tries hardest to facilitate for her students.

“You might not remember the specific details of each class you take,” she said. “But the personal connections you make in college will last a lifetime. I strive to build those, because that’s exactly what I would want someone to do for my own children.”

Support for Academic Success

The University of Delaware empowers all Blue Hens with the skills and strategies they need to succeed.

UD students in any major are encouraged to take advantage of a range of peer tutoring services, as well as comprehensive skill-building resources offered by the Office of Academic Enrichment (OAE). Most services are available free of charge. To learn more, visit the OAE website. Students may also utilize the Blue Hen SUCCESS platform to connect with their academic advisor or access additional resources on Advising Central.

For UD’s community of educators, the Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning (CTAL) offers programs, workshops and confidential consultations to support faculty as they develop and achieve their pedagogical goals. UD instructors at every stage of their career are invited to explore online and contact ctal-info@udel.edu.

How I Teach — Series

The How I Teach website provides a collection of the stories in this series.