About 18 months ago, Chickasaw Tribe leaders and officials at the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma City University met to discuss how to enhance the state’s enterprise workforce and establish
a program for career advancement in enterprise management. The results is the Native American Enterprise Management certification program.
Dean Steven C. Agee said, “The program offers a multifaceted curriculum using examples and case studies, real-time applied projects and videos from actual industry executives and managers that educate with content based on topics Native American tribes have shared. This curriculum is rigorous, comprehensive and real-world based. Our hope is that it enhances the management capabilities of one our state’s largest employers in various emerging industries.”
The 200-hour certification program, which takes one year to complete, is self-paced and offered through both online courses and immersive, on-campus workshops. Modules include authentic leadership; Native American legal and regulatory issues (developed by OCU School of Law’s American Indian Law and Sovereignty Center); human resource development; marketing and patron satisfaction; information technology; gaming math and data analysis for decision making; managerial accounting and controls; and strategic planning and decision making. The program includes two residential institutes. Faculty from the developed the content for the legal and regulatory component of the program.
OCU President Robert Henry said, “This new educational focus with an Oklahoma industry partner the caliber of the Chickasaw Nation continues Oklahoma City University’s commitment to enhancing opportunities for business leaders across a wide array of industries to support the ever-changing business landscape in our state.”
Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby added, “The Chickasaw Nation has a longstanding strategic partnership with OCU and the Meinders School of Business. This rigorous, new certification program will emphasize the importance of education programs based not simply in theoretical findings, but also in the practical application of human relations problem-solving, which is a critical component of the Chickasaw philosophy of enterprise management.”
