Over the last six years, Oakland University’s business school has focused on strengthening its reputation in the region by enhancing the strong business foundation undergraduate and graduate students receive in the classroom through more and more opportunities to learn about business careers, test theories, build skills and develop leadership through real-world, hands-on experiences.

That’s not all. Through strategic partnerships, the school has extended the benefits of a business education across campus, across disciplines, helping students in other fields build their credentials by working with academic partners to incorporate key business courses into their programs. From engineering to health sciences and entrepreneurship, students across the university are benefitting from the expertise available in OU’s School of Business.

Throughout a time of economic uncertainty, OU’s business school stayed focus on its goals to ensure its students are well-prepared for success – ready to make a difference on their chosen path immediately following graduation. This comes at a time when, according to recent Career Builder reports, employers are increasingly seeking business knowledge and savvy in their new hires, regardless of industry or level.

Business students had a new opportunity to hone their problem-solving skills through new Oakland University’s International Case Competition (OUICC).

In its first year, student teams from Oakland University and University of Michigan-Flint stepped up to the challenge to put their business know-how to work to develop solutions to a business case study in this virtual competition.

Not only did business students get a chance to compete, students from the Oakland University business school Scholars program got a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to coordinate a case competition.

With the anticipated changes in the health care industry due to the Affordable Care Act, health care organizations are under pressure to make affordable care possible and sustainable over a longer term -- without impacting quality of care or the provider's ability to co-create value to the patient using alternative delivery care models.

It’s that challenge that drove Oakland University’s business school Dean Mohan Tanniru to spearhead the recent Health Care Transformation Forum, which looked at issues through the lens of the patient-physician relationship, within a physician practice, small clinic or large hospital.

“By hosting this forum, we hoped to advance learning about the complexities of health care and explore opportunities to see how business research and practice can help support effective health care transformation,” Tanniru says.

Oakland University's School of Business will host an information session for prospective Executive MBA (EMBA) students at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 18, in 238 Elliott Hall on the campus of Oakland University.

Health care providers will have an opportunity to explore anticipated changes in their field and hear detailed suggestions for preparing for those changes when the Executive MBS Program in Health Care Management at OU presents “The Physician’s Practice: Emerging Issues.”

The health care forum, set for 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, May 9, and 8 a.m.-noon Friday, May 10, will take place at the Cooley School of Law in Auburn Hills.