April 07, 2011
More
than 50 St. John’s undergraduates learned about the need for future
business leaders to be familiar with the changing regulatory
environment during a roundtable discussion introducing a unique
Bachelor of Science degree program —
Legal Environments of Enterprise — offered by the
College of Professional Studies (CPS).
Featuring a cross-section of New York’s business leaders — many
of whom are alumni — the event took place on March 22 at the
University’s Manhattan
Campus.
Speakers included William Harrington ‘04CPS, Vice President,
Wall Street Access; Skip Curth, Partner, Ernst & Young; Mary
Waldron ‘86L, who runs a legal staffing company and Lubna Lundy,
’10TCB, Corporate Executive Leadership Program, Pershing
LLC.
“Understanding the many layers of regulations has become
critical to achieving success in today’s business environment,”
said Ms. Lundy, reflecting the consensus view of the
panel.
Preceding the roundtable, CPS professors gave an overview
of the interdisciplinary program which combines courses in law,
business and ethics with the University’s liberal arts core
curriculum. “The program prepares students for a wide array of
positions in the business world,” said Almerinda Forte, Ph.D.,
Chair,
Division of Administration and Economics. “It supplements the
University’s traditional business and legal curriculum and is
targeted, in particular, to students who aspire to corporate and
not-for-profit positions in compliance, consulting, crisis
management, administration and public relations,” she said.
Thomas D. Giordano, J.D., Associate Professor of Business Law,
designed the 126-credit program. He explained that it was developed
in response to the growing demand for business law expertise.
“Enterprises need to be proactive in avoiding legal problems and
vigilant in compliance with laws and regulations,” he said.
“The evening’s question and answer session as well as the
roundtable reinforced CPS’ reasons for making this program
available,” said Dr. Forte.
Joyce Boland-DeVito, J.D., LL.M., Professor of Business Law and
Joseph Kenny, J.D., Associate Professor of Business Law also
participated in the event.