By Paul Nowell
UNC Charlotte
pmnowell@uncc.edu

CHARLOTTE – UNC Charlotte economics professor Matthew Metzgar teaches Managerial Economics, a requirement for all majors in the Belk College of Business. With about 275 students, the course covers basic business concepts such as demand, cost, production, and market analysis.

So Metzgar decided to make it more hands-on for his students.

“Last semester, I worked with the Small Business and Technology Development Center on campus to help a local auto dealer,” he said. “The business needed help in a few areas, and I was able to translate that into a task for my students.”

In the current semester, Metzgar invited business owners from the University’s Ventureprise group, a nonprofit venture development organization based on campus.  He focused on five businesses in need of assistance.  Students choose which business they want to work with and then form teams to work on the tasks.

“The students are asking great questions and seem very excited about working with these businesses,” Metzgar said. “I view this as a win-win for all parties involved: the businesses are getting help, students are getting experience working with real businesses, and the community will eventually benefit with the economic success of these companies.”

On Feb. 15, entrepreneur James Walker was a guest lecturer in Metzgar’s class. He explained the business plan for his start-up firm, Informative Technologies, which is headquartered in the PORTAL Building at UNC Charlotte.

Walker explained how his firm creates solutions to the “digital divide” – the gap between those who have access to information technology and those who don’t – using open-source software, sustainably sourced hardware, and community-based partnerships.

“As far as technology goes, one man’s trash can certainly become another man’s treasure,” he said. “Our goal is to take a piece of technology that has been deemed to have zero value and give it more value.”

After his lecture, Walker opened up the floor for questions. One student asked if there were ways to encourage some of the University’s 28,000 students, as well as faculty and staff, to start recycling outdated cell phones, tablets and laptops. Her idea was to create more visible drop off locations across the UNC Charlotte campus.

“I like the way you think,” Walker said, adding that his firm has been in touch with UNC Charlotte’s sustainability office to come up with practical and safe methods to increase recycling.

Metzgar was pleased with the collaboration.

“I am trying to teach students how to actually add value to a business,” he said. “For example, it is one thing to take a multiple-choice exam on pricing.  It is an entirely different thing to help a real company set pricing strategy.”

Since it is such a large class, Metzgar typically has to make do with more traditional exams for assessment.  This is the first year where he was able to have students work with actual local companies.

Metzgar has been influenced by place-based education, which emphasizes that the community can be the curriculum.  “In other words, if North Carolina public education isn’t meant to benefit the local businesses, community, and students, than what is it for?” Metzgar asked.

One student, Ji Seok Oh, said the approach has been relevant to him and other students.

“The most valuable asset I can attain from interacting with business owners is information on the real difficulties they face,” he said. “This provides insight into the obstacles I may face in the future, as well as the experience in overcoming them.”

(Photos by Joseph Oh)