Faculty Profile
|
Dr. Kathryn Yeaton
In the eight years Kathryn Yeaton, Ph.D. has been at Ramapo College, the associate professor of Accounting has been an asset to the Anisfield School of Business in the classroom, as faculty advisor to the College’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team and serving on campus committees.
Yeaton admits she has a serious demeanor in the classroom. This past semester, she taught Principles of Financial Accounting. She serves on the ASB Teaching Assessment and Program Committee, which delineates program goals, objectives and assessment plans. She also serves on the College-Wide Assessment Committee, a collaboration with the vice provost for curriculum assessment and to review institutional goals.
Her stance softens in her role as faculty advisor to SIFE, an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing skills to become socially responsible business leaders.
Yeaton oversees Ramapo SIFE’s team as they undertake various community projects including working with special needs adults, helping women living in Cajola, Guatemala to market their woven products, teaching high school students about business ethics and helping women learn computer skills through Dress for Success, among them.
To spur continued motivation, community service leads to competition – a natural business function. Ramapo’s SIFE team won league champions at SIFE’s regional competition in New York City in April. They then traveled to Minneapolis to compete in the nationals. There, they finished 2nd runner-up in the opening round, which consisted of eight teams. Approximately 160 teams, organized into 20 leagues, competed in the opening round. Teams are judged on the quality of their volunteer projects and their presentation. The competitions are challenging, team-oriented events that create a sense of accountability and motivation for teams to continually improve the quality of their projects.
Yeaton says many of Ramapo’s 38 SIFE members have done volunteer work and were eager to apply a business approach to community service. The students learn a lot of workplace business skills through SIFE,” says Yeaton. “As project leaders they need to conceptualize their project and then organize and manage it.”
These are skills that Yeaton promotes in the classroom and out.
|
