Indiana State University Newsroom

When Jon Hawes first joined Indiana State University in 2009, the marketing professor knew the objective: establish a nationally recognized sales center.

He recently received notification that a major part of his goal has been reached.

In late March, the University Sales Center Alliance, a national organization of university sales programs admitted Indiana State's Sales and Negotiations Center in March with full member status. The alliance reviewed Indiana State's curriculum and the Sales and Negotiations Center, before members granted approval. Indiana State becomes just the 19th university accepted into the alliance as a full member.

"The big gain for students is that there are a substantial number of companies around the United States who only recruit sales people at these schools," said Hawes, director of the Sales and Negotiations Center in the Scott College of Business at Indiana State. "These alliance universities are the dominant providers of well-trained entry-level sales professionals as college graduates. These students, the companies can be assured, have studied sales, have interacted with sales people, know what to expect in a sales position and have prepared themselves specifically for a sales career."

While Hawes established the Sales and Negotiations Center, faculty members in the Scott College also started reworking the curriculum in the marketing department, adding a sales track for students wanting to pursue a career in the field. The marketing program was also joined with the operations and supply chain management program into a new department that links the various components of business logistics.

"We made a lot of changes to make this possible, especially the addition of Dr. Kevin James to our faculty," Hawes said, "and we're beginning to get payoffs from that work."

Some of the changes also include environmental improvements as well. The Scott College, which until last fall was housed in one of the Statesman Towers, had made makeshift changes to a first-floor classroom to make it into a video laboratory.

The more than $20 million, multiyear renovations to Federal Hall to become the new home to the Scott College of Business allowed for construction to include specifically created video labs so that business students could film meetings and practice sessions for various classes, including in sales. Students review the recordings through a secure university website.

"What we have now in the Scott College is beyond what we could conceive of in the old building, but we began that process of giving our students an opportunity to practice their craft," Hawes said. "Students could practice interacting with others and developing those communication and interaction skills."

The Sales and Negotiations Center has grown in the number of opportunities for students. The center also hosts the State Farm Circle of Influence Speaker Series and sales career exploration events each year.

"The Sales and Negotiations Center offers a good variety of programs to benefit our students, and the Terre Haute community," said Brien Smith, dean of the Scott College of Business. "The center's acceptance into the University Sales Center Alliance is a valued endorsement of the quality of sales education in the Scott College of Business."

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/Media-Services/Tom-Black/i-9s24zfw/0/L/March_27__2012_Tom_Black_0191-L.jpg (ISU/Rachel Keyes) - Jon Hawes (left), director of the Sales and Negotiations Center at Indiana State University, talks with Tom Black, who visited Indiana State last spring as part of the State Farm Circle of Influence Speaker Series. The Sales and Negotiations Center, which organizes the speaker series, was recently admitted as a full member into the national University Sales Center Alliance.

Contact: Jon Hawes, director, Sales and Negotiations Center, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University, 812-237-2286 or jon.hawes@indstate.edu

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu