In his 14 years at Virginia Tech, management professor Christopher Neck has earned a reputation for his unconventional teaching.
Neck has now managed to make his course for the fall of 2008 even more appealing to students, soliciting the help of Tech head football coach Frank Beamer.
An eight-time Students' Choice Teacher of The Year Award winner, Neck first approached Beamer several months ago, after asking himself what he could do to make his course better.
The course, Management 3304: Management Theory and Leadership Practice, is currently one of the largest courses offered on the Tech campus. Though Beamer will not be co-lecturing with Neck, he noted that Beamer has committed to helping with one full week of leadership class.
Beamer's expertise will also play a significant role in the development of a new textbook, something that Neck greatly appreciates and feels will add to students' overall experience.
"Given his schedule, one week of class is amazing," Neck said. "Coach Beamer is legendary, so for him to come into the classroom and help me out shows that he cares not only for the student athletes, but also for the students."
Neck noted that Beamer's life experience will provide the students with an excellent example of what is being taught to them.
"He will help leadership come alive," Neck said. "We are going to try and make leadership fun and exciting."
During last week's course request period, over 900 students expressed interest in the management class. The present enrollment cap is set at 500 students, which is something that Neck hopes will change in the near future.
"It makes sense to me that they would open it up and move it to Burruss," Neck said. "It needs to be in a much bigger venue so that more students can have the opportunity to take it."
Sandy Crigger, a department of management administrative assistant and academic adviser, noted that though the course is major restricted, it is not only available to business majors.
Since many majors require leadership classes, students can enroll in the class with the approval of the management department. Though it is open to many other academic fields, Crigger expressed that it is also one of the college of business' core requirements.
In addition to students with either junior or senior academic standing, alumni interested in the course are also eligible. Alumni who wish to participate in the leadership training can do so in a 10-week online program. They will pay a fee, much as students do to take the course, and can register online at www.legendaryteams.com.
Crigger said that the class will be beneficial, noting the benefit of having a distinguished faculty member such as Neck.
"Dr. Neck is a very enthusiastic faculty member," Crigger said. "He has received numerous teaching awards and is very popular with the students. The leadership lessons he will discuss with the students are valuable and important."
Neck, acknowledging that his class had been very successful prior to the addition of Beamer, said that the course now becomes an essential for all college students.
"It has the potential to impact the students' lives right now, being in the presence of such a legendary coach," Neck said. "I tell my students in the first day of class that I want to make it the best class they have ever taken. With Coach Beamer, the likelihood of that is even greater. The man knows leadership."
The online textbook to be used for the course will be new, designed and written by Beamer and Neck. They plan to have the textbook completed by July 1, approximately seven months after work on it began. The Cooperative Leadership Institute, a private company founded at Tech, will use its technology to ensure that the book is up and running.
Though the first semester utilizing Beamer's expertise will be offered in the fall of 2008, Neck said that he would be interested in making the collaborative effort something that continues into the future. Neck expects the high demand for the class to continue, if not increase, after the course's inaugural semester.
Students agree that a class co-taught by Beamer would be more attractive for the student body as a whole, though not all would be interested in signing themselves up.
Sophia Webster, a freshman physics major who will not be required to take the class, noted that while she can understand the class's appeal, she also sees several flaws.
"It would definitely be enticing," Webster said. "He might not be taken seriously though because people would see him as a football coach and not a professor."
Katie Eide, a junior psychology major, agreed with Webster, adding that she would not be interested in such a class.
"He is definitely a campus celebrity figure, so the idea of having a class with Coach Beamer would attract a lot of students," Eide said. "I really wouldn't care one way or another though."
Neck is optimistic that the students will not only learn a great deal from his lessons on management and leadership, but also understand the benefit of such a unique classroom environment.
"Students will experience something that no other student in the country is experiencing, where they have a nationally known professor and a nationally acclaimed football coach teaching leadership," Neck said. "They can use it as a selling tool on the interview process. It's a great opportunity for students and for me to work with someone of such fine character and knowledge."
Because of obligations to spring football practice, Beamer could not be immediately reached for comment.