{"id":168089,"date":"2025-03-26T17:49:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T21:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=168089"},"modified":"2025-04-14T14:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:16:06","slug":"tuck-business-essentials-joins-roster-of-practitioner-taught-courses-for-short-term-at-bates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/26\/tuck-business-essentials-joins-roster-of-practitioner-taught-courses-for-short-term-at-bates\/","title":{"rendered":"Skills-focused \u2018Tuck Business Essentials\u2019 joins the course offerings for 2025 Short Term at Bates\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Bates students curious about the business world, this year\u2019s slate of Short Term courses includes a compelling new option: “Tuck Business Essentials,” taught by faculty from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and led by Peter Friedman \u201992, a Tuck graduate who will serve as the course\u2019s practitioner-in-residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course is one of five “Practitioner-Taught Courses, ” innovative and immersive offerings<\/a> that bring Bates alumni and other industry leaders to campus to teach practical knowledge and industry-specific skills.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The new Practitioner-Taught Course, “Tuck Business Essentials,” reflects a collaboration between Bates and the Tuck School of Business aimed at exposing Bates students to business basics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThrough PTCs, Bates students benefit from the expertise of accomplished professionals, many of whom are Bates alumni,\u201d says Allen Delong, senior associate dean for the Center for Purposeful Work, which sponsors the PTC program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are especially excited about the addition of Tuck Business Essentials,<\/a> which will equip students with foundational business skills and real-world problem-solving experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates students continue to express high interest in developing business-related skills, says Delong. According to recent Senior Survey results, 20 percent of graduating Bates students intend to pursue a business graduate degree at some point after graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying a Liberal Arts Education<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Peter Friedman decided to help lead Tuck Business Essentials, which has been funded anonymously by a family foundation, for one essential reason: \u201cTo increase the range of opportunities for Batesies and to expose them to new and different things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains that the goal of the course is to teach students how to use the skills they\u2019re learning through their academic coursework \u2014 critical thinking, problem-solving, and interdisciplinary learning \u2014 in a business environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA liberal arts education gives you the power to solve a problem using the tools in front of you, or to create new tools to solve a problem \u2014 across any discipline. Ultimately that’s what business is,\u201d says Friedman, who earned an M.B.A from Tuck in 2003 and served on the school\u2019s advisory board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFour years of Bates and 30-plus years since have taught me that business is just about using information, communication, the ability to work with individuals, and the right tools to solve problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peter Friedman \u201892, who is a Bates parent as well, is the practitioner-in-residence for Tuck Business Essentials, a new Practitioner-Taught Course during Short Term that meets high student interest in gaining practical business skills to complement their liberal arts education. (Courtesy Peter Friedman ’92)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joined by Tuck faculty,<\/a> the new course will include a skill-building component, as students will learn key elements of marketing, finance, accounting, spreadsheet modeling, business communications, organizational behavior, and negotiations. The course will culminate in a dynamic business case study to simulate real-world decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning through case studies, Friedman explains, simply means \u201cto problem-solve in a realistic environment\u201d \u2014 while thinking on your feet, making strategic decisions under uncertainty, and engaging in dynamic discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have a realistic problem that’s happened historically: this company, these people made these decisions. Given that information, what would be the next decision you would make? It\u2019s very similar to what life and business is. You have incomplete information and an unknown situation, and you have to make the best decisions based on what you have at that time and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has no doubt that his students will be up to the challenge: \u201cThe power of the liberal arts education is to solve a problem across any discipline. I’ve hired some Batesies in the past, and their ability to use their brains and think through problems and learn is second to none.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course is open to students in all majors; the only prerequisite is a drive to learn something new and connect their academic interests to opportunities for purposeful work, including the business world. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Peter Friedman \u201992 and his wife, Kitty Northrop Friedman \u201995, a Bates trustee emerita, are longtime active contributors to the Bates community. (Courtesy of Peter and Kitty Friedman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI want to find the art history major or biology major or someone who has an appetite to learn,\u201d Friedman says. \u201cTheir major is what they are engaged in at the moment because it has captured their interest. But that doesn’t mean that that’s the end of or the only field they will address.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedman graduated from Bates with honors in geology, then entered the aviation industry as an airline pilot before pivoting into a business career. He is a managing partner and founder of Five by Five Capital, a private equity firm investing in a wide range of industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedman and his wife, Kitty Northrop Friedman \u201995, a Bates trustee emerita, are longtime active contributors to the Bates community. Their son, Ned \u201924, graduated with a politics degree and was a co-chief of Bates Emergency Medical Services<\/a>; their daughter, Lindley \u201926, is a biology major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Growing Slate of Practitioner-Taught Courses<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Since 2014, PTCs have introduced students to 18 career fields and nearly 70 specializations, from arts administration to virtual reality design. Delong says that they are a great fit for the college\u2019s four-week Short Term, which runs April 28 to May 21 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short Term, which follows the regular fall and winter semesters, “has always been a defining part of the Bates experience,” says Delong, “an opportunity for a deep dive into a single course, experiential learning, and exploring new academic and career interests.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Tuck Business Essentials, the 2025 Practitioner-Taught Courses also include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n