What is your name? I am Stephanie Royce. What do you do for the Department of management? Well in the management department, my job is really twofold. I've got administrative responsibilities where I'm the director of the executive PhD program but then I'm also an assistant professor of practice, and I teach classes in the management department and MBA. So before it all started, where did you go for undergrad and grad school degrees? Oh my gosh so I'm a tried and true, loyal, OSU Cowboy. I've got the trifecta of degrees from OSU is what I like to say. I got my bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and Master's in industrial engineering. Then I went and worked for about 35 years, raised kids and then when my youngest was a senior in high school I said ,"what's next for me? how can I reinvent myself?" And I decided to come back to OSU and get my PhD in Business Administration and that was in 2019, and then I've just been here at OSU teaching ever since. 

Okay and overall you mentioned that you teach for both, so what courses do you teach in the management department? I teach undergraduate business management consulting and I have taught also strategic management. Then in the MBA program, I teach professional development and project management. Okay, so you mentioned business consulting, do you have a few things that students should probably take away from that class or if they've never taken it, what are some things they should know? I would tell students first of all, don't be intimidated by it because people feel like they have to be an expert, and certainly as an undergrad or an MBA student looking for a job in consulting they think, "I don't really have an expertise. I don't have experience", and honestly what these companies are doing is they're looking to hire you based on your potential. So sell yourself on your skills. Your analytical skills, your communication skills and really draw on the things that you've learned here at Spears. Just don't be intimidated by it because you're not expected to be an expert. Now over time, you will gain that experience and expertise, and we call those subject matter experts in consulting. But right now, as a new hire they're going to look at your potential and what your skill set is. 

Okay and consulting is really in the industry right? It's in any industry it can be I.T.,  management. You know in the accounting world, a lot of the big accounting firms have consulting practices. Here's something else too that a lot of people don't understand about consulting is, you can work for a consulting firm and actually have external clients that are paying the firm and then you get billed out on an hourly basis. That's the traditional way, but also there are companies that you may actually work in a consulting role for internal projects and not actually be hired out. 

I honestly would say everybody's a consultant. I mean if you think about it, people may not actually pay you as a consultant or you may not have that title, but every employee within an organization is expected to analyze problems, solve problems and implement solutions. That's a consultant!

 Once they take the course and they love consulting, are there things that they can get more involved in past that course here at OSU? Oh yes we have a consulting club and there's also a consulting concentration within the management degree option and that's relatively new, so we're getting that started. If you don't think you want to be a consultant certainly taking the consulting management course that we offer, would really give you skills that is going to go and adapt to any job.