TSTC’s Business Management Technology program delivers what every business needs

(MARSHALL, Texas) – Texas State Technical College is proud to have graduates who have gone on to start their own businesses. However, there is one key person who those graduates need in order to get their businesses off the ground, and that is someone to help them manage them. That is why TSTC offers Business Management Technology.

“Every business needs graduates like ours,” interim program lead Haley Chapman said. “We have students that go to all different types of businesses, large and small. Our graduates really can cover such a wide range of positions.”

Business Management Technology, which is taught 100% online, is a performance-based education program that focuses on three areas: management theory, Microsoft Office software, and accounting. Students have the option to obtain an Associate of Applied Science degree or several certificates of completion.

Chapman teams up with instructor JoLynn Hightower to lead the program. Both come from extensive backgrounds in business management. Chapman worked as a financial advisor before coming to TSTC. Hightower worked for several businesses as a bookkeeper and trained fellow employees when working for a software company. She applied to TSTC after receiving a tip from a friend.

“(The program) offers students a lot of flexibility,” Chapman said. “Students have the flexibility of working on coursework when it’s the best time for them. They’re not bound by specific times, but they still have the benefit of interaction with their instructors.”

A unique feature of the Business Management Technology program is that there is no specific type of company that graduates are restricted to. They are needed anywhere and everywhere.

“We’ve had graduates who’ve gone to work in veterinarian offices, in libraries, at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, small mom-and-pop one-man offices — a variety of places,” Hightower said. “No matter what industry is hot, people are needed who do what we do. No matter the size of the town you live in, people need employees who do what we do. It’s kind of a universal job.”

Business Management Technology graduate Danyelle Jackson has worked at TSTC’s Marshall campus for 14 years as a testing administrator. Having already obtained two degrees from TSTC’s Computer Networking and Systems Administration program, she went on to earn a degree from TSTC’s Business Management Technology program to take her love of computer work to the next level.

“Once I got hired on, I started doing more administrative, clerical things, and I wanted to learn more,” Jackson said. “I had already taken the certification for Excel, Word and PowerPoint, so I was like, ‘Why not get the degree in something that I’m already working on?’”

According to onetonline.org, bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks earn an average of $44,400 a year in Texas. The website projected that there would be 16,980 job openings annually in the state between 2020 and 2030.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.