Master's degree students in a risk-forecasting class taught by Robert Killion at Morrison University in Reno turned to the newspapers rather than their textbooks for a recent exercise an analysis of the likelihood that federal bailouts will save troubled companies.
The Morrison students aren't alone as teachers of collegiate businesses classes across the region find that current events provide once-in-a-lifetime examples of basic concepts.
A management class at the University of Phoenix, for example, focused on the ethical issues among top managers at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before they were seized by the federal government.
A marketing class at Truckee Meadows Community College dug into the problem of selling goods to fearful consumers who have snapped their wallets shut.
And students in the Ansari Business Building at the University of Nevada, Reno, spend more time these days watching the stock ticker that runs in one of the building's lobbies.
"When people are living a situation, it is a lot easier for them to understand it," says Marie Murgolo-Poore, business chair at TMCC.
Bob Larkin, who teaches a class in corporate strategy at the University of Phoenix when he's not working as a Washoe County commissioner, says the recession provides innumerable examples of the surprises that
can trap business planners.
He notes that some of the best examples come from students themselves because many of them also hold down full-time jobs. It's not unusual for them to arrive for an evening class ready to provide an example of economic turmoil that they saw at work earlier the same day.
The downturn has focused the attention of UNR business undergraduates who otherwise might be spending more time at MySpace.com than the financial pages, says Greg Mosier, dean of the UNR College of Business. They're watching the Ansari Building's stock ticker, along with financial Web sites, far more closely these days.
While business faculty members each find a variety of real-life teaching examples in the day's business news, Mosier says a common element for many them is the ethical issues presented by the downturn.
But even though breaking news stories provide platforms for lessons about business, the basic lessons remain the same, Mosier says.
"It doesn't change the basic paradigms," he says. "It reaffirms them."
Some business students in the region, meanwhile, are moving beyond today's headlines to begin thinking about the future problems of businesses.
Students in a human resources class taught by Rosana Halprine at Morrison University, for instance, recently spent some time thinking about the issues that will be faced by workers who escape the ax during corporate layoffs issues than range from longer work hours to guilt over being spared.
