Consider a recent student business forum, Radford's inaugural Biz Expo 2025.
It was held on the early afternoon of a late-summer Thursday when the sun was bright, the sky clear and the temperature a bucolic 75 degrees; for some first-year students, it was even a mandatory meeting.
But before you picture a captive audience on an academic forced march, know this relevant aspect: The event was built around free ice cream and, in reality, while highly informative, it felt more like an indoor block party than a lecture.
Regardless of whether it was the frosty treats being offered or the course credit and experience students received for attending, some 210 Highlanders turned out for the 2025 Biz Expo.
The forum was presented Sept. 11 at Kyle Hall by the Davis College of Business and Economics and, on Instagram, was deemed “the sweetest networking event of the semester.”
It was hard to miss, too. Local merchant The Ice Cream King’s truck was parked outside Kyle for several hours during the event, broadcasting cheerful 8-bit tunes as all manner of frozen confections were handed out.
“We’ve been thinking for a while now, ‘How can we make business more fun?’” explained Melanie Butler, Davis College’s director of academic support, engagement and retention. “We’re trying to encourage them to engage more and be more active in college and hopefully decide to double major and minor.”
Student participants were asked to consider four questions about running and building
a hypothetical ice cream franchise. As they addressed those issues, they had to consider
their enterprise with respect to the business disciplines Radford offers, including
finance, accounting, marketing, management, human resources and economics.
That required them to visit tables run by representatives of each department and collect
stamps to earn actual ice cream.
“We wanted them to think about those questions as they go to each of the majors. As they’re talking, they learn about how that major relates to each question,” Butler added that day, as all around her, students bustled here and there to complete the assignments.
“They’re interacting with all of the disciplines to try to decide: Should I buy another truck? Should I go dairy free?” Donna McCloskey, dean of Davis College, said. “Instead of telling them the difference between accounting and finance, we’re giving them these problems and having them talk to the disciplines, so they’ll have a better understanding of what our majors and minors are.”
The faculty representatives devised creative ways to bring levity to the process. There were balloons, prizes, and lots of games, including “Scooponomics” Jeopardy, a faux-game show run by Associate Professor of Economics Can Dogan, who got the opportunity to quiz one of his students, Kellian Babbage, on the basics of supply and demand.
“We discussed this in class today, so you should know this,” Dogan told Babbage as he selected a question card from the challenge board, then read: “If sprinkles go on sale, how might that affect ice cream demand?”
Babbage thought for just a moment and replied, “Demand should go up.”
“Yes,” Dogan told him. “Demand will go up because the price will be lower.”
Later, Babbage, a freshman marketing major, explained that he’s in Dogan’s microeconomics class: “Supply and demand was part of today’s lesson. And now I only need one more stamp.”
Another of the event’s attractions was a makeshift recording studio organized by the marketing professors. Students were able to sit in comfy chairs before a pair of microphones and chat together as part of an impromptu podcast that was being live-streamed on a monitor in Kyle’s front hallway. Among the podcast’s audience were President Bret Danilowicz and members of Radford’s Board of Visitors, who stopped by for a visit following the first day of their September meeting.
Bryson Hilton, assistant professor of marketing, described the streamed activity as both fun and educational.
“We’re showing them not only behind the scenes of a production, but also how they can participate and actually podcast themselves,” Hilton said.
He and Assistant Professor of Marketing Alexis Yim also handed out squeezable black-and-white spotted foam rubber bovines.
“They’re ‘cash cows,’” Hilton explained. “Good luck charms.”
Freshman management major Nora Lester, from Fairlawn, Virginia, got some mic time in the podcast studio and already has plans for some of the lessons she took from the expo.“
"My goal one day is to own my own salon, through cosmetology,” Lester said. “I already have my license, so it’s really just about getting a head start before I begin.
“I know that I’m going to use a lot of the financial knowledge when formulating my own business, so I feel like learning more about economics would be very beneficial.”
Out in front of Kyle, beside the ice cream truck, first-year accounting major Allie Vogel of Woodbridge, Virginia, was finished with her requirements and sitting happily in the sun, enjoying the fruits of her work: a frozen chocolate éclair.
“I came here to learn more about the other majors and to find out what I can do with
my own major,” Vogel said, adding that she’s sticking with accounting.
“But it was still nice to hear about what I could do in business if I changed my mind
at some point.”