Dr. Max Nagiel & Grady Meeks

Meet The Faculty

For many students, Daytona State is their first taste of college life. But for another group – those enrolling in the Bachelor of Applied Science in Supervision and Management program – DSC is the launching pad for the next phase of their career.

And in a business world that is constantly changing, Max Nagiel, Chair of the School of Business Administration, and Grady Meeks, Assistant Chair, are on a never-ending quest to ensure the curriculum not only covers the fundamentals of supervision and management but evolves as new challenges and technologies arise.

“The BAS is a remarkable program,” Nagiel said. “It started as a venue for non-traditional students – people who already have families, who have jobs, who have multiple responsibilities –who wanted to further their education. The program has been highly successful in attracting them and providing the skills to allow them to broaden their opportunities.”

Created in 2005, the program has grown to include concentrations in management, healthcare management, hospitality, human resources management, project management and supply chain management.

“Supply chain is fascinating because it is evolving quickly,” Nagiel said. “Until the pandemic, most people had never heard of it. But everything we produce… everything we consume, is part of a supply chain. So, a good understanding of purchasing, logistics, transportation and fulfillment is necessary. All those things are part of the supply chain concentration.”

Mastering the concepts is one part of the equation and putting them into practice (while keeping it interesting) is another. Meeks, who, among his many duties oversees the project management concentration, is always looking for opportunities, as he says, to “connect the dots.”

One of Meeks’ most high-profile projects involved students from nine classes working with the City of Daytona Beach in 2018. With the goal of increasing revenue, students worked to streamline the ticketing, safety, and marketing processes of city-run motorcycle parking lots for Bike Week and Biketoberfest.

“ The BAS is a remarkable program. It started as a venue for non-traditional students – people who already have families, who have jobs, who have multiple responsibilities – who wanted to further their education.”

— Max Nagiel

“Most of the work we all do is projects,” Meeks said. “You have a beginning, a middle, an end. You’ve got so much time, you’ve got so much money, you’ve got scope, you’ve got resource utilization, customer satisfaction and risk analysis. It’s universal.

“What gets people’s attention is when you show them the money – when you show them what you’re doing touches the bottom line,” Meeks said. “You can show them that what we’re doing can streamline a process and have an actual impact.”

In May, Meeks produced and emceed an evening seminar that culminated with a keynote panel of CEOs and other business leaders to discuss and debate issues around human resources, supply chain, healthcare, hospitality, business, and project management. His goals included keeping it informative, engaging, and serving as a networking opportunity for students – many of whom have job offers even before they graduate.

The future, Nagiel and Meeks agree, is in reaching out and collaborating with other departments and programs to maximize opportunities for students to be successful in their careers and in their lives. One such program is Daytona State’s Entrepreneurial Mindset Opportunity Initiative, spearheaded by Dr. Sherryl Weems, Associate Vice President of the Mary Karl College of Workforce & Continuing Education, Dee Gay, Chair of the School of Cosmetology and Barbering, and Teresa Rand, Entrepreneur in Residence.

“There isn’t a student in Cosmetology that doesn’t want their own salon, or a student in auto collision or HVAC that doesn’t want their own shop,” Nagiel said. “They are all natural entrepreneurs.

“The advent of new technologies, changes in the marketplace, and changes in society in general, drove us to look at the soft skills our students are going to need,” Nagiel said. “To be innovative, flexible, to be disciplined, to be lifelong learners. We’re going to be stressing those even more.”

Nagiel and Meeks are always looking for offerings that will serve the needs of local businesses and their students.

In collaboration with the program’s Advisory Board, Nagiel is preparing a proposal for a new concentration focusing on “big data” - using data and business analytics on large structured and unstructured data sets to identify insights, patterns, and trends for improved decision-making.

“It’s a challenge to keep up with how rapidly innovation is taking place,” Nagiel said. “We take the pulse of what’s happening in the job market and the requirements of our local community – what prospective students might be interested in.”