Carlson School focuses on meeting the changing needs of business

Lawrence Benveniste became dean of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in 2001. Benveniste came to the Carlson School from Boston College in 1996 and has served as the school’s US Bancorp Professor of Finance, chair of the finance department, and associate dean of faculty and research. He earned a doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley, and was a staff economist with the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., during the Reagan Administration. His research areas include initial public offerings, commercial mortgages, and loan scoring systems in portfolios and securities.

In 2004, the Carlson MBA Full-Time Program received its highest ranking in the school’s history, 21st, up from 26th last year, according to U.S. News and World Report. The Carlson School was tied for sixth among public schools.

In a Q&A for Exchange, Benveniste discusses the current environment for business schools and the changes that are taking place.

What characterizes the environment for business schools today?
Everything is changing – very quickly. Business schools face the challenge of understanding the environment and changing fast enough to adapt and thrive. The question is not whether change will happen; the question is how the change will happen.

What are key challenges?
The expectation of business schools continues to grow. Businesses expect more and more from their employees, and, as a result, expect more and more from the business schools that train those employees. That expectation directly relates to mission. We are evolving. We have to move even faster and that’s about mission.

Funding is always an ongoing concern, and we continue to address funding challenges by expanding successful programs, by strengthening our relationships with the corporate community, and by raising private funds.

The business schools in the top 30 set the bar for other business schools that want to break into the top 30. It’s competitive, and we have to look at ways to add value to our education.

How is the Carlson School responding to these challenges?
We have spent much time looking at our processes and changing the ways that we work with students.

We significantly expanded the experiential learning component of our Full-Time MBA Program. During their program, students now run enterprises where they gain real-world experience in funds management, consulting, brand management, and business development. We also continue to emphasize communication, presentation, and leadership skills.

In our programs for professionals, we also have made changes.

This year, we added the option of Saturday classes for our Part-Time MBA students, who traditionally earn their MBA through evening courses.

We also recently introduced the concept of professional portfolios for our Part-Time MBA students. Depending on their career interests, students can tailor their menu of electives to better meet their professional goals. We assist them in identifying the courses that will best prepare them for where they want to go in their careers. The focus on careers helps the school in meeting the growing expectations of businesses, which are demanding more of our program’s graduates.

Our Executive MBA Program brings together managers and leaders with more than eight years of experience who enter the program and attend classes as a cohort on all-day alternating Fridays and Saturdays. We recently hired an executive coach to help position Executive MBA students to move forward within their organizations and with their careers. The executive coach also assists Part-Time MBA students.

In addition, we place a high value on what we teach and how we teach it. Our Office of Learning Excellence supports our faculty and promotes different types of teaching and development.

What role does the Executive MBA Program play?
Our Executive MBA Program is the trendsetter. It becomes a role model for everything we do.

We are fortunate to have Rich Avery as a faculty member in the program. His research demonstrates the importance of leadership, and, as a result, the course he teaches is one of great value to the students.

The Carlson School offers Executive MBA Programs in China, Poland, and Austria. We are now bringing them together to form one Executive MBA community, and this move will open opportunities for all Executive MBA students, widening their international network. We are trying to create a virtual community and enhance our status as a global school.

What other trends do you see?
There is a significant trend toward customized education – that is really the path that business and business schools are taking on the development side. Customization depends on understanding company needs and delivering on those needs.

As a result, our partnerships with businesses only will increase. Companies want development that fits a business need, and that’s why customized options are a good fit.

It’s important to consider both the professionals and the corporation. You have to think about the needs of both groups. We need to stay on top of investing in our students and in helping them build their careers. We also have to design curriculum for companies and offer value to those companies in whatever we do.

We enjoy a long history of productive relationships with the corporate community. Businesses support us in many ways – through donations, participation in research and in classes, and sponsorship of projects for MBA students. We want to continue strengthening existing relationships and building new ones.

What do you see for the future?
Our goal first and foremost is to make a difference in the lives of our students. We want businesses to search out our graduates. We want them to think if you need a professional who exceeds expectations and delivers for the organization, then you go to the Carlson School. That’s what Carlson School graduates do. That goal dominates largely above everything else.

We recently announced a capital campaign for a new building as an investment in our undergraduate program. Because of space constraints, we can only serve 15 percent of the undergraduates who apply.

We want to continue building our presence nationally and internationally. We want to be recognized throughout the world. We will continue to reach out and meet the needs of business leaders and executives, through our Part-Time and Executive MBA Programs and through other customized options.

Bologna Accord ushers in sweeping changes for the European higher education landscape

Mike Page currently serves as dean and director of the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Foundation, the Business School at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. A founding member of the Global Executive One MBA, Page has published and presented papers internationally in both finance and marketing.He is frequently invited to speak on the latest trends and developments in management education at industry meetings and continues to consult with fund management firms.

Also an honorary professor of the University of Cape Town at the Graduate School of Business, Page holds appointments at Henley Management College (UK) and Stellenbosch Business School (SA). Page received his B.Sc. from Natal University and his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town.

RSM educates current and future business leaders to understand and address the far-reaching changes that affect the world. The school actively engages business and industry in a targeted, dynamic, and productive way with its most cutting-edge, research-driven knowledge. It has achieved an international reputation for its research, teaching, and academic achievement. The 2004 Financial Times ranks the RSM 22nd in the world.

In this article, Page offers his perspectives on the impact of the Bologna Accord. Signed by 29 European countries, the Bologna Accord introduces the bachelor’s/master’s system instead of the master's-only system, thus reducing the time that students spend at European universities. The system, already in place in many countries and universities, will be implemented throughout Europe by 2010. Bachelor’s graduates can either continue their studies or go directly into employment.

Is the Bologna Accord a positive step for European higher education?
The Bologna Accord provides a common framework for the bachelor/master system and harmonizes the educational system across Europe, which does bring scale benefits. It is the first step in Europe in really reflecting on its intellectual competitive position. My view is that mobility will bring enormous potential advantages for “institutions of excellence,” which will become attractive venues for the brightest and the best, particularly at the master and higher education level.

What is the biggest change that the Bologna Accord will entail?
The Bologna Accord is about the transformation of universities in an increasingly competitive higher education landscape. This means that universities need to recognize the power of the market.

Institutions that had previously offered a single master’s-level degree will not only be competing for excellent students, but will have to fight to retain those students – the brightest and the best – after three years. They must accept that some will leave, and that they will need to market to try and recruit master’s-level students from other institutions.

The greater the freedom among students to decide where to continue their studies and the more transferability of qualification and credit, the more universities will have to look at the total service quality package they offer. In other words, they will need to examine the quality of the peripheral services that they provide, which may range from housing and career advice, to personal development elements and so forth, as well as sustain their quality of education and research.

Some countries have expressed concern that their academic traditions will be compromised by European harmonization. How do you see this issue?
First, I would argue that good traditions are surprisingly robust. I genuinely believe that if there’s a just cause for your traditions and if they’ve evolved over time then the traditions are almost Darwinian in the reason for their survival. However, traditions are not written in stone. Our practices in our countries, our cultural sensitivities, are evolving continuously.

Second, I feel that tradition and value are sustained by exposure – by being exposed to the outside world and by the outside world being exposed to you. As dean of a truly international business school, I see multicultural management as understanding the amazing richness and potential inherent in diversity. European harmonization will hopefully bring greater clarity without sacrificing the benefits of diversity.

What other consequences do you foresee for business schools?
Initially, an explosive demand for specialist master’s programs may create a crisis of excessive opportunity. Institutions will need to define very clearly where and how we want to be excellent. If we do not do this, we may become guilty of supplying a myriad of "products" and not concentrating sufficiently on the task of developing reflective people with the capacity to truly serve our societies. Within the business education arena, it is possible that the post experience education market and the MBA demand will grow, while the M.Sc. market may shrink for some universities, unless they have excellent research records.

If MBAs will be in such demand, how can you guarantee the quality?
My view, of course, is that markets are very discriminating. The more MBAs start coming into the marketplace, the more commercial institutions seeking to recruit MBAs will discriminate about where they go. Questions will be increasingly asked about whether the MBA is a brand or whether the institution from which you received your MBA is the brand. More and more the institution from which you obtain your degree will define the brand of your qualification, rather than the three letters "MBA.”

We need to keep that in mind that MBA programs are not just about learning management techniques. Universities are about critical thinking, about stimulating self-reflection rather than teaching “tools.” The world is so dynamic that the “tools” you receive today will be of little use tomorrow. It’s only your capacity to innovate and mold your set of "tools" to evolving circumstances throughout your professional life that enables you to sustain your competitive advantage.

Critical thinking, the ability to deal with others, to understand the dynamics of how people think and work, represents only part of the solution. The much more important element is about understanding how you yourself think and work so that you can effectively engage with others. This is the kind of reflective head start that will enable you to maximize your leadership and managerial potential. Universities have a head start in this education regard. The question is whether they can leverage it adequately.

What do you mean by teaching MBA participants to “make their own tools?”
At the heart of research is the inquiring mind. Understanding context is what research seeks to do. The old legacy perspective that there is a dichotomy between the academic world and the practical one is nonsense. I believe there’s nothing as practical as a good theory! If you want to use a conceptual tool you need to have sufficient critical thinking capacity to understand the base assumptions that led to its development.

To a child with a hammer everything is a nail. An institution of excellence tries to teach its MBA participants about the context. Is it a nail you’re dealing with? Fine, then use the hammer. It’s perfect! If it’s not a nail, you will have to find, make, or invent another “tool.”

Will the Bologna Accord affect the relationship between business and business schools?
Yes, new, more symbiotic relationships with the corporate world will ensue, especially regarding research and funding.

First, researchers gain the seeds of their ideas from businesses that, by their very existence, put questions to them for investigation. Academics engage with the real world through their research, but also because the real world enters the classroom. It enters the classroom with executive students; it enters the classroom in the continuous development of employees in the executive education domain; and it enters the world of research when it has questions that require a fresh perspective.

Second, institutions are going to have to seek multiple sources of funding for higher education and management education. From a funding perspective the state needs to be engaged, and to define very clearly the resource implications for providing appropriate education for the country’s citizens. The private sector needs to top up, and our competitive game dictates that the topping up will be skewed toward centers of excellence. This in turn lays down the gauntlet for universities.

Why would the corporate world be involved in funding higher education?
Business schools can lead the charge by building relationships with companies through their graduates and research and then converting these relationships into partnerships. I would define partnerships as finding conduits for mutual benefit, in the sense of management education and of business effectiveness.

Once this is achieved, it is possible to ask the wealthier partner to contribute to the poorer partner. If you haven’t gone through the sequence of building the relationships and turning them into partnerships for mutual benefit, you’re just going out with a begging bowl. You haven’t provided the motivation for why companies and individuals that are paying such high taxes should now fork out more money.

Do you see the Bologna Accord as an opportunity for the RSM?
It is a wonderful opportunity for RSM because this institution, along with a few others in Europe, is ahead of the curve in understanding the market dynamics. It’s an opportunity because our engine is more fine tuned than our competitors’ engines. That gives us a head start. Whether we grasp it with both hands determines whether we can sustain it. Bologna could result in 10 to 15 business schools in Europe that will compete in size and scope with the big players in North America. I think Erasmus University and the Rotterdam School of Management, considering its unparalleled internationalism and outstanding array of MBA, post-graduate, and post-experience programs, have every expectation of being one of these dominant players in Europe.

Executive MBA Council Conference takes place in historic venue

Set for Oct. 30-Nov. 2, the Executive MBA Council Conference, Building Bridges: Creating Connections, promises to offer participants insights into current trends, best practices, and cutting-edge developments that impact executive MBA programs throughout the world.

Historic beauty
The venue for the 2004 conference, the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, offers an elegant and luxurious setting. It also is one of San Francisco’s most-revered landmarks.

The Palace first open its doors in 1875, the result of William Ralston’s vision. Ralston virtually spent his $5 million banking fortune to finance the hotel. The Palace survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but fires caused it to close its doors for its first restoration. In 1909, the hotel reopened with its now-famous Garden Court, recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful public spaces.

The Garden Court became the site for several major historical events. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson hosted two luncheons there in support of the Versailles Treaty, which ended World War I. In 1945, the Garden Court welcomed dignitaries to celebrate the opening session of the United Nations.

In 1989, the Palace again closed for a major renovation and reopened in 1991. The renovation kept the beauty and architecture of its historic past, while incorporating the comfort and features of today’s best hotels.

Schedule highlights
Here are highlights from the 2004 Executive MBA Council Conference agenda.

Friday, Oct. 29

• Registration desk opens at 5 p.m.

• Exhibit set-up beings at 8 a.m.
  
  
• Registration desk is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  
  
• The Executive MBA Council Toolkit starts with a breakfast at 7:15 a.m. and runs from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. The toolkit offers staff and faculty who are new to executive MBA programs a detailed introduction to the key areas of administering such programs – admissions, marketing, budgeting, staffing, and other issues.
  
  
• The Executive MBA Council Board of Trustees meeting will take place from 1-5 p.m.
  
  
• The opening night reception is scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m.

• Registration desk is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  
  
• Breakfast for toolkit and first-time attendees is set for 7-8 a.m.
  
  
• Developmental workshops and concurrent sessions begin.
  
  
• Keynote speaker highlights opening lunch.
  
  
• Local schools sponsor the cocktail reception and dinner.

Monday, Nov. 1

• Registration desk is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  
  
• Exhibit hall is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  
  
• Developmental workshops and concurrent sessions continue.
  
  
• The council holds its annual business meeting and makes its benchmarking presentation at lunch.
  
  
• Silent Auction and cocktail reception is held from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
  
  
• Dinner for faculty member takes place from 8:30 to 10 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 2

• Registration desk is open from 7 a.m. to noon.
  
  
• Exhibit hall is open from 7 a.m. to noon.
  
  
• Regional breakfasts are scheduled for 7:30-9 a.m.
  
  
• Concurrent sessions are held in the morning.
  
  
• A special information session on the 2005 conference in Barcelona is planned.
  
  
• Brunch features another speaker and marks the official conference end.
  
  
• The Board of Trustees meets from 1-5 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 3

• The Board of Trustees meets from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sessions

In June, conference subcommittee members began reviewing proposals for the concurrent sessions and developmental workshops. The concurrent sessions and developmental workshops will showcase successful executive and professional MBA practices.

Look for details on the concurrent sessions and developmental workshops that were selected in upcoming issues of Exchange, as well as on the Executive MBA Council web site at www.embac.org.

If you have questions about proposals, contact the Concurrent/Developmental Subcommittee Co-Chairs John Fraser, University of Iowa, john-fraser@uiowa.edu, or Lucy Maillette, Michigan State University, maillette@bus.msu.edu.

Sponsorships

The 2004 Executive MBA Council Conference offers opportunity for networking, professional development, and camaraderie. It also offers schools opportunities to sponsor major conference events including breakfasts, coffee breaks, lunches, receptions, and dinners.

Schools can contribute in ways that they feel are affordable and appropriate. Many events will have multiple sponsors. Contributors will be recognized at the sessions, as well as in:

• Information distributed in advance of the event
  
  
• Powerpoint presentations that will be used during the conference
  
  
• Signs at break and buffet tables
  
  
• Other conference materials and the conference web page

Interested? Those schools who sign up early will have more opportunities for recognition. Contact Barry VanDyck, University of Notre Dame, barry.vandyck.1@nd.edu; Tony Hansford, University of California at Irvine, hansford@gsm.uci.edu; or Maury Kalnitz, Executive MBA Council, maury@embac.org with questions, ideas, and requests.

Also, for your convenience, a Sponsorship Commitment Form is available on the Executive MBA Council web site.

Planning team
Many thanks to the Executive MBA Council Planning Committee, who volunteer their time to make this conference a great experience for all participants. If you are interested in volunteering to help with the conference, please contact one of the co-chairs.

- Kay Henry. Rice University – Co-Chair

- John Lewandowski, Purdue University – Co-Chair

- Salvador Aceves, University of San Francisco

- Sara Bradbury, University of Georgia

- Deborah Fallahay, University of Chicago

- John Fraser, University of Iowa

- Mary Lynn Gillespie, The Conference Link

- Robert Gleeson, University of California at Berkeley

- Dan Gropper, University of Auburn

- Tony Hansford, University of California at Irvine

- Carrie Hurd, The Conference Link

- Viktoria Kish, ISP

- John Lyon, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton West

- Lucy Maillette, Michigan State University

- Regena Mitchell, University of Otago

- Martin Rapisarda, Vanderbilt University

- Carlos Ruiz-Gonzalez, IPADE

- Mary Ann Spilman, University of Maryland

- Erika Steuterman, Purdue University

- Barry VanDyck, University of Notre Dame

- Pam Wiese, Washington University

- Maury Kalnitz, Executive MBA Council

- Karen Mc Lintock, Executive MBA Council

Student Exit Surveys are due June 30
You still can participate in the Student Exit survey by submitting completed surveys to Percept Research by the June 30, 2004 deadline.

You may administer the survey via the web or by paper. Just sign up and download survey materials from your research portal, available online at the council web site, www.embac.org. The questionnaire incorporates new measures on professional development and ROI outcomes, in addition to new open-ended SWOT questions.

If you need assistance with the Student Exit Survey registration or administration, please contact:

Brian Mahoney
Percept Research
919.765.0673
brian.mahoney@perceptresearch.com

2004-05 directory listing can help your program
It’s now more important than ever to complete the Executive MBA Council Program Survey.

That's because after July 1, 2004, only members who complete the survey will be listed in the Executive MBA Council Program Directory, available online. And that listing can bolster your student recruitment efforts.

The council web site receives approximately 350 web visitors per day and more than 85 percent of the visitors are prospective students. Most student visitors use the Visitor Search Features to locate programs based on self-selected criteria in the Executive MBA Council Program Directory.

Best of all, it is easy to complete the program survey and renew your council membership:

STEP 1
Visit your research portal, available online at the council web site, www.embac.org

STEP 2
Download a printed copy of your directory listing before completing your survey so you have a copy of all information; the survey’s first page allows you to download a copy of your listing in MS Word

STEP 3
Review the information that you submitted for the 2004 Program Survey

STEP 4
Update the information and answer new questions on faculty, classroom technology, student services, and international trips; you will be able to review and update all program listings for your school

By participating, you will receive a free copy of the 2004 Program Survey Report and one free listing for your flagship program in the Executive MBA Council Program Directory, available online. You will also have the option of listing your other programs at a cost of $250 for each additional program.

Questions? Need the passcode to your research portal?

Contact: Brian Mahoney
Percept Research
919.765.0673
brian.mahoney@perceptresearch.com

Council elects new Board of Trustees members
In May, the following members were elected to the 2004-2005 Executive MBA Council:

• Diane Badame, University of Southern California
• Beatrix Dart, University of Toronto
• Pam Wiese, Washington University – St. Louis
• Darlene Brannigan Smith, Loyola College in Maryland

Board members will begin their terms at the Executive MBA Council Conference, set for Oct. 29-Nov. 2.

In addition, Kathryn Carlson from the University of Minnesota will fill in the communications role that was left vacant when David Hanson resigned his Board of Trustees position in March.

Member tools are available online
Wondering what programs a school offers? The Executive MBA Council web site features a search engine of member schools for members only.

You can search for members based on information in the Executive MBA Council Program Directory. Just click on Member Tools and enter “emba” as the user and passcode to access the search engine.

Council welcomes new research partner
In May, the Executive MBA Council transferred management of the Student Exit and Program Surveys to the market research firm, Percept Research, for a higher level of quality and responsiveness. Percept Research has strong familiarity with our industry and Brian Mahoney, who has worked with the council for many years, leads account management at the firm.

Percept Research has committed to focusing on council needs and ensuring a transparent transition. The research portals and survey processes will remain the same.

Executive MBA Marketing and Admissions Program set for April 3-6, 2005
Save the date now for next year’s Marketing and Admissions Program, set for April 3-6, 2005, at the Georgetown University Conference Center in Washington, D.C.

This intensive, three-day program focuses on positioning, branding, and competitive marketing analysis. It also covers admissions issues, including corporate sponsor management, the GMAT, financing, interviewing, and the selection process to name a few.

The popular program offers an opportunity to spend time with people who really understand what you do—people who share your passion for executive education, who grapple with the same issues, and who perhaps have solutions to some of your most difficult marketing and recruiting challenges.

Registration for the Executive MBA Marketing and Admissions Program will begin Dec. 1, 2004 at http://www.gmac.com/gmac/CareerDevelopment.

Questions or for more information, contact:

Maury Kalnitz
770.352.0854
maury@embac.org

Donna Blackburn
404.651.1042
Blackburn@gsu.edu

Workshop offers expertise to faculty
Now is the time to take inventory of your faculty professional development needs. Tap into our expert resource by providing the Teaching Effectiveness for Faculty workshop on your campus.

Dr. Harvey Brightman, retired Regents Professor of Decision Sciences at Georgia State University, co-director of Georgia State University’s Master Teacher Program, winner of numerous teaching and service awards, and trainer of more than 500 faculty from more than 150 colleges, will cover many key topics. Participants will leave with a better understanding of discovery learning techniques, presentation clarity, and course design and objectives.

Schedule the course on your own campus for a full day to two-and-a-half days. Whether your faculty member is an academic newcomer, seasoned veteran or somewhere in between, this workshop will help your faculty enhance their academic value and empower them for long-term success.

For more information or to schedule a workshop, contact:

Maury Kalnitz
770.352.0854
maury@embac.org

GLOBAL INNOVATIONS

Columbia University
More than 150 students from Columbia Business School Executive MBA Programs, including two New York-based programs, the Executive MBA Global Program partnership with London Business School, and the Berkeley-Columbia Program, in addition to students from Columbia’s full-time MBA program, will gather in London this August for an innovative block week.

They will study globalization with Columbia Professor Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics, former chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and chief economist of the World Bank, and with Professor Bruce Greenwald, director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School. All class meetings occur within a single week.

Students for this course will represent more than 40 nationalities and 25 cities, including Moscow, Madrid, Paris, San Francisco, New York, London, Shanghai, and Lima. Other block week offerings include a course by Columbia Marketing Professor Bernd Schmitt on "Managing Brands, Identity, and Experiences" that will be offered in Munich.

University of Maryland
The University of Maryland University College Executive MBA cohort will visit Hong Kong and Beijing Sept. 17-26. The visit includes lectures at Hong Kong Polytechnic and Beijing Universities, as well as company visits and visits to cultural sites, including museums and local markets. The program plans this trip every September, as well as a similar trip to Europe each March. If other universities are interested in joining this type of program, please contact Mary Ann Spilman, director of executive programs, mspilman@umuc.edu or 301-985-7015.

University of Minnesota
For the first time, graduating students from the Vienna Executive MBA Program and the Chinese Executive MBA Program of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management came together for their final residency and graduation in Minneapolis.

Managers from two continents and different economic systems participated in joint class sessions, corporate site visits, and social events, exchanging ideas and discussing common challenges. This new program feature added substantial value and set the foundation for global networking beyond that normally available to them, say both groups of students. Future plans include connecting students across all of the school's executive programs, including the Twin Cities-based program and the Warsaw Executive MBA Program in Poland.

PROGRAM INNOVATIONS

Purdue University
In 2004, the Executive Master’s Program (EMB) at Purdue University will offer a new option for students, the Advanced Manufacturing Management Option (AMMO). AMMO will provide the concepts and tools necessary for manufacturing leaders to meet the challenges in an ever-changing global manufacturing and technological environment.

The concentration in AMMO will occur primarily, but not exclusively, in the third module of the regular EMB program schedule. Participants who choose this new option will enter the cohort program and proceed through the first two modules with those who remain on the standard EMB curriculum. Special seminars on energizing technologies and manufacturing issues will occur throughout all modules.

As the third module begins, the AMMO participants will take a set of specialized manufacturing courses, which include Six Sigma, global supply chain management, design for manufacturing and assembly, and a projects in manufacturing course involving the participant’s sponsoring company. Participants will act as team leaders using some of the full-time MBA students as a resource to accomplish these projects.

Rollins College
Rollins College recently announced a new Saturday MBA Program (SMBA), which will start in January 2005.

Designed for executives and professionals with at least five years of experience, the intensive 19-month program meets every Saturday, all day. The 50-credit program includes a three-day orientation and a two-day intensive course on legal, ethical, and social aspects of business. Students enter as a cohort and work together in study teams. Each class votes on a slate of electives.

This program is one of three programs that Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College offers for working professionals. The other two are the Executive MBA Program, which meets on alternating Fridays and Saturdays, and the Professional MBA (PMBA) Program, which meets in the evenings. In addition, Crummer offers two programs for full-time students.

University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina (UNC) Kenan-Flagler’s Executive MBA Programs held its second annual Executive Business Symposium April 30–May 2. The yearly symposium for alumni and current students of UNC Kenan-Flagler's Executive MBA Programs features speakers, panels, and social activities. Class gifts from the weekend and evening classes of 2002 and 2003 fund the symposium.

The keynote speakers Ted Childs, vice president of Global Workforce Diversity, IBM, and Bob Ingram, vice chair of pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, highlighted this year’s theme of global business. Other sessions included Sustainable Enterprise, the Global Economy, Women in Business, the Money Management Industry, and Marketing Yourself and Your Career.

CURRICULUM CHANGES

Rollins College
Rollins College recently added a new entrpreneurship concentration to its offerings. The increasing demand for education on starting or growing new businesses led to the addition. Rollins also established a Center for Entrepreneurship with widespread support from the business community. The new concentration will include courses in business planning, management of innovation, negotiation, marketing research, and advanced financial management. Other MBA concentrations include finance, international business, management, and marketing.

Columbia University
Sid Jackson has joined the Columbia Business School Executive MBA Program as director of marketing and admissions. Jackson recently served as a vice president of diversity recruiting at Morgan Stanley and previous was associate director of MBA admissions for Columbia Business School's full-time program. He is completing his doctorate at the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University.

Mercer University
In April 2004, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International accredited the undergraduate and graduate programs, including the Executive MBA Program, at Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business and Economics.

The AACSB team that visited the University in February praised the innovative and excellent Executive MBA Program, located on the University’s Atlanta campus. Mercer began its Executive MBA Program in 1995 and joined the Executive MBA Council in 1996.

Northeastern University
On May 20, Executive MBA alumni, faculty, and students gathered for the 25th anniversary celebration of Northeastern’s Executive MBA Program. The afternoon program’s theme, “Is the U.S. Gaining or Losing Competitiveness?” focused on three phenomena shaping the future of U.S. business – education, healthcare costs, and off shoring.

Speakers included Professor Terry Garrison of Henley Management College and frequent host of Northeastern’s European residencies, and Thomas Payzant, superintendent of the Boston Public Schools and former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education with the U.S. Department of Education. The event also featured panel discussions on the rising cost of healthcare and its impact, and on the pros and cons of white collar off shoring.

Washington University
Ken Bardach has been named associate dean and director of ExecEdge Corporate Education at Washington University’s Olin School of Business. Bardach joins Olin from Case Western Reserve, where he served as associate dean of Executive Education Programs at the Weatherhead School of Management.

Bardach brings more than 30 years of academic and corporate experience. As associate dean and director of executive education at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Bardach doubled annual total programs and developed 15 senior-level executive programs. He also served as associate dean and director of the MBA Program at Michigan State University, as associate dean of Masters’ Programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Management, and director of the Office of Executive Programs at Boston University. He also worked for Harris Corporation and Deere & Company and served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Peru.

University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota's Carlson Executive MBA (CEMBA) Program recently launched an Alumni Council to assist the program in the areas of recruiting and student affairs.

The program involves alumni in several ways. Its Recruiting Committee has established a Corporate Alumni Ambassador Program where alumni will host corporate luncheons for prospective students, as well as assist prospective students in their companies as they work through the organizational decision process. In addition, the Student Affairs Committee has developed the "Executive MBA Life Cycles,” which provides a program of unique and meaningful experiences at different points in the student life cycle.

Southern Methodist University
Thanks to a generous pledge of $1 million from the Executive MBA Class of 2001, each year the Executive MBA Program at Southern Methodist University invites alumni to participate in a case discussion. The last two years, Professors Gordon Walker and Roger Kerin have written cases on American Airlines and Kinko’s. This year’s case focuses on Dell Inc. In addition to the case discussion, Dean Albert Niemi provides lunch and a reception. This event offers alumni a great opportunity for an informal reunion and networking.