University of Evansville

UE to offer executive MBA

Courier & Press staff
Friday, October 20, 2006

EVANSVILLE -- The University of Evansville will begin offering an executive MBA program with a focus on leading in a global environment in the spring of 2007, university officials announced Wednesday.

"The business community has said that what we really want is a degree program that will help cultivate our leadership for the future," said Bob Clark, dean of the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration at the University of Evansville (UE).

The executive MBA (Master's of Business Administration) differs from the traditional MBA in that it is designed for professionals who have experience in the work force and have demonstrated they are advancing in their careers, Clark said.

The requirements of UE's program will be an undergraduate degree and five or more years of "progressive professional experience," Clark said.

The executive MBA also is what Clark called a "cohort program" in which those who enter progress through the program together. Students in the program will attend classes on alternate weekends with both Friday evening and Saturday sessions. It will include a 10-day international immersion experience. It will take 20 months to complete.

Each class size is expected to have 10 to 15 students, Clark said.

UE had a traditional MBA program until the early 1990s when university officials opted to focus on their undergraduate liberal arts program. Clark said that, since then, university officials have strengthened that program and now believe it is time to introduce an executive MBA program of the kind that local business executives have asked for.

Clark said there are 637 graduates of the early MBA program, many of whom are top leaders in the area.

The University of Southern Indiana offers a traditional MBA program.

UE President Stephen Jennings said the new program "will be a great complement to the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration's undergraduate classes and community offerings."

Susan Kupisch, vice president of Academic Affairs, said the program incorporates the latest thinking in terms of professional program format in higher education. "It is built on a model of active student engagement in developing advanced knowledge base and requisite skill sets which are needed in a fast-paced, global and complex world of business."