SRU Taking Applications for New MBA Program
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Flexibility, access, opportunity and a field-based approach to learning to meet the needs of working adults are the goals behind Slippery Rock University’s newly approved master’s in business administration program, says the president of Slippery Rock, Cheryl Norton.
Classes begin in January at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township and applications are being accepted.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors approved the program, offered through SRU’s School of Business, earlier this month.
Candidates for the MBA will be presented with a blended learning approach, with traditional courses in the classroom and delivered online.
“This is a program that has been promoted by Dean [Kurt] Schimmel since he first arrived on campus, and is now coming to fruition,” said David Culp, professor of business and chairman of the SRU School of Business.
Schimmel is dean of the College of Business, Information and Social Sciences at SRU.
The MBA program is designed to meet the needs of the commonwealth’s high-priority occupations in financial services, logistics and management, Norton said.
The 36- to 39-credit hour program will consist of three tracks: general, accounting/finance and management/marketing, Schimmel said. “The program provides an excellent opportunity to provide for our students and business professionals in the Cranberry area. We look forward to fulfilling this need and for the opportunity to provide a ‘fifth-year’ option to our undergraduate business students,” he said.
The program will allow undergraduate School of Business majors to link to the program, thus earning their undergraduate and graduate degree in five years, Culp said.
The program will use an eight-week, mini-semester format. “This will mean that a cohort will move through the program as a unit, but should a student be forced to drop out for a session because of work or family obligations, he can quickly re-link in the next session rather than have to wait a full year to rejoin,” Culp said.
The program, using an approach known as “a flipped classroom,” will require students to partner with an individual or business employer in the Pittsburgh region to learn how to deal with problems and challenges they can expect see in the real world. Students will be required to see the problem solved, Culp said. “Using this method, students will already have completed some work by the time they receive their master’s degree.”
In the flipped classroom, lectures and notes will be provided before classes, allowing for class time to focus on the practical implementation and application of the material. A full-time student can earn his MBA in 15 months, part-timers in two years.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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