Messenger - Vol. 3, No. 4, Page 33 Summer 1994 B&E expands MBA programs Cooperative ventures between the UD's College of Business and Economics and some of Delaware's best-known corporations as well as other innovations, including new academic requirements, have greatly enhanced the college's Master of Business Administration program. The result: Prospective students have a wide range of alternatives when considering the program. If they work for the DuPont Co., they may qualify for the Delaware MBA at DuPont program, a three-year track toward the degree offered at a company worksite. If they work for MBNA America, one of the nation's largest credit card companies, they may be able to enroll in classes at the bank's headquarters near Newark. If they have established careers and want to obtain an MBA as quickly as possible while balancing family commitments, they may consider the college's new 19-month Executive MBA program, which began this fall. Of course, the full-time and part-time on-campus program options remain. But, the academic offerings have been revised to reflect a greater emphasis on international and quality management, among other issues. While there formerly was just one concentration (in finance), now seven additional specialties are available: accounting, business economics, international business, management, marketing, operations, and technology and innovative management. The new programs on campus and on site allow college faculty to teach as many as 450 MBA candidates, says Kenneth R. Biederman, dean of the College of Business and Economics. Five years ago, the enrollment was half that number. Howard Garland, Chaplin Tyler Professor and chairperson of the Department of Business Administration, says the college decided in its strategic planning that the MBA should be the flagship of its graduate degree programs. The strategic plan was set with the goal, Garland says, of creating "a state-of-the-art program consistent with what corporate management has been asking.'' In the fall of 1991, one of the program's innovations began in earnest. The first class of students entered the Delaware MBA at DuPont program, taking courses at the company's Barley Mill training facility in Wilmington. The program offered benefits for DuPont, the University and the students, all of whom were well-educated DuPont executives with technical backgrounds and successful and expanding careers. Many of the students already held doctorates in the sciences. "It goes without saying the company is very, very delighted that we have the opportunity to offer the high quality MBA program of the University of Delaware on site,'' says Ty Alexander, DuPont's director of human development, staffing and personnel relations. Many of the program's graduates, Alexander says, will move into managerial positions with greater responsibility, making the basic grounding in business principles taught by the University increasingly valuable. Further evidence of DuPont's satisfaction with the endeavor will be obvious this fall when a new class of up to 30 students will begin the program. "I would say that I can bring insights to problems that I would never have thought of before, perhaps a new way of thinking," says Faith Zwick, a member of the program's inaugural graduating class of 21 students. A product-support manager in DuPont's Agricultural Products division, Zwick says she enrolled because she wanted to expand her knowledge of the principles of business, "to learn the theories." Though she already has a doctorate in entomology from the University of Arizona and had taken University courses in Japanese and marketing, Zwick says she believes that the MBA she earned in June gives her a view of business necessary for advancement. "The Delaware MBA at DuPont put the college," according to Robert Barker, administrator of the MBA programs, "in a new arena in terms of high-quality management programs." The newest addition to the roster of MBA programs begins in September, with the enrollment of 32 students in the college's Executive MBA program. Hailing from many of the nation's largest employers, the students will take five terms of classes on Friday evenings and Saturdays until March 1996. They will have the summers off and one or two free weekends per term. At MBNA America, a program similar to Delaware MBA at DuPont will begin this fall. The course offerings there follow several years of successful, on-site course offerings through the University's Division of Continuing Education. With the Executive MBA, Delaware MBA at DuPont and MBNA America initiatives all gathering steam, and curriculum revisions for both on- and off-campus programs approved, Biederman says college faculty and administrators will move to hone the programs. But, the college won't be slowing down. Closer ties with the College of Engineering are being explored, Biederman says, as well as other initiatives in the area of executive education and training. -Stephen M. Steenkamer, Delaware '92