THE NEWS SENTINEL

February 15th 2003

UT Changes Professional MBA Program
By David Keim, The News Sentinel, Feb. 15, 2003

One day online gives Saturday break for working students

Changes in the University of Tennessee’s Professional MBA Program make it easier for some students to take part and offer opportunities for first-hand international experience.

16-month program, which is holding its annual open house Tuesday, allows working professionals to get their master’s in business administration on weekends and evenings while holding a full-time job.

Instead of meeting every Saturday, however, the program now holds 28 weekday classes that give students on Saturday off per month and eliminate the need for Friday or Sunday afternoon sessions, said director Carolyn Cuddy.

Students take part in the week-day class via computer from where they happen to be that day.

“The professor is here at the university and he or she teaches via PowerPoint slides,” Cuddy said. “There’s live conversation. You cannot see the professor, so it’s not like teleconferencing, but it’s totally live.”

Students can even break into small groups via computer.

“This allows you to also be able to draw students from a greater distance,” Cuddy said. “They only have to drive in for the Saturday classes.”

The program currently draws students from other states including Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina.

In May, students have the opportunity to travel to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The weeklong trip costs about $1,000 plus airfare, Cuddy said.

“It’s an optional trip and we have organized the program so there’ll be a mix of business events as well as cultural events,” Cuddy said.

“The primary goal is to increase the students’ knowledge of international business. We’ll be visiting several companies and meeting with their senior executives.”

The ProMBA program costs $28,500, not including a laptop computer, and students’ employers often help to pay. The priority application deadline is April 10. Classes begin in August.

The curriculum includes operations, marketing, finance, risk assessment, decision-making, “championing change” and ethics.

“Separate courses in these disciplines have been replaced by an integrated curriculum in which the knowledge you need is delivered when you need it, in the context in which you find it in the real world,” Cuddy said.

The program has room for 40 students. About a dozen students were on a waiting list last year, and those students are given priority for admittance this year, Cuddy said.

At Tuesday’s open house, she said, “We will have some of our alums talking about the program. Our cure faculty will be there, and it will give (prospective students) an opportunity to learn more about the program and to ask any questions they might have.”