UConn Today – The UConn Online MBA program debuted at No. 33 among the best online programs in the nation, considered an honor for a program that recently entered the academic arena.
Poets & Quants, a news and ranking organization focused on graduate business education, announced the results this week. The UConn program also ranked No. 27 for career outcomes and No. 26 for academic experience.
Sharing Highlights of a Successful, Innovative Year
The 2024 Dean’s Annual Report is just dropping, and I’m excited to share some of the highlights and accomplishments at the School of Business this year.
Throughout our 20-page report, you’ll find articles, photos, employment statistics, and evidence of the boundless enthusiasm of our students, faculty, alumni and staff. Some of you will receive it in the mail, but in the interest of saving trees and reducing cost, it is also available online.
The cover article highlights the experiences of alumna Patricia Margarido ’19 EMBA. When Patricia, an experienced respiratory therapist, wanted to take on greater leadership responsibilities with Hartford HealthCare’s LIFE STAR program, she recognized that she needed to broaden her skills.
“I needed to lead teams, understand budgets, and learn the business language that people were speaking,’’ she recalled. The UConn School of Business’ Executive MBA program gave her the knowledge she needed in her work. Today she is co-director of the LIFE STAR program, which oversees three helicopter-ambulances that transport injured and other seriously ill patients to tertiary care centers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. We are proud of our alumna and the work that she does, and equally pleased to have played a role in her career ascendance. Her story begins on page 6.
Our goal with his publication is to engage the reader in understanding more about what a modern business education entails and to offer a glimpse behind the scenes in our classrooms, student experiences, and innovative programs.
Of course, our faculty and staff are a tremendous piece of our success. On Page 12, you can learn more about six of our recently promoted faculty, all rising stars, and discover their teaching and research passions. Additionally, professor Lingling Wang describes how she shares her personal investment strategy with undergraduates to get them excited about finance. She also gives them a mini lesson in enjoying life’s precious moments. Read her story on Page 14.
Alumnus Rich Eldh ‘81, and his wife Joyce Eldh, have set a remarkable example of student engagement. This year alone, they have granted UConn academic- and cost-of-attendance scholarships to 13 students from Bridgeport. If that weren’t extraordinary enough, the Eldhs have developed a close bond with these students, taking them bowling, introducing them to business mentors, and hosting them at the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame celebration in April. You can read their story on Pages 18 and 19 and catch up on the Hall of Fame celebration on Page 9.
Our year has included some other fascinating work, including hosting a seminar on artificial intelligence for Connecticut businesses and offering a course that explores ideas for growing Hartford. We’ve been winning competitions, bringing high school students to campus to learn about financial literacy, and even brewing a special UConn beer. (See Pages 16-17.)
I hope you enjoy the report and the richness and perspective it provides. I want to thank you, our alumni and friends, for the many contributions you have made to the School of Business this past year. I am grateful for your support and encouragement of our students, and your partnership in furthering our commitment to excellence in business education.
Enjoy.
Poets and Quants – The success of any MBA program makeover is in how quickly the new program establishes itself. By this measure, the restructuring at the University of Connecticut School of Business has been fantastically — perhaps even unprecedentedly — successful.
UConn shuttered its traditional two-year MBA in 2021 and redirected its resources into two 42-credit programs: a new 100% Online MBA and a part-time Flex MBA, the latter a hybrid program available in Hartford, Stamford, and online.
UConn Today – What are the odds that two women, complete strangers from Dallas, Texas, would enroll in the UConn Online MBA program during the same semester?
How about the chances that these two graduate students happen to live on the same street?
Whether it was destiny, or just a rare and delightful coincidence, Anna (Neupert) Wildfeuer ‘19 (BUS) and Julia Carter are glad they met at orientation in Connecticut last fall. They have since become both collegial classmates and good friends.
UConn Today – If you graduated from the School of Business a decade or more ago, you probably wouldn’t recognize some of the curriculum today.
“Our students are exploring newer areas of study, including entrepreneurship, data analytics, and financial technology, as they prepare to enter a rapidly changing workforce,’’ said Dean John A. Elliott. “This is a remarkable and exciting time at the School of Business and I’m eager to talk about what has changed and why.’’
UConn Today – Mike Morris had his sights set on an MBA degree for a long time, but the obligations of work and military service – Morris holds the rank of colonel in the US Army Reserve – meant that had to be put on hold. When the time was right, Morris chose UConn – and found a seamless process from application to acceptance to support in course work and studies in the School of Business’ Online MBA program. And although the OMBA program is designed for non-traditional students, Morris was still able to take advantage of a familiar student activity: an immersive trip to study abroad, in Europe and North Africa. Having been elected to the UConn School of Business Student Hall of Fame, he’s looking forward to the next goal in life.
UConn Today – Mia Hawlk, the Executive Director of MBA Programs and a relentless advocate for graduate students, will be recognized next month with a ‘Top 25 Women in Business Award’ presented by the Hartford Business Journal.
Hawlk oversees the Online, FLEX and Executive MBA degree programs at UConn, serving 675 students. Her responsibilities have included the creation of an online MBA program two years ago, and more recently the redesign of the FLEX MBA, allowing students a highly customized education.
UConn Today – The UConn School of Business announced today that it has revised its MBA program, making it faster, more flexible, and more convenient for graduate students to earn their degrees.
Beginning in Fall 2023, the program will decrease the number of credits required to earn an MBA from 57 to 42. It will also change its concentrations and realign its core courses. The changes allow students to complete the MBA program faster—in just over a year if pursued aggressively—and at a lower cost.
Only a few days remain to register for the popular Negotiations Case Competition and management professor Nora Madjar expects this year’s event, like years past, will draw some of the brightest MBA and law students at UConn.Continue Reading