Springfield College to Offer MBA Program
April 2, 2009SPRINGFIELD, Mass., April 2, 2009 – Springfield College will offer a master of business administration (MBA) degree program with concentrations in nonprofit organization management and business management beginning in the summer of 2010.
“It’s a solidly designed 30-credit program for students to achieve the MBA competencies identified by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business,” said Jean A. Wyld, Springfield College vice president for academic affairs.
According to Springfield College President, Richard B. Flynn, “The MBA degree program is a natural for Springfield College. Since 1885, we have been preparing leaders for the YMCA and other nonprofits. We have a national and international reputation for conducting managerial and leadership training programs across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Our guiding philosophy of service leadership is especially relevant today as businesses and organizations seek ethical managers who structure their success as integral to the well-being of society as a whole.”
Students will be able to complete the 10-course program in one year of full-time study, or two years with a residency in a business or nonprofit organization. Part-time students will be able to take courses at their own pace. The college will offer daytime, late afternoon and evening MBA classes.
The college is developing agreements with businesses and organizations within a 50-mile radius of Springfield for one-year residencies. MBA students will serve the residency between two semesters of full-time study, and will complete two courses during the residency.
“That’s a win-win scenario. Students will gain managerial-level experience, putting their classroom learning into real-world practice,” Wyld said. “Employers will have the benefit of knowledgeable, skilled workers at a residency-level wage. We’re making a commitment to be a partner in the economic development of the Pioneer Valley as a provider of qualified managers.”
“In the nonprofit sector, the MBA is increasingly required for managers. Funders are demanding that organizations be run with the same effectiveness, efficiency and success as businesses. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts acute competition for nonprofit executive-level jobs through 2016, with little or no change in the number of such jobs. MBA-level preparation will be an advantage. In Hampden County alone, there are more than 5,000 nonprofit organizations,” Wyld said.
“This is a good time for Springfield College to introduce an MBA program. Our first MBA graduates will receive their degrees in 2011, a time by which analysts anticipate that the economy will have improved.” Wyld said. The MBA will be a program of the college’s Business Administration Department, which currently offers a master’s degree program in health care management and bachelor’s degree programs in business management and health services administration.
The Springfield College MBA program will include 21 credits of required courses in economics, financial management, corporate social responsibility and ethics, statistics research methods, marketing, entrepreneurship, and global strategic management. The nonprofit concentration will require nine credits in leadership, accounting, fund development and philanthropy specific to nonprofits. The management concentration will require nine credits in accounting, organizational behavior and leadership, and project and information systems management.
“In addition to general interest in our MBA program, we anticipate applications from students and graduates of many of our 40 undergraduate programs. Those programs lay the foundation for managerial, as well as other types of careers in many fields, such as health, sports, arts, sciences and more. In fact, the MBA is in the higher education plan of a number of our high school applicants,” Wyld said.
Admission to the program will require three undergraduate credits each in accounting, management, marketing, finance and microeconomics, along with a grade point average of at least 3.0, letters of reference, and a resume.
The MBA will be Springfield College’s 15th master’s degree program. Its other master’s degree programs are in fields of health sciences, human and social services, sport management and recreation, education, and the arts and sciences. The college offers doctoral programs in physical education and physical therapy.
