Enthusiasm Greets UK-UofL Exec MBA; Info Session Tuesday
Lexington, Ky. (Nov. 17, 2014) — Three months in, the new University of Kentucky-University of Louisville joint master of business administration program for executives continues to draw rave reviews from participants.
The University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics and the University of Louisville College of Business welcomed the first cohort of students in August to the executive MBA program (EMBA) aimed at preparing mid-level executives at profit, non-profit and government organizations for senior leadership positions.
Nineteen men and women are in the inaugural class of this 17-month program. The average age of the students is 42, and the average work experience is 18 years. Four vice presidents and two doctors are among the students in the class.
"We have executives in this first group who supervise 3,000 people in their current job and others who manage 10 or 12 people, said Joe Labianca, Gatton Endowed Chair in Management and director of the Don and Cathy Jacobs Executive Education Center and the Executive MBA Program. "These students represent a wide variety of industries and functions. They are setting a very high standard for this program."
The classes meet every other weekend on Fridays and Saturdays, with about half of the sessions taking place in Lexington and the other half in Louisville. The schedule allows students to keep their existing jobs, while preparing for more senior roles.
During a recent Friday class session on the UK campus, Allyson Wolfe of Hilliard Lyons in Louisville said, "Being a little further along in my career, I was looking for a program which would provide a top-notch and challenging curriculum, while still giving me the opportunity to balance work, home and school. The UK-U of L Executive MBA is just what I was looking for."
Lexington-based James Thompson of Diversified Crop Insurance Services added, "I love the fact that we as students are getting to interact with and learn from faculty at both of these institutions. The width, breadth, and quality of the instruction and perspective we are gaining is amazing. This program already is helping me in the workplace."
The program’s 46-credit-hour curriculum includes 22 course hours on management, six on current business issues, four each on accounting, economics, finance and marketing and two on quantitative methods.
UofL and UK officials have said the program will boost Kentucky’s business climate by providing an advanced education to emerging leaders who might otherwise leave the area.
The recruiting process already is underway for the next cohort, which will begin the program in August 2015. An information session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 11:30 a.m. in the Boone Center on the UK campus in Lexington.
For more details, see http://execmba.biz/ or contact Joe Labianca at 859-257-3741, or, Vernon Foster, UofL's executive director of MBA programs and career management, at 502-852-2855.
To see a new video about the program, please click here.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Carl Nathe, 859-257-3200; carl.nathe@uky.edu; Michelle Lowe, 859-257-1838; michelle.lowe1@uky.edu.