The importance of business education has grown significantly over the past few years. Students around the globe are seeking an MBA degree as it offers numerous advantages such as a boost in salary, skill enhancement, networking opportunities, career advancement potential, etc. Promotion into senior management roles—particularly in fields such as investment banking—requires an MBA.
However, numerous students often face difficulties with traditional campus-based MBA programs. The on-campus schedule generally doesn’t support the work-life balance of students. Moreover, most on-campus MBA programs typically take two years to complete. As a result, numerous institutions and business schools are shifting towards offering online MBA programs.
While institutions have been adding online MBAs into their curriculum in the past few years, Colorado State University’s College of Business has pioneered distance and online learning for over 50 years homing its MBA to offer more choices and flexible options for every professional. The college is dedicated to transforming lives through impactful education.
Award-winning MBA Programs
The CSU College of Business offers an award-winning Impact MBA program—known for connecting business purpose with profit. In this program, students choose between the Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship tracks. The 16-month STEM-designated program provides the critical business skills and scientific foundation required to drive organizational change and create ventures that incorporate the triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit.
Graduates from the CSU’s College of Business Impact MBA program put their education into action during the program and continue building their ventures after graduation. For instance, Zubaida Bai founded Ayzh, which created a clean birth kit to decrease infection and maternal mortality for $3/kit—making it affordable for mothers around the world. Moreover, another group founded ReKaivery—a venture created to help commercial kitchens source surplus food from producers to help put it on plates before it spoils. As a result of this world-class education, the Impact MBA has received several accolades including the Wharton-QS Sustainability Reimagine 2020 Award.
Student-centric Online Education
The Online MBA program offered by the CSU College of Business remains its most popular program due to its student-centric design. Students have the option between on-demand or live stream course delivery. Moreover, there are five available start dates throughout the year with roadmaps for students to choose the best timeline (21 months-5 years) to fit their needs.
The program is expertly produced with recorded lecture capture from the college’s in-person Evening MBA. Students have the opportunity to decide what works best for them—in-person or online asynchronous learning with segmented lecture recordings. The college also introduced a third learning format with its immersive Mosaic experience. Mosaic enables remote learners to attend lectures in real-time and participate in discussions from anywhere in the world through 27 screens and dynamic video capture—creating the perfect balance between on and offline learning. The synchronous, Mosaic MBA was launched in March of 2020 right as the COVID-19 shutdowns began. Thus, the college and its students did not miss a beat when the world went virtual.
Engaging and Enriching Students
Beth Walker (Dean of CSU’s College of Business) is at the helm of the college’s operations. She discovered her passion for collaboration and research early, in a high school marketing class that worked with a chocolatier selling Santa Claus lollipops. Throughout her career, Dean Walker has found that the best ideas come from listening to others, and she focuses her efforts at the College of Business by leaning into that foundation and pushing forward.
Dean Walker has consulted in the corporate world, and her research on cross-functional relationships and marketing strategy creates synergy in her experience. Her comfort at the crossroads of research and the private sector has given her the perspective required to advance the College’s Business for a Better World ethos.
The faculty and staff at the college have a deep passion for engaging and enriching the communities they serve. When they apply this passion to supporting the students, the potential is limitless. “We empower our students to move beyond the classroom to discover and engage with organizations that have a purpose at their core and look to create impact larger than their bottom line,” adds Dean Walker.
Enhanced Learning Opportunities
At the CSU College of Business, faculty design and teach their classes—which occur in three-hour blocks once per week for eight weeks, and they directly interact with students in the classroom and via Mosaic. Additionally, the programs offered by the college are supported by a team of Instructional Coordinators (IC) who work hand-in-hand with faculty to provide enhanced learning opportunities and responsively address students questions.
The MBA program also has a dedicated, in-house team of advisors who provide another layer of support through insights on how to best navigate the program based on individual learning goals. So, it is a team effort to provide the best learning opportunities for each student within the CSU College of Business.
Dedicated Career Management Center
The College of Business also houses a dedicated Career Management Center (CMC)—which its current students and all of its alumni have access to throughout their careers. During the pandemic, the CMC team adapted to offer its professional development and career-oriented workshops virtually. The college plans to continue these efforts well into the future with virtual networking opportunities, alumni panels, and industry webinars.
Additionally, the college’s Executive Education arm collaborates with industry partners to develop skill-building courses and certificates organizations need as part of their employees development. The college’s approach to lifelong learning provides just-in-time skill-building to professionals throughout their careers. Another innovative program with its genesis a result of the pandemic is the Pivot Larimer County program. Led by CSU’s College of Business Institute for Entrepreneurship in partnership with Larimer County, this series of free workshops provides local business owners with the skills and advice they need to pivot their business plans successfully.
“Business for a Better World”
With its “Business for a Better World” ethos at the forefront, the CSU College of Business is building a new curriculum that provides even more options for those pursuing their MBA. In the next year, students at the college will be able to choose their path and decide which certificates best round out their experience. New certificates will include emphases in leadership, entrepreneurship & innovation, corporate finance, investments, and supply chain management.
The updated format will give students the ability to weave certificates into their MBA or use them as standalone professional credentials. There will also be more customization opportunities for students to select courses that are most meaningful for them as they progress through the MBA curriculum. But regardless of the path each student takes, they will build their skills in each area of the Online MBA competency model which includes five distinct domains—Business for a Better World, Finance, Leadership, Innovation, and Data Translation for Decisions.
The Seamless Transition
CSU’s College of Business was uniquely prepared when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in spring 2020. Courtesy of its existing technology and the work it has done as a leader in online learning, the college’s students were able to make a seamless transition from in-person to virtual education. The college embraced a hybrid approach in both the fall and spring semesters (2020-2021), giving students and faculty the flexibility needed to remain healthy while continuing to learn and teach.
“Our faculty has been extraordinary, quickly transitioning their courses to online formats. Almost overnight, our staff adapted, providing advising and career service support remotely, surrounding our students with all the guidance and counsel that they need to be successful,” says Dean Walker. The College of Business is looking forward to Fall 2021 when it will begin bringing people back to campus in the ‘new normal’.
Commitment to Continued Education and Support
Travis Maynard (Associate Dean for Graduate Programs) shares his advice to the students seeking admission to the College of Business. He says, “Invest in yourself. Continued education is always a valuable way to enhance your skills, broaden your perspectives, and gain new insights.”
The programs offered by the CSU College of Business provide the support students need and expose them to relevant, timely, and practical tools that can be implemented immediately on the job. The college offers a variety of delivery options that can work for every type of learner and its faculty and staff help students along the way.
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