Thursday, August 28, 2008

Walton MBA Students Make a Splash

Our MBA students have been representing us very well. During the spring semester, several teams competed in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup, a small-business plan competition in Arkansas. All three teams who placed were from the Walton College. First place is a $20,000 cash prize. The teams then went to Las Vegas to compete in a tri-state event. A Walton College team won this event also.

More than 2,300 students from 257 schools in 69 countries attended the eighth annual Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE) Forum held at the University of Dayton in Ohio, March 27-29. The Walton MBA Shollmier Portfolio Management Team won first place in the Graduate Hybrid Funds Class in the student-run portfolio competition. Cory Scott, a member of Dr. Craig Rennie’s MBA Shollmier Fund Class was featured on CNBC as a result of their first-place showing. The Shollmier Fund was valued at more than $380,000 at the end of 2007. To see Cory, use the link below.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26403121?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

Monday, August 25, 2008

Welcome Back Students

Today is the first day of class. I was very ready for classes to get started. There is such a "lead up" to this day that it is often a relief to have it finally here. However, I forgot about what usually happens to our computers on this very busy, first day of classes. Of course I could not send any emails nor could I access one of my folders. I have become very dependent on my email. I have to say that I was very lost and a little unsure about what I should be doing if I could not answer my email. Thankfully this was a temporary setback and all is well in my computer world once again.

Campus is drastically different when students are here. The summer is much quieter in terms of student traffic. This also corresponds to traffic in Fayetteville in general. Once fall semester begins, the roads are more congested and campus is teeming with life. I love it (okay, I don't like the crowded streets but I love it when the students come back to campus). I get such a charge out of the excitement and the energy that students have.

With classes underway, I will soon hit the road. I will be visiting several undergraduate institutions to recruit for our graduate programs. I will post my travel schedule soon. Be sure to come and visit me if I am coming to your campus. I would love to meet you.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Walton College Part-time Graduate Programs

The Walton College does offer three graduate programs for full-time working professionals: Executive MBA, Managerial MBA, and Professional MIS.

The Executive MBA program is located in Shanghai, China. This program is for high-level executives who either live and work in China or reside in the US but work primarily with Chinese-based companies. Each student in this program is sponsored by their company. This program starts in February with an Orientation in Fayetteville. Students then have nine face-to-face meetings in Shanghai over the next 14 months and the final face-to-face meeting is in May in Fayetteville. For more information go to: http://gsb.uark.edu/emba/.

Our Managerial MBA (MMBA) begins each August. Students take six hours each semester for six semesters and attend class only one Saturday each month. In between these face-to-face meetings, you will work online. We do have students attending this program from outside of Arkansas. Since you are only in Fayetteville one Saturday each month, it allows students from outside of our immediate geographical area to participate. This adds depth and diversity to the program. The application deadline for the MMBA is April 1. We admit approximately 55-60 students each year.

The Professional MIS is our part-time Master of Information Systems degree. This program starts each August and students take six hours a semester and attend class one night each week for five semesters. This program uses a blended delivery, meaning that for each class, there are face-to-face components (classroom setting) and online components (electronic). The application deadline for the Professional MIS is March 15. This program allows those working in the IT industry to complete their master's degree while remaining employed. Students who do not have a computer related background may still be eligible for this program. If you are interested, be sure to contact me and we can discuss this opportunity.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Welcome Walton College Graduate Students

For the MMBA (our part-time MBA also known as the Managerial MBA), the first day of class is this Saturday, August 23. The schedule for the 08-09 academic year can be found at http://gsb.uark.edu/mba/managerial_home.asp. This program meets on campus one Saturday each month and students take six hours a semester. The MMBA is completed in two years.

The MIS (Master of Information Systems), Professional MIS (part-time MIS), MAEcon (Master of Arts in Economics), and MAcc (Master of Accountancy) programs will begin next week, the week of August 25. The full-time MBA also begins (for our returning students) on Monday. New students in the MBA will not begin until January, 2009.

We are very excited to have our new students begin next week. The GSB works for many months to get these new students admitted, registered, and through Orientation. Having them here and beginning their classes is very rewarding for us all.

We are also glad to see our returning students. The MBA students are beginning their second semester in this three-semester program. They have spent their summers interning (10-12 weeks) at fabulous area companies. These students will complete their MBA in May. One semester down, and two more to go.

In parting, WELCOME TO THE WALTON COLLEGE. We are glad you are here!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Orientation Madness

The GSB (Graduate School of Business) is knee deep in Orientation right now. We conduct Orientation sessions each summer for all master's and PhD degree programs. On July 31 we did Orientation for the Master of Arts in Economics, PhD in Accounting, PhD in Economics, and PhD in Finance. On Monday of this week, we did an Orientation session for Master of Information Systems - both full and part-time programs. The Orientation for our Managerial MBA (MMBA), our part-time MBA program, began yesterday and will run through Sunday. Next week on Tuesday and Wednesday we will Orient the Master of Accountancy students. Last but not least, next Thursday will be the Orientation session for the PhD in Information Systems, PhD in Management, and PhD in Marketing. This is a very busy time for our office and while we are "knee deep in Orientation," we occasionally have to hold off on our other projects. Classes start on Monday, August 25.

Since our full-time MBA program begins in January, that Orientation will be January 5-9. This is an intensive week designed to allow the students to get to know each other, begin to learn to work together in teams, and to prepare them for the academic rigors ahead. We do also have fun this week. It is not all work.

As classes are about to begin, you would think that GSB Admissions would be patting themselves on the back and sitting back, glad that the programs were full and about to begin. In reality, I will start my recruiting season next month. It is time to work on the next year's classes. Application deadlines are in the spring; therefore the fall semester is when most of the recruiting occurs. I love this time of year. It's when I get to hit the road and meet new people - people who are looking for that next stage in their lives, which may be going to graduate school. If this is you, please let me know. Maybe I'll see you on the road.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Graduate Assistantships

Graduate assistantships (GA) are available to students in all of our full-time programs. Master's degree students who are awarded a GA will receive either a full or partial tuition waiver and a stipend. Students may also receive an additional scholarship. In return, you will work 15 hours each week during the course of your program. Many students are able to work off-campus. We have several corporate partners who hire our GA's. These companies include: Wal-Mart, Tyson, Procter & Gamble, Sunbeam, Dial, Hershey, Dannon, Novartis, Mars, and many more. This is an amazing opportunity for our students. They are able to gain valuable work experience during their master's degree program and make connections with the vendor community of Northwest Arkansas.

Students admitted to our PhD programs will recieve an annual GA of $17,000. Many of these students are also eligible for the Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship (an additional $20,000 annually) or the Doctoral Academy Fellowship (an additional $10,000 annually). In return, doctoral students work 20 hours a week either teaching or assisting with research.

These assistantships further strengthen the academic curriculum of each program. By providing valuable work experience, your time at the Walton College is well-spent.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Walton MBA

Final application deadline for The Walton MBA is fast approaching. September 15 is the date that should be circled in red on your calendar. We will accept applications after this date; however, to be in the consideration for graduate assistantships, you should plan on having your documents submitted by the deadline.

This newly redesigned program was first rolled out in January of 2007. These students just graduated this May and their annual starting salary was $75,452 with a range of $62,000 to $110,000. This first class consisted of 30 students. These students had an average GMAT of 625 and they averaged a little over three years of work experience.

The second class to start this new program began in January of this year. We admitted 32 and they had an average GMAT of 630 and 27 months of work experience. They will graduate next May and we are expecting fantastic placement stats from them too.

We are in the planning stages of the next class to begin in January of 2009. We are expecting to admit between 35 and 40 students.

Graduate assistantships will be the topic of the next post. For more information about The Walton MBA, go to: http://gsb.uark.edu/mba/fulltime_overview.asp. As always, please email me with questions.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Final admissions decisions have been made for the fall 2008 MMBA

The admissions committee met for the last time this week to make decisions regarding our last few applications. The MMBA class to begin in fall 2008 will consist of 57 students with an average GMAT of 580. This class also has an average GPA of 3.3 and averages over 6 years of work experience. To date, we have received 95 applications for this program.

If you are interested in applying for the MMBA for fall 2009, application deadline is April 1. The committee for this particular program focuses primarily on three components of the application: GMAT score, work experience, and GPA.

New students for this fall represent such companies as: Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt, ConAgra, ABF Freight, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Hershey, Colgate Palmolive, and Target.