With jobs as hard as they are to come by in these economic times, few people who have them are willing to give them up, even if they want or need to pursue more education in order to excel in their profession. The University of Nevada, Reno College of Business is addressing this dilemma by offering a new Executive Online MBA Program beginning this fall, which builds on the strength of its part-time MBA program, ranked 21st in the nation by BusinessWeek.

The 36-credit program will be one of very few such programs offered by top-ranked programs in the country. It will be taught by the same faculty who teach the University's nationally recognized part-time MBA program. The program will be self-supporting, with a fee of $2,000 per course, or $24,000 for the program.

"We expect this program to be in high demand because of the quality of our faculty and reputation of our established MBA program," said Greg Mosier, dean of the University's College of Business. "It is priced very competitively, and with it being an online program, it will serve the needs of midcareer executives and experienced professionals throughout the state, not just those in northern Nevada."

Applicants interested in enrolling in the program will be required to have a bachelor's degree and significant professional work experience, among other requirements. Although Mosier says the primary purpose of the program is to serve Nevada executives, he expects executives from other states will seek to enroll in the program in the future.

The program will offer an integrated blend of theory and practice, providing a general management emphasis. It will familiarize students with cutting-edge issues of business disciplines that are required for advanced managerial decision-making. 

Mosier said the program, which was approved by the Nevada System of Higher Education's Board of Regents last Friday, was made possible by partnering with the University's Extended Studies, which will handle the marketing, recruitment and online course delivery of the program. Students of the first cohort of the program will take 21 required core credits and 15 breadth credits from specialized courses of business in information technology, international business, managerial accounting, personal branding and strategy.

"We have worked with Extended Studies on other courses and programs, and they do an outstanding job with these areas," Mosier said. "Their assistance was vital to getting this program off the ground."

For example, a couple of years ago, Extended Studies helped associate professor of marketing Judy Strauss develop an online marketing course that was nationally recognized for its use of technology, rigor and personal touch. The course was awarded the Helen Williams Award for Excellence in Collegiate Independent Study by the American Association for Collegiate Independent Study.

"Online programs at the University, such as the Executive MBA, are a fantastic opportunity for students to access quality professors and programs with the added flexibility that online learning provides," said Kerri Garcia, executive director of the University's Summer Session & Academic Credit Programs. "We are very excited about this new program and look forward to working with the College of Business on it."

For more information on the new Executive Online MBA Program, contact the program's director and the associate dean of the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business, Kambiz Raffiee, (775) 682-9142 or Raffiee@unr.edu. For more information on the University's College of Business programs, visit UNR College of Business.