An Interview with an Evening MBA Professor at the Foster School

The Foster School of Business at the University of Washington is known for its top-quality staff, cutting-edge research, and multitude of MBA programs. The Evening MBA at the Foster School is perfect for candidates who need to keep their days free for a job of other commitments but still want to complete their course work quickly.

The program is three years long and offers a rigorous, cross-functional curriculum with hands-on learning opportunities. The class is made up of 131 students, 35% women, with an average of 6.6 years of work experience. To learn more about the program, visit the school website.

As part of a new meet the faculty blog series on the Foster School website, Professor Mark Westerfield, who teaches the Business Finance (FIN 502) course for the Evening MBA, was interviewed. He shared his thoughts on relevant student knowledge, his research, and the MBA core course he teaches.

First, he spoke about how much he enjoys the level of professional engagement with his students. “Students bring their own knowledge and context with them into the classroom, and they are willing to fully engage with the class material and the knowledge of their classmates,” Mark said. “Even better, the students naturally do this with a professional manner, taking responsibility for exploiting all of the opportunities they have for work the next day or their career in ten years.”

As for his Business Finance course, valuing assets and decisions are important for all managers to learn. His course focuses on teaching the fundamental tools of evaluation and decision-making so that, at the end of the class, students are left with a structure for thinking about potential projects and investments. The course uses a combination of lectures and case studies so that first, the students are provided with rigorous analytical tools, and then, they are provided a practical setting to use those tools.

Outside of the classroom, Mark focuses on “contracts and liquidity, particularly in settings like private equity and venture capital funds.”

regions: Seattle

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