UIC Business Professor Explores Effect of Female Leadership
Earlier this month, U.S. News & World Report interviewed UIC Business Professor Susan Perkins regarding a research paper she had published a few years back. Along with co-author Katherine Phillips, Perkins discussed correlations between female leadership and economic growth. Continue reading…
Startup Lessons: ParkingBee
The path for startups can be treacherous. In the series “Startup Lessons,” we examine new MBA startups at the ground level to understand how they succeed.
Driehaus and Kellstadt Dean to Step Down
Ray Whittington has served as dean of the Driehaus College of Business and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business for more than 10 years. But at the end of the 2016-17 academic year, he will be stepping down and returning to his prior role as the director of DePaul’s School of Accountancy & Management Information Systems. Continue reading…
Wait, This MBA Is How Cheap?
An MBA can cause varying levels of distress. Price, of course, likely tops the list. But not every degree needs to reach the dreaded six-figure mark. In fact, some, like the brand new online MBA offered by the University of Illinois College of Business at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), are shockingly inexpensive.
$22,000. That’s all. For an entire online MBA.
Let those numbers sink it, because figures like that appear far too often when pursuing any kind of graduate degree—nevermind an MBA.
The UIUC online MBA—dubbed the iMBA—was officially launched earlier this year. CNN Money reports that around 265 students are currently enrolled at an average age of 37. The majority of those students reside in the U.S. with around 18 percent international students joining.
This is a massive development for online MBA programs, according to some experts.
“About 10 years ago, online programs were really the stepchild of course offerings,” says Chioma Isiadinso, a former Harvard Business School admissions officer.
“There was a stigma attached to an online MBA years ago, but today employers are not asking how you got the degree. What’s more important is where you went and what skills you learned,” he continues.
The iMBA was created in partnership with Coursera, which has been helping implement online programs at top institutions like Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania since 2012.
Nikhil Sinha, the Chief Business Officer at Coursera, says, “We’re catering to people who typically wouldn’t be able to come into an MBA program at this stage in their life, but still need it to advance their careers.”
Heidi Moore, a systems engineering manager at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, earned a bachelor’s in aviation from the University of Purdue, but was looking for a business-focused career. She, like many, was wary about pursuing a non-traditional MBA. But the pricing and flexibility of the iMBA program at UIUC was more than enough to convince her.
“I want to get a master’s to become business savvy, but I don’t want to get into personal debt to do so. To me, that’s a contradiction,” she says.
Enrollment for January 2017 classes is currently underway. Applicants are encouraged to submit GMAT or GRE scores, but it is not an official requirement. Click here for more information on the program.
Loyola Quinlan Launching Incubator To Fight Chicago Poverty
In spring 2016, the Quinlan School of Business launched the Urban Social Benefit Incubator, which aims to connect social entrepreneurs and business leaders to create innovative solutions to help marginalized communities in the fight against poverty. According to statistics reported by Quinlan, 14 percent of Chicago metro residents live below the federal poverty line, which is currently defined as an income of $24,300 for a family of four. This is slightly above the U.S. national average of 13.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Continue reading…
Best Companies to Intern For in Chicago
MBA graduates will likely tell you that an internship was not only crucial in the process of pursuing their degree, but critical in helping enhance their credentials and ultimately played a major role in landing their first full-time job. According a National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2016 survey, employers extended job offers to more than 72 percent of their interns. Continue reading…
