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By Rex Barber
Johnson City Press
MILLIGAN COLLEGE — Soon you will be able to get three different master’s of business administration degrees at Milligan College.
The school announced Thursday it was creating three separate emphasis tracks from which incoming MBA students would choose: leadership, healthcare management or operations management.
Milligan is doing this in response to student interest as well as the interest of area business leaders, said David Campbell, director of Milligan’s MBA program.
“It’s still an MBA so it’s still broad based,” he said. “It still covers all of the disciplines within the business area but it also includes a special emphasis on certain areas that are either popular in our area or they’re at a comparable advantage at Milligan, for example: Leadership.”
Other schools have developed MBA tracks and Milligan leaders analyzed that and other things for more than a year to develop the Milligan offerings.
Milligan’s MBA tracks are described as follows according to a school news release:
“The leadership track explores best practices in understanding and maximizing human interaction in global and diverse contexts. The track also examines current issues in leadership and appropriate strategies for implementing change.
“The healthcare management track examines the United States healthcare system, including staff management, government interventions and comparisons with other healthcare delivery systems in developed countries. The track also examines the administration of healthcare finance and the management of regulatory compliance within healthcare organizations.
“The operations management track is designed to further provide students with a broad conceptual framework for the management of operations in today’s competitive, global environment. The track will demonstrate how organizations compete on the elements of quality, cost, time, innovation, and flexibility using human, material and informational resources.”
At any given time around 50 students are studying for an MBA at Milligan.
The program was created eight years ago. This is an executive-style MBA that takes 14 months.
Students meet on residency weekends, which occur approximately once a month, on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Campbell said the addition of separate MBA tracks could be seen as a response to a changing work force in a challenged economy.
“I think it’s part of an effort, and again, it’s a tough economy so students want to show they’re bringing something back from their education and employers want to see that they’re bringing something back from their education ,” Campbell said. “But by targeting the program to different areas it allows the students to bring back more practical skills to increase their productivity and make their employer more productive as well.”
Eventually the track courses may be offered to people who already hold an MBA.
Milligan will host an information open house for its graduate and professional studies programs, including the MBA, Nov. 5 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of Milligan’s Derthick Hall.