A Penn State MBA soon will be available to busy Pittsburgh-area professionals: The Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will offer courses for its master’s degree in business administration beginning this fall at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry.
Penn State Behrend’s MBA is accredited by AACSB International, a designation held by just 15 percent of colleges and universities worldwide, and is listed among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Students in the program consistently rank in the top 10 percent on the ETS Major Field Test.
“Coursework in our MBA focuses on the practical application of theory to the world of business, often enabling students to work with their employers to fashion real solutions to real problems,” Alfred Warner, director of Penn State Behrend’s MBA, said.
Engineers, in particular, can benefit, Warner said. “Engineers who obtain an MBA typically have greater opportunities to quickly progress in their career because they bring additional abilities in finance, marketing, HR and other business skills to the table,” he said.
Cranberry MBA courses will be offered in a blended format. Each three-credit course will meet four times a semester at the Regional Learning Alliance; remaining instruction will be online.
The program generally will take five to eight semesters to complete, depending on prior undergraduate coursework. Students with a recent undergraduate degree in business may be exempt from up to 15 credit hours of foundation courses.
“We want to make the Cranberry program as flexible and convenient as possible, particularly for working professionals,” Warner said. “But the curriculum will be identical to our residential MBA program. Faculty members who will be teaching in Cranberry hold terminal degrees in their fields, and most have business and industry experience, something you won’t find in all business schools.”
The program is offered through the Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend in partnership with the Pittsburgh-area Penn State campuses of Beaver, Greater Allegheny and New Kensington. The Regional Learning Alliance is located at the intersection of interstates 76 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike) and 79 and routes 19 and 228.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Penn State MBA program or eligibility for credit exemptions can e-mail the Graduate Admissions office at PSBehrendMBA@psu.edu, visit http://behrend.psu.edu/mba or call 866-374-3378 for more information.