UA EMBA Programs Celebrate 25th and First Graduations

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business and the Executive MBA Program recently celebrated the graduation of its 25th class and its first Huntsville EMBA class with a reception in The Zone at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The celebration coincided with The University of Alabama graduation ceremonies. A total of 47 students earned their MBA degrees from the two programs, making it the largest number of students to do so since the founding of the Tuscaloosa program in 1985.

In 2008 and in cooperation with The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Manderson started another program in Huntsville to serve professionals in the Tennessee Valley area seeking to earn the M.B.A. degree while continuing their careers.

“We have always had strong demand from the North Alabama and Middle Tennessee markets for our EMBA program in Tuscaloosa,” said Susan West, assistant dean of Manderson Graduate School of Business and director of the programs.

“We were pleased with the opportunity to partner with our sister campus to bring the UA-EMBA degree to the Huntsville area, and we look forward to continuing this successful collaboration as we make plans to enroll our third Huntsville EMBA cohort in mid-June,” West said.

During The Zone celebration, the 2010 EMBA graduates recognized their faculty with four “Professor of the Year” awards. The recipients included UAHuntsville’s Allen W. Wilhite, professor of economics, and chairman, department of economics and information systems, and UA’s A.J. “Lonnie” Strickland, T.R. Miller Professor of Strategic Management; Thomas L. Albright, J. Reese Phifer Faculty Fellow and professor of accounting; and J. Brian Gray, professor of statistics and James I. Harrison Family Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow.

“It is quite a remarkable feat to earn an MBA degree from an executive program,” West said. “Students balance demanding careers with important family and community responsibilities. Demands of the program are significant, and participants must be driven and highly motivated to be successful. In return, they not only earn their degrees from an elite program but develop lifelong relationships with classmates and key UAHuntsville and UA faculty members.”

Despite the hectic schedule and demanding course load, 25 percent of the 2010 graduates maintained a 4.0 grade point average. Students in the Huntsville EMBA class who earned a perfect GPA were Jason Benson, Huntsville Utilities; Kent Darzi, ADTRAN Inc.; Daniel Lynn, U.S. Army RTTC; Kim Shepard, MITRE Corp.; Gabe Collins, ATI Engineered Products; Jeff Mullins, Spiritus Inc.; Harry Wise, ICRC Aerospace-NASA; and Rene Zwahlen, Bruderer Machinery Inc.

In the Tuscaloosa class the students were: Kelley Beavers, El Paso Corp.; Troy Carmichael, The Cymbrogi LLC; and Michael Ward, Astellas UA, LLC.

EMBA students earn their degrees while attending class on Friday evening and all day Saturday, every other weekend for 18 months in Tuscaloosa and 21 months in Huntsville. The average age of UA-EMBA students is 37 with 14 years of professional work experience.

Professionals find the small class size of 25 or fewer students and exposure to a variety of industries within each class appealing. For example, one class may represent as many as 10 or more industries, including defense, telecommunications, non-profit, manufacturing, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, education, energy and banking.