UA Graduate School to Offer EMBA Degree in Huntsville

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama will begin offering an executive MBA degree in Huntsville in July 2008.

The degree will be offered through a cooperative agreement with The University of Alabama in Huntsville on the Huntsville campus. The courses will be taught primarily by faculty from the Manderson Graduate School of Business at the Culverhouse College of Commerce on the Tuscaloosa campus, and the degree will be awarded by The University of Alabama.

The Huntsville classes will meet Friday evenings and Saturdays, every other week, for 21 months.

“The population growth and the high educational level of residents in the Huntsville area make an executive MBA program a much needed offering in addition to the Tuscaloosa program,” said Susan West, assistant dean and head of the Manderson Graduate School of Business at UA.

Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama, said the new program in Huntsville should be attractive to a large segment of the population in the area.

“With the immense economic and employment growth in the North Alabama and Southern Tennessee area caused by the increase in automobile manufacturing and the base realignment and closure, a lot of senior-level professionals will be looking to broaden their knowledge base, and the Huntsville EMBA will be the answer,” Mason said. “We are deeply appreciative of the work of Dean Billings in Huntsville and the support of Chancellor Mack Portera, as well as the buy-in by the UA Board of Trustees.”

Application deadline for the Huntsville program is June 20, 2008. A minimum of five years of work experience is required. Cost for the 21-month program will be $39,500 without lodging, but including tuition, fees, books and materials, e-learning portal access, refreshments and lunch. The program will include a one-week international study abroad tour which will be in the tuition (except for airfare).

All applicants must have taken the GMAT or GRE exam no more than five years before applying. The program requires a minimum score of 500 on the GMAT or 1000 on the GRE.

Application can be made online or by contacting Donna Blackburn at 205/348-8748.

“The Huntsville EMBA will provide the same rigorous curriculum provided by the Tuscaloosa EMBA program,” West said. “The degree will be a UA degree, and the students will be taught by a world class faculty.”

The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1919 and, in 1929, became the 38th school to earn admission into the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. The excellence of the UA business school has been acknowledged on a national level. The undergraduate program is ranked 29th among public universities by U.S. News and the Culverhouse School of Accountancy is ranked 15th among public universities by U.S. News. The graduate accounting program is ranked 15th and the undergraduate program 14th by Public Accounting Report.

The Manderson Graduate School of Business has earned three top-10 rankings in the most recent issue of The Princeton Review’s “Best Business School” guide: Fourth for campus facilities, fifth for quality of professors and eighth for administration. Forbes magazine ranked UA’s business graduate program 21st among regional schools for return on investment last year, and U.S. News and World Report placed the program 60th in its annual graduate schools rankings released this spring.