Virtual Information Sessions

Host: Hello and welcome to Ohio University's online Master of Business Administration Information Session. We have a packed agenda where you'll have the opportunity to meet our online MBA program director and hear his passion is he provides an overview of the MBA program, including what makes the program unique and details on the curriculum, the Leadership development conference, tuition, and career outcome. We'll also hear from two of our recent alumni who will share their firsthand experience in the online MBA program and how it has impacted their careers. Then we'll hear from our graduate career acceleration team and talk about the admission requirements and next steps.

I am excited to introduce our MBA program director, Dr. Bill Young. Dr. Young is the Charles G. O'Bleness Associate Professor of Business Analytics and has his doctorate degree in mechanical and systems engineering, as well as his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering. Dr. Young, welcome. Would you like to tell us a bit more about your background and why students should choose Ohio?

William Young: Absolutely. First and foremost, I just wanted to thank everybody for watching this informational session. I actually am a three-time bobcat at Ohio University. It was said I've got my undergraduate degrees in engineering, and then luckily I got a job as a professor here at the College of Business. And what I've been doing over the last 10 or so years here at the College of Business is to establish programs and analytics and supporting that at the undergraduate and graduate level. I also work on several different projects and programs related to international business and consulting, so I've had a lot of fun actually over my career working in those programs and things of that nature. Really thankful you're taking the time to learn more about Ohio University, and I hope I can answer some questions that you might have.

Host: Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Young. Would you like to tell us more a bit about why students should choose Ohio University to continue their education?

William Young: Yeah, absolutely. I think it starts out with our faculty, and since I am one, I know a lot of the people that teach in this program. And the first foremost thing I hear from our students when they graduate is that the faculty are very accessible. A lot of times in other programs, if you're searching for other programs and learning about them, those courses could be taught by graduate assistants and people like that. But here, you're getting access to the faculty that we have at OU. And what can I say? They don't think of an online course as an afterthought. They think of this course as their primary obligation and they dedicate themselves to answering emails. It's not within 48 hours, it's within eight hours or even quicker than that.

So our faculty really go above and beyond. They have a lot of industrial experience. They have real world experience. A lot of our faculty members are consultants that have been there and have done that, and they transfer that knowledge and that experience back to the students in the form of their lectures and classes and video recordings and things of that nature. Our faculty are outstanding. Our online MBA program is basically a selective program where we put our best and brightest faculty members at the forefront of our students. So our online program is special to us, and we want to make sure that we put our most talented faculty in front of you.

As far as the flexibility, I think that's another standout feature of our program. We have one course at a time, so we don't want you to be dealing with competing deadlines and things of that nature, if you have maybe two classes at the same time and you got to decide what you're going to work on and what you're going to submit, maybe this course or that course. No. We eliminate all that frustration to say, "Here's seven weeks. Let's focus on this topic." You don't have competing deadlines and that just simplifies things in a way that makes your schedule easy.

Because it's usually not the curriculum that is the most challenging thing. It's about time management when it comes to getting into a program like this and altering your schedule that you can adopt a program like this into your daily lives. So carving out time in the nights, the weekends, and things of that nature. That's most important. And what we do to try to help you with that is we do offer two classes that are live each week and we'll record those sessions. So if you can't attend live, you'll always have those recordings available.

Another thing that makes us stand apart from the rest is just our networking and professional development opportunities. We have an LDC, a leadership development conference, and that's an event where you get to come to Athens, Ohio, experience a campus, experience and get to know your colleagues, your peers, other students in the programs, the faculty members that you've been working with throughout your journey. And it's really just a wonderful time and I'll definitely speak more about that in future slides here.

And really one big selling point is that Ohio University is AACSB accredited, and that is just the highest honor when it comes to accreditation. So you could talk about the Harvards of the world. We have the same accreditation that they have. So less than 5% of universities worldwide have this accreditation, and we're one of them. So it is a renowned program when it comes to the accreditation and the rankings that we have. And, of course, every year that the rankings come in, we're competing nationally with public and private institutions, and we're really pleased every time those rankings come out that we are a highly-ranked program. AACSB is one accreditation body that is the highest in the world.

Our rankings are really good and we have other services like the GradCAT program that helps professionals transition to different careers or themselves to accelerate their career within their own organization. We offer all kind of support, and that's just because we really care about the program and we care about the students and it's not an afterthought in terms of, oh, this is just an online program. No, this is what we want to excel in. We have all kind of support for our students.

Host: Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Young. I'd like to introduce now two of our recent MBA alumni, Dr. Steven Crane and Tim Bath. And welcome, Tim and Steven. Let's start with you, Tim. Would you tell us a bit about your background and what you currently do, please?

Timothy Bath: Sure. Thank you. I graduated from Ohio University class in 2018 with my MBA in analytics. At the time, I was a director of supply chain for a company called Michelman in Cincinnati, Ohio. And in 2020 I moved over and back into the waste industry with Rumpke Waste and Recycling. We're based locally in Cincinnati, Ohio. We cover the Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky areas. Been very involved with OU ever since and actually have, one of the people that works for me right now is attending the MBA program there and is enjoying it thoroughly. So big fan of the program and it's done some great things for me.

Host: Awesome. Thank you. And Steven, would you tell us a bit about your background?

Steven Crane: Of course. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I was the class of 2020, graduated, and I cannot speak highly enough about this program. When I first started, I literally was unemployed. I literally had nothing coming into this program, but I gave it my all. And within a matter of months, I was able to find employment through GradCAT and through some other networking opportunities. The LDC helped me network with a lot of individuals, including Dr. Young here. It was just phenomenal in that matter and helping me get my feet under me and get me and my career started in the right direction.

And then, by the end of the program, I was running the learning and development program for a tiny company that we helped grow to seven figures. So it was phenomenal experience because I was able to transfer the classroom lectures and the classroom work into my day to day activities, still time management, balancing everything. I was able to take that stuff and directly apply it every single week, every single month, year over year through the program. And that's what accelerated my career. So again, I cannot speak highly enough about this program.

Host: Awesome. Thank you both. Dr. Young, tell us a bit about the MBA program in particular. A little bit more details about what makes this program unique.

William Young: Sure. From a directorship and/or a faculty perspective, I think one of the things that we should mention is that we spend a lot of time developing our courses for the adult professional worker. So we spend a lot of time on how courses should be designed and developed and delivered to the working professional. So that's one thing.

The other thing is that there's a trend within the MBA space to offer more than just a generalist program in terms of the curriculum. So we offer nine concentrations, so we'll talk a little bit more about those concentrations later. But if you want to excel in a certain area or you find your career path going in a certain area, we offer that customization in terms of those concentrations that you can explore and accelerate your career progression.

The other thing is the part-time program, the seven week courses, and I mentioned this a little bit before. We don't want you to have competing deadlines or competing with another course. So when you take our program, you'll be taking one course at a time. We split a semester into two, so the first seven weeks of a semester, you'll be taking one course, and then the second half of the semester, the last seven weeks of a semester, you'll be taking another course. So that really allows you to focus on one course at a time, which is good when it comes down to balancing your everyday work life.

Our program consists of 35 credit hours, and that really encompasses 12 different courses. And our curriculum, as we'll see in the next slide or so, it's a well-balanced curriculum. So you'll take things related to analytics, finance, marketing, operations, strategy, leadership. So, that's what an MBA does. It exposes you to all realms of business.

And like I mentioned before, our program is highly-ranked. And that's something I take a lot of pride in because whether it's Poets & Quants or US News and World Report or Fortune, every time those rankings come out, I know it's an incredible honor to be just recognized because we're competing with a public and private sector. So as you see here, number one program by Poets & Quants in the state of Ohio. Best online MBA program. Number four best business schools in Ohio by US News and World Report. And if we look nationally, we're a top 30 program nationally. Or a top 70 program nationally, depending on the report.

And that's just an incredible honor. So our faculty are very dedicated. Our students are very dedicated. Our staff is very dedicated to making this the best program we could possibly deliver. So that's just something special to me that I look at.

And in terms of our alumni, our alumni is vast. We have thousands and thousands of students that are in our alumni. We're a Military-Friendly School®, and we do offer scholarships. So those are just the highlights in terms of our MBA program at Alliance.

Host: Awesome, thank you, Dr. Young. Tim and Steven, give us a bit of flavor around how you were able to traverse the coursework and curriculum within the MBA. How were you able to work full time, especially Tim, and while earning your degree?

Timothy Bath: Well, what was really interesting about me, a lot of people know, we actually adopted our daughter three weeks into the program. So not only was I traversing work and an MBA, but I had a baby at the house. And what I found useful is I was really able to work at different hours and around my schedule. If I wasn't able to be there for an online class, I could watch it. As Dr. Young mentioned, it was recorded. You could go back and look. If we needed or if I needed something from one of the teachers, not only could we email, but most of them, they gave us their cell phone number and said text. And it didn't matter what time of day it was. You got a response.

So for me, it was the part-time classes. And I was scared. There's no secret. I had been out of college for 16 years when I went back. That's a pretty scary thought and feeling. And to come back in a world when I left college, online learning was just beginning, where now it's very much a regular thing. I was able to take those classes and those chunks and really focus in on them and not feel the pressures of the deadlines and be able to truly work and still be part of my family and be able to continue my job at the time for that entire time and accelerate and thrive through that.

So as you take these classes, and there's the total 12 classes over that course of two years, that seven weeks is dedicating. You're focused in and you're able to truly focus on that and learn that discipline. Where I've talked to some other people in some other universities, and they're doing two classes at a time, and they're trying to bounce back and forth, where I felt the one class approach for seven weeks really allowed me to truly focus in and learn that discipline.

Host: Awesome. Thanks, Tim. And Steven, how did you find going through the courses and the curriculum and balancing looking for a job and taking courses at the same time?

Steven Crane: To echo exactly what Tim was just talking about, the fact that it's broken into one class at a time is absolutely game-changing. I have seven degrees from seven different universities, and this is the only university that has this type of curriculum, this type of structure. And this is what I wish every other university would do. This is the best way to learn, in my humble opinion, because you're focused on one class at a time and then you move on to next class. There's no competing agendas or homework assignments or anything like that.

So it's very manageable, whether you're working full-time or whether you're like me: towards the end of the program, I was working a part-time job, a full-time job, and I was running two companies on the side. I was traveling around the world. That's where I ultimately ended up, but that's where this program took me, right? It was able to launch my career, was able to launch my companies and everything to where it is today. But that's because I had the time, I had the network, I had the coursework, I had all this stuff leading into it.

So the seven-week classes was a complete game changer for me. And so anyone out there that's saying, "I'm doing this or I'm doing this, or I have a lot of competing things in my life," I promise you, the coursework is manageable. Your faculty is amazing. And no matter what, you will make it to the end of the program. Your faculty are there, your staff. Everyone is there to support you along the way. You have their cell phones, you have their emails, you have everything. All you need to do is do your part and they will do their part to get you across the finish line. So absolutely, again, cannot say high enough about this.

Host: Awesome. Thank you, Steven. Could you go into a little more detail around the curriculum within the MBA program?

William Young: Sure thing. So first, our program is 35 credit hours, and that's 12 courses. And like we've mentioned, it's one course at a time, seven week courses at a time. So you'll complete two courses in a given semester. And the other thing is we do offer three starts per year. So if you're looking to start in the fall, you can start in the fall. If you're looking to wait and start in the spring, you could start in the spring. And, of course, you can start in the summer as well.

Our core curriculum is a very generalist approach when it comes to an MBA program, and this is typical of what you would see in any MBA program. So we have the accounting, we have the finance, we have the OBHR, we have the operations and various complimentary parts around business that we think you should know.

The part that separates us is that we understand that people want to hyper-focus in a certain area, and that's just the general trend within the MBA space. So we allow students, and we have created this, and that's actually something I'm very proud of. When I started directing this program, we only had three concentrations, so I've helped to develop all these concentrations, and now we have nine. So if you want to specialize in a certain area like business analytics, like health care, like executive management, and so forth and so on, we have developed a program that allows you to get nine credit hours in one of these areas that you want to specialize in.

Host: Awesome, thank you. And Steven and Timothy, I think you both did the business analytics concentration. Can you tell us about that, why you chose that, to focus in that area, and how was that as you were going through the program?

Timothy Bath: Sure. So for me, at the time, the four concentrations were finance, business analytics, executive management and health care. And as I sat back and looked at the world around us, it truly felt like analytics is where the world was going. I had done enough executive management type courses over my time. I had done some finance courses and I wasn't in the health care industry, so I ruled that one out pretty easy. But the analytics side I really felt was where business was going and where it is still going today.

And what's interesting when you do the analytics piece, for me, a lot of the executive management and finance also tied in together with it. So even though you have that concentration, there's ties to all the other different portions. As Dr. Young would say, 80% of your analytics is pre-processing and getting the data. And as I look at the concentrations on the screen, project management is very similar to business analytics, which is similar to supply chain operations management.

So while you're considering, and I considered analytics and the reasons for it, any of the concentrations you choose are going to have pieces of the other one in it. So it's unique for that. And as I go back and I look at all these different classes, I look back and I remember pieces of each and every single one, things that maybe I struggled with and things I didn't do very well in, but they all left me with something I've taken away and I still use today.

And even one of them, I'm not going to mention which one, but I'm using right now in some data I'm doing and working with. So you will take a piece of every one of these classes and somewhere in your career. In the four years I've been out, I've used a piece of every single class. What I would recommend, I recommended to some students I've talked to, I wouldn't focus as much on the concentration. You pick the one you feel best with. But remember, all the concentrations work together and in concert.

Host: Awesome, thank you. And Steven?

Steven Crane: No, I could not agree more. Absolutely. Over the last couple of years of actually dealing with this stuff, both in my own companies, with private companies, different companies I've consulted with, every single thing on here is 100% applicable. I chose the business analytics route as a stretch goal for myself. I was not interested in data in the least, right? I was not interested in sitting by a computer and being a data scientist and looking at numbers. Like, I hate numbers. I really do. I never wanted to go into that route. But I knew this was going to stretch me and I knew that was the future. I knew that this is still the future. Everything is moving towards this.

So I looked at it as a challenge. And with the mentorship, with the help of Dr. Young, I was able to actually learn this stuff, apply this stuff, and I can say without a doubt, out of everything on here, strategic marketing as an entrepreneur, I use that every day, right? That's a huge one. Same with the strategy. But next to those two, business analytics is everything that I do. I live in Excel now. I never used to touch Excel sheets. Now I live in Excel no matter what I'm doing, whether it's coming up with a comp plan for employees, whether it's consulting on what's the best business decision to make, weighted average, you name it.

There's just so much that I've learned from this program and specifically the business analytics concentration that even if you don't decide to go into data, you don't want to be a business analyst, you don't want to go into data science, you don't want to do that, it is highly applicable to no matter where you go into. So business analytics, personally my favorite. My heart, my soul is in that one. But every single one of these, the accounting, finance, they're all absolutely amazing.

Host: Awesome. Thank you. We spoke a little bit about the leadership development conference. This is a great opportunity for students to really connect and a real in-person basis. So tell us more about this two-day on-campus event, Dr. Young.

William Young: Okay. Sure thing. So the LDC is ... What can I say? It's a great experience. I'll be honest with everybody listening to this informational session. At the time when I was asked to direct this program, which has been about 10 years ago, I thought, "Why would students want come into Athens of Ohio that wanted to take an online program?" And I just struggled with that. But then I went to my first LDC event and I'm like, "Oh, that's why. It's a great event."

So it's a great opportunity to meet your colleagues. It's a great opportunity to self reflect about why our students are pursuing an MBA program. It's a great chance to think about how you're leading yourself individually or how to lead others. So we bring speakers in from all over the world at major organizations. So we have panels. We have our keynote speakers. You get a chance to meet the faculty that you've had online who are with you. Like was mentioned, it's not a 48-hour turnover. It's, "Here's my cell phone. Text me anytime or place." And our faculty, what can I say? Are very dedicated to what we do. So it's a great opportunity to connect with our faculty and the students that you're working with in the classes.

And when it comes down to it, it's a two-day event. You are only required to come to one LDC event for our requirements of our MBA degree. The hotel and meals are covered. You're responsible for transportation down. But it's just an incredible opportunity to leverage our network. And what I mean by that is at the College of Business, we have different centers of excellence and we leverage our network within those centers of excellence to bring in world-class speakers and things of that nature.

And I just want to drive the point across that it really gives you a sense that, one, you are a bobcat. Two, you reflect about why the MBA is important to you. And I think that's very important as you go through the curriculum and you go through all these work/life balances and things of that nature to say, what is the end goal? It makes you think about that in a deeper level. And of course, leading yourself and leading others is a critical part of business professional. So that's what we focus on.

Host: Awesome. Thanks, Dr. Young. And Tim, I believe it's an opportunity to attend in either August or in April? But tell us about your experience attending and how you found the LDC.

Timothy Bath: So I attended three of them. After one of the first one, it made all the sense the world to come back for three. And I've actually been back to my fourth. I was back this year as a speaker. The LDC to me allowed a culmination of all that. And you hear a lot of people online, but you actually get to meet them in person and make friendships. In my undergrad, I was a commuter student, so I didn't have a lot of long-term college friends. What I can tell you now is that I have four. There's a group of four of us that still text on a regular basis. We still communicate. We're actually getting together back in Athens next year, is the plan, that all graduated from the MBA program. So we made these relationships at the LDC and have become great friends from that.

But on top of that, you get to meet a lot of other people, get to hear some great and interesting speakers, and you get a couple days away, that while it's business focused, it may not be just a hundred percent focused on your business. I remember the one gentleman came in, he was out of Colorado, and his big business was in cryotherapy. And I learned a lot about the cryotherapy business and ended up started using cryotherapy just because of what I learned at the LDC.

So there's interesting things that you're going to get taught and there's going to be a lot of memories you make and take away, not to mention all the great conversations and things you get to do. And April and August in Athens is a fantastic time. You can't beat it. And it's definitely something, if you decide to take this program and engage in the program, I would recommend planning on attending all three because it's worth every minute of it.

Host: Awesome. And Steven, how was your experience?

Steven Crane: Very similar. I still have people from my cohort that I stay in touch with, had coffee with them literally last week. We met together and we had coffee just to stay in touch because we really built great relationships through the program, but it was really heightened through the LDC. So the LDC for myself, I did it three times as well. And every time I went, there was something new. There was new speakers, there was new activities, everything was new. It wasn't like the same boring conference over and over again. It was a completely different conference every single time, which was really fun and it made you want to come back for the second one because you might miss something.

But then on top of that, in the conference, we've all been, as business people, executives and stuff, we've all been to these conferences where you typically sit there all day and you just listen to all these guest speakers go across the stage, and yay, okay. It's not like that. This is a completely different experience. You're engaged with the speakers. You're engaged with different activities. We had an activity where we walked into a classroom and there were whiteboard, like white papers all over with markers. I was like, what is this? We sat down and we did an activity called story mapping.

That activity literally jump started my speaking career and I now speak across the country using that same format of story mapping. So something as simple as that turned into a career for me on the outside because of how different the activity was. It wasn't just another speaker. So again, I could go on and on for days about how important the LDC is and how meaningful it is. But all I can say is you need to attend. When you get into the program, you need to go to all three, experience it, bond with your cohort, bond with your teachers and professors, because it's definitely worth it long-term.

Host: Awesome. Thank you both. The online MBA tuition is $1,032 for Ohio residents and almost the same for non-residents, $1,051. To complete the full 35-credit program, this works out to be about $36,000 for tuition overall. And as Dr. Young mentioned, while your hotel and most meals are covered once you're on campus for the leadership development conference, the travel costs to Athens, Ohio for the conference will also be something you'll need to budget for in addition to any books and supplies and fees for your various courses as they come up.

We talked about the scholarships that are available. And so that is something that is a significant ... Every little bit counts as a student as you're going through. And so there's financial aid and scholarships that are available both to alumni and to various students depending on their situation.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the career outcomes and how this program really prepares students once they graduate for those leadership and management roles that they're coming in and desiring to achieve through the program. Dr. Young, could you tell us a little bit more about that?

William Young: Yeah, absolutely. And I think this is one thing that I focus on in our exit interviews. So when our students graduate from the program, we look at their progression, if you will, the nine months or so after they've finished. And the one thing that always I look at is the return on investment. I think that's a natural kind of concern everybody has once they deal with the finances and realize it's around $35,000 for this degree. What's in it for me?

And I'm happy to report the average, I just calculated it for the US News and World Report rankings this year, our average salary increase is about $17,000 a year. So when our students graduate, they're moving on in different leadership roles, managerial roles, supervisory roles and whatnot. They're moving on, whether it's their own organization or maybe cross different organizations. Sometimes that is what our MBAs are all about. Most of the time it's vertical integration, where they're staying with their own organization, but sometimes they're looking for different career opportunities. And it really goes back to those concentration and those areas of expertise. And that's just something our program provides.

So if you are, for example, a non-data person, you think you might want to take a step in your own organization to lead your business analytics or to lead the data science kind of part of it, or just to be more familiar with that, so when you're dealing with consultants or you're dealing with the next strategic vision of your organization, you have these core competencies that you can do that. So the MBA is so wide, it's hard to be very specific about particular job titles and whatnot.

The MBA is just a great wealth of information that covers all aspects of business, from the leadership, from the finance accounting, analytics, from OBHR to operations and things of that nature. It just makes you more well-rounded, and the more well-rounded you are, you're talking about leadership roles and understanding the different roles within the organization to actually lead them.

Host: Awesome. Thank you so much. Tim, how did earning the MBA ... you spoke a bit about how you're able to utilize a lot of pieces from each of your courses that you went through in the program in your career. How did actually earning the degree support your career as you went forward?

Timothy Bath: I think the first thing that happened, if I take a step back, is I looked at an online MBA for about a year prior to me finally deciding on OU. And I wasn't doing it necessarily for a role or a position. I had the inner want to complete this for myself, and that was my biggest driver. I'm fortunate that within two years of getting my MBA, it completely paid for itself through role advancement. As you look at that, it has allowed me to progress farther than I ever thought I could. It opened doors for me that weren't open before.

It also opened my mind to areas I wasn't as familiar with, as we talked about on the nine different classes, plus your free concentration. I never really had a lot of formal accounting or formal finance training or, as Steven mentioned, formal marketing training. So it opened avenues for me and understood different strategies, techniques. And that allows you to truly blossom in your career. I think a lot of times, especially today, I see in the world, people are [inaudible 00:35:04] or they're marketing people or they're strictly operations. By doing the MBA, you become a well-rounded leader. And the well-rounded leader is the leader that's becoming the role of chief executive officer, finance manager, CFO, or different positions.

I know that of our group I spoke of, those four, one, Vaughn, is the chief logistics officer for a hospital group in Pennsylvania. Colleen is the chief pricing strategist for a company in northern Ohio, and Megan is working at Verizon and I think she's chief something now. I can't remember her exact title. And she's actually now Dr. Megan, as after she left OU, she was so enthralled with this, she got her doctorate in strategic leadership from another university.

So as you look at this career outlook, you can look at it using it internally or externally. But what I promise you, you'll be so much more well-rounded when you go into interviews that you can take that step up, take that leap of faith. It's not as hard because you have the basis, because the MBA and this program really gives that to you. And I think it's really something we have to remember as individuals, as it's about the holistic needs. Because leaders today have to be holistic in their approach.

Host: Awesome, thank you. And Steven?

Steven Crane: So for me it was a game-changer because I came from the Marine Corps the year prior. I got out of the Marine Corps in 2017, and I thought I had a lot of leadership experience. I thought I had a lot of management experience. It was great. I was versed in different things. And that's true. But when I finished the program, I really understood what it meant to be a leader inside an organization and what it meant to be agile within different organizations. Because it's not just about finance. How does finance affect accounting? It's not just about analytics. How is analytics used in strategic use of information? It's all these things that interweave, that are interwoven across the board.

And when you learn that and when you're able to experience that, you do the coursework, you see it firsthand, and then the final capstone, putting it all together, you really put everything to a test. But through that process, you learn how to be a leader inside a company because you understand all these facets and how they work together. So when you're able to take over a team, when you're able to lead to an organization, it's not just, "I'm the expert in finance." That's awesome, but how does that impact operations? And if you can't draw that line between the two, if you can't connect the dots, especially in an interview, you're going to be passed over.

So this program connected all the dots allowed me, as I talked about, connecting the dots for the interviews, which helped me get my job. And for me, I 5X-ed my income from the start of the program to the end of the program, which was absolutely massive, but it was all due because of this.

Host: Awesome. Thank you both so much. Now we'll hear from Elizabeth Guarino, who will speak to the awesome GradCAT career support benefit for graduate student.

Elizabeth Guari...: Thanks to the innovative partnership between Ohio University and Rise Smart, students in degreed graduate programs have the opportunity to enroll in an intensive four-month career coaching program. We call this GradCAT and it stands for Graduate Career Acceleration. This unique experience includes a career team of three comprised of an individual career coach, a branding expert who is also a professional resume writer, and a career concierge whose sole mission is to uncover hidden job opportunities that are not otherwise posted in the marketplace. This experience also includes a technology platform that provides access to webinars, templates, assessments, and many other resources designed to support career growth and transition. For students who opt in, when they become eligible, this support continues for life.

As team leader for GradCAT, I have the opportunity and the honor of leveraging my extensive background in human resources and talent acquisition to provide direct career services to students as well as programming that is relevant to all phases of career: entry, growth, transition, and acceleration.

In a word, Ohio's graduate career services is dedicated to being meaningful for all students enrolled in master's programs at the Ohio's College of Business. Wherever students are in their career, no matter how far they want to go, to the C-suite or starting and growing your own business, the GradCAT team has the expertise and the commitment to support all students for life.

Host: Thank you, Elizabeth. For those of our viewers today who are ... Let's talk about the admission requirements and what it'll take to be considered for the MBA program. First, you'll need your bachelor's degree from regionally accredited institution, a 3.0 minimum GPA. You'll need to provide all of your official transcripts from all institutions attended, and along with that, two letters of recommendation and personal statement, your resume, and you'll need two years of professional experience coming in. Dr. Young, did you want to tell us a bit about the professional experience and what you look for in the ideal applicants?

William Young: Sure. What we really look for in terms of that letter is just the desire. The grit, if you will. Why is it that you want to pursue an MBA? In my perspective, as a faculty member that teaches some of these courses in the MBA program, it's usually not a barrier in terms of the curriculum. It's a barrier in terms of the grit and overall just time management of the students. So we want to make sure you're serious, that you've had career progression, that you see the goal at the end of the line, if you will. So those are some of the things.

These are requirements that we look for when you're looking through step one through step eight, if you will. Is it always one thing? No, it's not. We look at the total package of an individual. Now, maybe if your GPA has suffered in your undergraduate and you justify that in your cover letter, that's fine. We don't look at one particular thing. We want you to be transparent maybe about mistakes that you've had or things that made it difficult for you to excel previously, whether it's your undergraduate program or whatnot.

But we just want to see that you have grit and determination that this is the right program for you, in part because of those seven week classes. They're great that you can focus on one thing at a time. It's also going to be a situation where you really have to dedicate yourself and carve out that time and have the support from your spouse or maybe your superior at work or something of that nature, that you can actually dedicate yourself to the program. So it's not the curriculum. Sometimes it's the time management of it all. And those are the things that we look for in that letter of recommendation or we look for in the personal statement that you supply.

So we'll look at it holistically. We'll look at everything. Often, students are worried about maybe their GPA is hovering around that 3.0 area. If it's slightly below, honestly, I look at other things as well. Because most of the times, when I look at the data from our students that are applying to the program and that have graduated with the program, we're talking about students with nine years of professional experience and the program and undergrad was quite some time ago. And we understand that people change, responsibilities change, and things of that nature. So we holistically look at all of these things that we're asking you to provide.

And I would also just encourage you to reach out to your enrollment advisor. Ask them for help. Ask them for recommendations. What do I do in this situation? How do I best present this? Can you help me with the transcripts? And often the answer is yes.

Host: Awesome. Thank you so much. For those who are joining today, we thank you for joining and we thank you so much, Dr. Crane and Tim and Dr. Young, for any closing thoughts around ... almost to tell your younger self or to tell any ... to just give advice or tips to anyone who is interested in pursuing their MBA at Ohio University. Do you have any thoughts around that, Steven?

Steven Crane: My biggest thought, my biggest gift to everyone would be trust the process. A hundred percent. That's one of the things that we were told early in my doctoral work was trust the process. And I laughed at it, I scoffed it off. I'm like, "Okay, yeah, I'm going to trust the process with all this in front of me." But really, trust the process. Trust your faculty. Trust your professors. Trust the curriculum. Trust the history. Trust the accreditation. Trust OU for your educational future. The rest will work itself out. Just trust the process. Do your end of the bargain, put in the work, and reach out for help.

Host: Awesome. And Tim?

Timothy Bath: The hardest part of running a marathon is signing up for the marathon. And I think the hardest part of getting your MBA is actually taking the sleep to sign up. Take the chance and sign up for the MBA at Ohio. It will reward you more than you will ever know. I have not only learned a tremendous education, I have made some amazing friends. I look forward to you if you're listening to this video that at your LDC, you come up and say hi to me. Hopefully I'm still there presenting and I'm able to make it. And you're going to find out that Bill and people like Steven, Dr. Crane, they're amazing people that we're all here to support you. We're all in this together. I also can promise you that there is a grassroots group of the online MBA group that stays together and is promoting each other. So you're not just part of a Ohio University, you're part of a fraternity of the OMBA group that you can be part of and it's going to be successful for you. So take the chance, make the jump, take the plunge.

Host: Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you all, Dr. Young and Dr. Crane and Tim, for participating in giving us some words of wisdom. For those who are interested in our next steps, you can contact our enrollment advising team at (740) 924-5725 or email us at getstarted@ohio.edu. Thank you so much again, and all the best.

Speaker 1:
[00:00:30]
[00:01:00]    Hello, and welcome to Ohio's online master of athletic administration information session. Today we have a packed agenda. You will have the opportunity to meet our online master of athletic administration's program director as he provides an overview of our master's of athletic administration program, including what makes the program unique, and details on curriculum and the Athletic Leadership Forum. We will talk about tuition as well as career outcomes. We will also hear from two of our recent alumni, who will share their firsthand experiences in our online MAA program and how it has impacted their careers. Then we will hear about our graduate career acceleration team and talk about the admission requirements and next steps to becoming a Bobcat. I'm excited to introduce our MAA program director, Professor Aaron Wright. Professor Wright has taught at the university since 2005 and has an extensive professional experience as an athletic director, as well as an athletic administrator at both in high school and collegiate level. Professor Wright, would you please tell us more about your background?

Speaker 2:

[00:01:30]

[00:02:00]    Thank you, Micah, and welcome, everyone, to the MAA information session. As Micah noted, I have experienced as a high school athletic administrator. I was athletic director at a K-12 independent school in the Washington DC area for six years. I've taught and coached basketball, among other roles there. I've been at Ohio University since finishing my master's degrees in 2005 and have been involved with the MAA program exclusively since 2010, for five years as the program director and have been back in the program director role since 2021. I've also spent the last few years as executive director of two independent school athletic leagues in the Washington DC. So, I look forward to talking to you today more about the MAA program and sharing a little bit about my experience as well.

Speaker 1:    Thank you, professor. Now I would like to introduce two of our recent alumnis that are joining us today, Miss Sarah Hayes and Shane Jones. Welcome. Sarah and Shane, would you please tell us more about your background and what you guys currently do?

[00:02:30]
Speaker 3:

[00:03:00]    
Sure. So, Sarah Hayes. I'm from Beaufort, South Carolina. I'm currently the AD at Battery Creek High School. When I first got back to high school, I taught first, and then I hopped on as the girls' basketball coach, and then saw an opportunity or wanted the opportunity to have more of an impact. I guess the athletic department as a whole asked the AD if I could jump in as assistant AD, and I was able to do that. Now, around this time, I had met a teacher that was here, when he'd actually gone through the Ohio University program. And he talked a little bit about it. I said, "Oh, this definitely sounds like something I could definitely do, just to learn a little bit more about profession." Came into it and has definitely been very helpful. So, currently I am the athletic director at Battery Creek High School, and I am also a certified athletic administrator. I guess we'll probably talk a little bit more about that a little bit later. I'm excited to talk to everybody about the program today.

[00:03:30]
Speaker 1:    
Thank you, Sarah. We're very excited to have you as well. Shane, how about you?

Speaker 4:

[00:04:00]    Thank you, Micah. Yeah, my name is Shane Jones. I currently live in Glens Falls, New York. I am the athletic director at the Glens Falls City School District. It's my eighth year in education, second as an athletic administrator. I spent the first six years of my career as a PE teacher. I taught all three levels from elementary to middle and high school. I also coached a variety of different sports in that capacity as well, from basketball to soccer to baseball and softball. When I started the program at Ohio University, I was teaching high school PE and health in New York City, as well as coaching on two varsity teams there as well. And then I since have relocated back up to upstate New York, near my hometown, where I was the athletic director at Johnstown Central School District last year, and I recently relocated to a new district of Glens Falls City School District in upstate New York.

[00:04:30]
Speaker 1:    
Very neat. Thank you, Shane. All right, guys. I'm very excited to hear more about your experiences with our MAA program as we move forward. Professor Wright, our online master of athletic administration program continues to be on top, as far as [inaudible 00:04:48] athletic administration. Can you please describe the key benefits of the program to us?

[00:05:00]
Speaker 2:

[00:05:30]

[00:06:00]    
Yes. One of the things that makes the MA program most unique is the fact that we are solely focused on interscholastic athletics. Many master's programs in sports administration or sport management or athletic administration, more general kind of programs that may have a class or two with a high school focus, but we are one of the few in the country, and we're the first in the country that had a focus entirely on interscholastic athletics. We have connected faculty. All of our faculty have been athletic administrators, many for decades, and our faculty are highly accomplished in the field and highly connected in the field. So those are two of the key features that make our program unique. As part of our industry connection, we help students prepare for NIAAA certification. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later. And we have a significant alumni network, with alumni all over the country, working as athletic administrators, that can help our students both while they're going through the program but also with networking after they finish the degree and are looking to break into the field.

Speaker 1:    Thank you. Now, Sarah and Shane, could you share the reasons why you decided to choose Ohio, to be a part of our master of athletic administrations program? Shane, how about you?

[00:06:30]
Speaker 4:

[00:07:00]    
Yeah. Aaron just touched on it, but the exclusiveness, with a focus on interscholastic athletics. I knew that I wanted to work in the high school setting still. I didn't want to move on to any kind of career in college or in professional athletics. I really wanted to focus on the high school piece. So the fact that Ohio University was really the first to have that really centralized focus on interscholastic athletics was what drew me to the program. Then also, the relationship that they had with the NIAAA and the leadership training courses. I knew that by going through this program that I'd be in a really good position upon graduation to be well prepared to go into a career in interscholastic athletics.

Speaker 1:    Thank you. How about you, [inaudible 00:07:07]?

Speaker 3:

[00:07:30]    I'm going to just reiterate the same thing. It was the interscholastic focus for me. Like Shane, I knew I wanted to work in the high school setting and have that reach among the student athletes and then also, just doing my research, the Ohio University program was probably the best in the country, so I always wanted have the opportunity to be trained by the best, experienced faculty. And I found that with the program. So both that interscholastic focus and that experienced faculty, and just the best. And I'm just not saying that just to say it, but after doing all of the research, it was, and just having that opportunity to pursue in a program like this, I thought was pretty awesome.

[00:08:00]
Speaker 1:    
Awesome feedback, guys. Thank you so much. Okay, moving along. All right. Now I would like to jump into curriculum. Professor Wright, could you please explain a little bit more about the curriculum in detail?

Speaker 2:

[00:08:30]

[00:09:00]    Yeah. As I mentioned previously, we have a sole focus on interscholastic athletics. So you'll see interscholastic athletics in all of our course titles here. The program provides a comprehensive look at the athletic director role, and skills and abilities and knowledge that are necessary to be an interscholastic athletic administrator. We start out the program with a foundations course that focuses on the role of the athletic director, especially in setting direction for an interscholastic athletic program, the mission and philosophy of interscholastic athletics, and the reasons why we have education-based athletics in the first place. You can read through the course titles here, but we cover topics such as governance of interscholastic athletics, the legal foundations, financial administration and event management, human resource management, et cetera, which cover, about as thoroughly as you can in a graduate program, the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities that are necessary to be an interscholastic athletic administrator.

[00:09:30]

[00:10:00]    We'll talk about a couple more of these details a little bit later on, including our athletic Leadership Forum in the summer, but that's tied to our SASM 6380 course at the bottom of the list. Our Athletic Leadership Seminar is connected to that Leadership Forum. And we finish the program with a capstone course that wraps things up for students and allows them to reflect back on the key things that they've learned throughout the program and prepare themselves for either becoming interscholastic athletic directors and starting that job search or taking the next steps in their careers.

Speaker 1:    Thank you, professor. Now, alumni, I have questions for you. Specifically, I'll start with Sarah. Were you able to work full-time earning your degree?

Speaker 3:

[00:10:30]    Yes, I taught, and I was a basketball coach. During the winter season was definitely, definitely very time-consuming, but I was able to take the course, take the courses that I needed to, all the coursework. And one good thing about the faculty is that they were very understanding because being coaches and them being ADs, they understood the workload that comes with coaching, being an assistant AD. So I was able to complete the assignments that I needed to complete while I was doing my full-time, every-day profession.

[00:11:00]
Speaker 1:    
Awesome. So would you say the overall structure and setup of the program was in your favor?

Speaker 3:

[00:11:30]    Yes. Yes, it definitely was. I believe chats that we had to do, the assignments that we had to do, one thing that I also liked was it was definitely very timely. So even as assistant AD, as I was going through the courses, I could apply, right then, some of the things that I was doing in my coursework. So I think that's one of the other great things about the program. It is automatically applicable to what we're doing in the profession.

Speaker 1:    Fantastic. Thank you for sharing. Shane, do you feel like the curriculum was in a line with the work that you currently do?

Speaker 4:

[00:12:00]

[00:12:30]    Yeah, absolutely. Just to piggyback off what Sarah was saying, I never really felt like I was doing work just to do busywork. All of our projects and assignments were all completely relevant to what we're doing now as athletic administrators. While I was going through the program, I was getting a little bit more involved with our athletic department at the school I was working at. And being able to apply some of those assignments and projects that we were working on into the everyday workings of an athletic administrator, it was great. And honestly, I brought some of my assignments and projects with me on job interviews, and I still reference some of these projects with me, to this day, in my current role. I think that the professors did a really great job of making sure that the assignments are applicable, they're relevant, and it's intentional. So I can't speak highly enough about how well-prepared I felt, leaving the program back in 2018.

Speaker 1:

[00:13:00]    That's awesome. Thanks, Shane. All right. Now I would like to speak more about some key features of the program. One of them is certification and the other is the Athletic Leadership Forum, the two key aspects to our MAA curriculum and the program overall. Professor Wright, could you please give us more detail about the IIAAA certification as well as the ALF?

Speaker 2:

[00:13:30]    Yeah, I'll start with the NIAAA certification. As I mentioned before, one of the key features of the program is its connection with the NIAAA Leadership Training Institute. For those who aren't aware, the NIAAA is the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the professional organization for high school and middle school athletic directors in the country. Actually, also internationally in Canada and elsewhere. It has a leadership training program that provides certification, which is an important professional qualification for athletic administrators. We partnered with the NIAAA when we started this program back in 2003, to help integrate best practices from interscholastic athletic administration into our coursework. And we've continued that relationship up until today.

[00:14:00]

[00:14:30]    Currently, students are given credit for 11 leadership training courses through the NIAAA by completing the MAA program. Those 11 courses are listed on the slide. The first three are ones that qualify students for the base level of NIAAA certification, Registered Athletic Administrator. Students will also take the additional courses, 500 level, that are required for Certified Athletic Administrator status, which is the second level of [inaudible 00:14:31]. In order to get CAA status, students also need two years of experience and some other qualifications in order to sit for the CAA exam. But they will have taken all of the leadership training courses that are required for certification.

[00:15:00]

[00:15:30]    There are a few additional courses on top of that, at the 600 level and 700 level, that will help students if they're going beyond CAA status, which is something a little further down in their careers. They may pursue CMAA status, which is the highest level of certification through the NIAAA. So this relationship certainly helps students professionally, by preparing them for certification through the NIAAA. It also helps ensure that we are providing the best and most current information, that both Shane and Sarah talked about earlier, that's relevant for high school and middle school athletic administrators. So this relationship is a critical one for us and, I think, provides significant value to our students.

Speaker 1:    Definitely. Okay. Yeah. So, Shane and Sarah, how did the certification of the NIAAA benefit you and both of your careers? Starting with Sarah.

Speaker 3:

[00:16:00]

[00:16:30]    I think one of the best things about the program is realizing how many of the courses that prepares us. Because I ended up bypassing RAA because we had a lot of the courses that could get us the CAA certification, a Certified Athletic Administrator association throughout through the NIAAA. So it was very helpful, as far as having those courses, being able to sit for that exam. So the program really does a good job integrating those things because I was able to jump right onto the CAA, and that has definitely done wonders for my career, getting that certification preparation not only for the certification but for everyday things that happen.

Speaker 1:    Great. Thank you so much for sharing. Shane, how about you? How important was that certification for you in your career today?

Speaker 4:

[00:17:00]

[00:17:30]    Yeah, it was definitely important. One of the things that kind of drew me to the program, again, was this NIAAA relationship. And I currently have my RAA. I'm scheduled to sit in on the CAA exam this spring. But I've been to a few state conferences so far in my career, the New York State Athletic Administrators Association. And a lot of times, I see these courses that these other Ads, veteran ADs, are signing up for at these state conferences. And I look through the list, I'm like, "Oh, I already got that one through Ohio. Oh, I already got that one through Ohio." It's nice. You definitely feel like you're ahead of the game upon graduation. You already feel like you're your leaps and bounds ahead of maybe someone else who went through a different pathway. I'm looking forward to sitting in on that CAA exam, and I think it's a really important feature of the program at Ohio University.

Speaker 1:    Definitely value-added there. Thank you so much, guys, for sharing. All right. Now I want to focus on the Athletic Leadership Forum, the ALF, another very key aspect to our program, that keeps us competitive. Sarah and Shane, would you like to add your comments on how important this particular conference was for you and what your experiences were?

[00:18:00]
Speaker 3:

[00:18:30]    
Yeah, no, it was really important. What was fun about the conference was you spend, I can't remember, maybe a year studying with other students. [inaudible 00:18:09] seen their faces because in the classes you have to do kind of like a welcome and who am I, a few years ago through PowerPoint. But it was fun to meet everybody. They throw you right in there, put you together in groups. So networking was a huge part of the Leadership Forum. So that was fun. I took the drive all the way up from South Carolina. I drove all the way to Ohio. But no, but the networking part, meeting everybody face-to-face. Probably one of the most important projects up there is we did a budgeting project. That was fun, to work in groups to complete that. So I'd say the networking aspect, and just meeting everybody, was definitely something that was important when it came to this Athletic Leadership Forum.

Speaker 1:    All right. Thank you, Sarah. Shane, what about you?

[00:19:00]
Speaker 4:

[00:19:30]    
Yeah, Sarah hit it right on the head. The networking was awesome, getting to finally put some names to faces that you've been working on projects with throughout the whole course. Something that stood out to me was, I believe it was on the first day that we were on campus. We were in a giant lecture hall. There was probably about a hundred of us in there. And we went around, and we did the introductions, and it was really cool because a lot of the names you recognized through working on projects with, but there was a few people that maybe you hadn't connected with so far in the program. But to hear all 50 states being represented and even a few international students, it was just really cool to see how expansive the networking is with Ohio.

   And getting to see the campus too was really cool. Getting to do the tour of the basketball arena and the football stadium. And honestly, just the bonding with the people that you're going through this program with. There's still a few people that I still keep in touch with to this day. And it's just, the alumni network is fantastic.

[00:20:00]
Speaker 1:    
That's awesome, guys. Networking is very important to us here at Ohio University. Professor Wright, wouldn't you agree?

Speaker 2:    Absolutely. And I mentioned that earlier, but the Leadership Forum is the one opportunity that students get to meet each other face to... to meet the faculty they've been working with. The content of the Leadership Forum changes a little bit year to year, but there's certainly some consistent elements, things that we do to connect students with each other and with the faculty.

[00:20:30]

[00:21:00]    A few of the past topics are listed on the slide here. We've done safe sports zone training, which has provided additional value to students in the past and some certification that help prepare them for running safe events. As think it was Shane mentioned, we've connected with with our finance course and budgeting projects there as well. This last summer, we focused on leadership and personal leadership style and had a couple of new speakers to that forum. We changed the topics a little bit year to year, but as both Sarah and Shane mentioned, connection with students, getting to experience Athens, which is a bricks-and-mortar institution, even though students will spend most of their time working online. And getting to enjoy a little bit of Southeastern Ohio is definitely a benefit as well.

[00:21:30]
Speaker 1:

[00:22:00]

[00:22:30]    
So now I would like to talk about tuition. For our online MAA program, tuition is an affordable $605 per credit hour and $624 for our non-student residents. I'm not... [inaudible 00:21:44] going to kill me. Okay, I'm going to try it one more time. Okay. Now I would like to talk about tuition. For our online MAA program, tuition is an affordable $605 per credit hour for Ohio residents and $ 624 per credit hour for our non-Ohio residents. Other costs that may apply include travel, lodging, meals, and also costs for our ALF. You may also keep in mind that there might be additional costs that apply, additional to tuition, such as textbooks and supplies and other materials. Alumni, military, and corporate partners are automatically eligible to receive a scholarship up to $5,000 through our College of Business.

   Many of our students want to know what their career outcomes will look like, choosing our MAA program. I would like for Professor Wright to lead us and give us more about career outcome.

Speaker 2:

[00:23:00]

[00:23:30]    As mentioned, what's unique about the MA program is it's a focus on interscholastic athletic administration. So we have very narrow careers that we're preparing students for, predominantly to be an athletic director at the middle school or high school level. There certainly are jobs that are stepping stones to those roles, whether that's assistant athletic director or other administrative roles within a school that might not have that title. Students who are currently teaching and coaching may have roles such as event manager, site manager, called different things at different schools and in different states, but they'll certainly learn the skills that are necessary for many of those stepping-stone roles through this program.

[00:24:00]    Other potential roles within interscholastic athletics might be working at the conference or state association level in administration. Those are much fewer in number than athletic director roles, but some of our students have worked for state associations, or even the NFHS in a couple of cases. So those are the main ones that we're preparing students for. They're definitely, are transferable skills that might help students who might end up working, eventually, in other areas of the sports industry. And students who are currently working in other areas of the sports industry may find some benefit to the curriculum while they're planning for and working towards an eventual AD role.

Speaker 1:    Thank you, Professor Wright. Sarah, how did earning this degree impact your career personally?

[00:24:30]
Speaker 3:

[00:25:00]    
It gave me the opportunity to become an AD. Think a few months after I completed the program, I was offered an athletic director position, which, of course, I took. And I'm still here today, in my fourth year. Two years in after, I was called upon to be on the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association executive board. So it's definitely opened up avenues for me that I think probably wouldn't have been opened if I wasn't a part of the program. But it has definitely allowed me to jump in feet, head first into the AD role that I am in today.

Speaker 1:    Thank you, Sarah. Shane, what type of impact did the MAA have for your career?

Speaker 4:

[00:25:30]

[00:26:00]    Yeah, just to share the same sentiment as Sarah, I knew that I wanted to be a high school athletic director. While I was going through the program, I realized that I really wanted to get involved, even if it was just getting the experience, whether it was paid or unpaid. So when I was going through the program, I approached the athletic director of the school I was working [inaudible 00:25:36] at the time and just wanted to get involved, on a voluntary basis, as an unpaid assistant athletic director. Eventually that led to me moving back upstate, back to my hometown. And I'm fortunate enough now to be in what I consider my dream job. I'm in a school district that neighbors the town I grew up in. We were archrivals in high school, and now I joined the team here. And it really is. It's a great school. I found my dream job. It's a great culture here.

[00:26:30]    I'm hoping that, through my preparations and through my experience at Ohio U, I really want to call this place home for the rest of my career and hopefully will be able to retire here one day. It just opened up plenty of opportunities for me, and I don't think that I would've gotten that out of another program. But also just being involved at the state level too, getting involved with different committees. I'll be getting involved this year with the New York State Basketball Tournament planning committee. So really, it just opens a lot of doors for you, once you complete it and go through the certification process. I feel extremely fortunate for the route that I took , and I wouldn't have changed anything.

Speaker 1:

[00:27:00]    Thanks, guys. You both have really awesome careers, and you're excited about it. Thank you so much for the feedback. Right. Now we're going to hear from Elizabeth Guarino, who will speak on a program called GradCAT. GradCAT supports Ohio's college business, by providing our graduate students with a mentorship to prep them, post-graduation from the program.

Speaker 5:

[00:27:30]

[00:28:00]    Thanks very much. Thanks to the innovative partnership between Ohio University and RiseSmart, students in degreed graduate programs have the opportunity to enroll in an intensive four-month career coaching program. We call this GradCAT, and it stands for Graduate Career Acceleration Team. This unique experience includes a career team of three, comprised of an individual career coach, a branding expert who is also a professional resume writer, and a career concierge whose sole mission is to uncover hidden job opportunities that are not otherwise posted in the marketplace. This experience also includes a technology platform that provides access to webinars, templates, assessments, and many other resources designed to support career growth and transition. For students who opt in when they become eligible, this support continues for life.

[00:28:30]

[00:29:00]    As team leader for GradCAT, I have the opportunity and the honor of leveraging my extensive background in human resources and talent acquisition to provide direct career services to students, as well as programming that is relevant to all phases of career entry, growth, transition, and acceleration. In a word, Ohio's graduate career services is dedicated to being meaningful for all students enrolled in master's programs at Ohio's College of Business. Wherever students are in their career, no matter how far they want to go, to the C-suite or starting and growing your own business, the GradCAT team has the expertise and the commitment to support all students for life.

[00:29:30]
Speaker 1:

[00:30:00]

[00:30:30]    
Okay. Now I'd like to discuss admission requirements. So for our MAA program, the program is, in total, 30 credits. To be applicable for the 30-credit program, we look for our students to have at least a 2.7 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Students must provide all prior transcripts from any universities that they would've attended. Also, we look for two letters of recommendation, either professional and/or educational. We look for our students to have at least two years of interscholastic administration and/or coaching-related experience, as well as we ask for a personal statement letter, identifying who the student is, their future endeavors, as well as why they decided to choose Ohio University as a master's program. And last, we have a $50 application fee. Now I would like to ask a very important question. Why did you choose Ohio University alumni? Sarah? Ladies first.

Speaker 3:

[00:31:00]

[00:31:30]    Once again, it's one of the best programs in the nation. It has that interscholastic focus. I hadn't talked a little bit about the faculty. It's fun because Mr. Wright, he still emails and contacts us, and whenever we are able to accomplish something, we get an email from him. Like I said, just the interscholastic focus, just being prepared for the different certifications, being able to dive in head first into what we're doing as athletic administrators. The networking. It being one of the best programs in the nation. And you really do feel like... It may be cliche, but you're a part of a family. Like I said, Dr. Wright, he still contacts us. He still emails us, so that's really fun. You feel like you're a part of the Bobcat family, even though you might not have gone there undergrad, and this is a master's program. It's online. And I still do feel like I'm a part of the Bobcat family.

Speaker 1:    Thank you, Sarah. Interpersonalism is very important to us. I'm glad that you mentioned relationship. Shane, how about you? Why did you choose Ohio [inaudible 00:31:50]?

Speaker 4:
[00:32:00]

[00:32:30]

[00:33:00]    Like Sarah said, it's one of the best programs in the country. You truly are learning from the best professionals in this field. All your professors, they have extensive background and experience in classic athletics, being involved on state-level committees. You can't go wrong. They're not going to steer you in the wrong direction. When you're going to leave this program, after two years of being well-prepared, being knowledgeable, having the tools that you need to be a successful interscholastic athletic administrator, you're just... It was a great experience. Like I said earlier, I always felt like the assignments that we were doing were intentional. They were meaningful. I didn't feel like I was just doing work just for the sake of doing busy work. I really felt like I was about what my passion was and what I wanted to do for a career. It was truly enjoyable, and like Sarah said, Aaron still reaches out from time to time. Still hear from some of the other alumni that we went to school with, I still keep in touch with. So just the networking opportunities and the ability to stay in contact. It was a great experience for me.

Speaker 1:

[00:33:30]    Awesome. Thank you, Shane. Professor Wright, thank you so much for the great information that you were able to share with us today about the MAA program. Are there other reasons in which you, personally, believe that students would choose Ohio University to receive a master's such as as this one, as far as education goes and an overall master's degree? Why do you believe Ohio University is so special and unique in this way?

Speaker 2:

[00:34:00]    I don't think I can add too much to what Sarah and Shane said, so I thank them for their input on this. But I do want to stress a couple of things that they've already said. The application-based learning is really, I think, a key to our curriculum. And Shane cited, both of them cited, several examples of ways that they've used coursework in their careers, but that certainly has been a major focus of us in designing our curriculum in addition to the NIAAA relationship, but also making sure that everything that students are doing is directly related to their current work experience or their future career goals.

[00:34:30]

[00:35:00]    The slide here also mentions the flexibility of the program, and Sarah's talked about this a little bit earlier on, that the pace was, right, certainly challenging for those who are working full-time and coaching, and can sometimes seem a little bit hectic to complete a graduate program while doing everything else that [inaudible 00:34:36] does both professionally and in life. But we intentionally designed the program in a way that helps students learn, but also works for them and doesn't overtax them. I think that the online format is important. It's also one, for us, that is as engaging as an online program can be, I think. And so we really try to make it something where students aren't learning individually, but are working both collectively with their cohort members and with their faculty to get through the course and the program and to prepare themselves for the future.

Speaker 1:

[00:35:30]

[00:36:00]    Thank you so much, professor. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and sharing your knowledge of the program overall. I really appreciate it. If you have any questions and if you're interested in moving forward with Ohio's online MAA program, you can still call us at (740) 924-5725. Or contact an enrollment counselor like myself and get started today. You can also email us at GetStarted@ohio.edu or visit our website at ohio.edu/business to request more information. Thank you so much for viewing, and we hope to be able to speak with you soon.

Lauren:    00:00    Hello, and welcome to Ohio University's online professional Masters of Business Administration information session. My name is Lauren. I am an enrollment counselor at Ohio University and I'll be helping moderate today. So today, we have a packed agenda where you'll have the opportunity to meet our online PMBA program director and hear his passion as he provides an overview of the professional MBA program, including what makes the program unique and details on the curriculum, as well as the leadership development conference, tuition and career outcomes. We'll also hear from two of our most recent alumni, who will share their firsthand experience in this program and how it has impacted their careers. Then we'll hear from our graduate career acceleration team and talk about the admissions requirements and next steps. I am excited to introduce our professional MBA program director, Professor Tom Marchese. Professor Marchese is an associate professor of instruction in marketing and the director of our PMBA program. Professor Marchese, welcome. Would you tell us a little bit more about your background?
Professor Tom M...:    01:07    Yes, and this is my ninth year teaching at Ohio University. I came to Ohio University after a long corporate career. I spent over 30 plus years working with some of America's greatest brands like Hershey and Nestle. I was a vice president of marketing for Elmer's products and Kentucky Fried Chicken, Bob Evans, the fifth biggest pizza company in the country, Papa Murphy's Pizza. And I made a move to [inaudible 00:01:36] nine years ago. It's something that I absolutely love. This past year, I was awarded the Provost award for the top teaching professional across the university. It's something I'm really passionate about and it was a great decision because my wife came with me. As you'll see a little bit later, she also has been a professor here at Ohio University the last nine years and we both teach together in this program.
Lauren:    02:00    Wow. That's so wonderful to hear. Thank you, Professor Marchese. I know our faculty are also a great asset to our professional MBA program. Can you tell us a little more about them and the real world experience and research that they bring to the program?
Professor Tom M...:    02:16    Sure. So the faculty is really the key to the program. And when we do our exit surveys every semester, the number one top thing that people say about the program is the quality and the accessibility of our faculty and the experience that they all have, both in the professional world and in teaching. My wife, Lori, as I said, she also had a long corporate career. She has her our MBA, her CPA. She's a certified scrum master, her PMP. She was vice president of product development for a software company and she teaches our course in information systems in this program, as well as teaching in several other programs. Tammy Rapp is an award-winning professor. You would start your program with Tammy teaching you about leadership and teamwork and human resource development. Outstanding teacher. She just won our graduate teaching award this past year. Khuram Bhutta has been teaching with us for nine years in the program, the nine years that I'm here. He's been teaching in the program since before that. Just an excellent professor, does a great job.
    03:26    Andy Fotor has been teaching in the program since before I came nine years. So you see, we got just a lot of experience. Andy was the head of the finance department, was our graduate dean, just took on another new role within the college. Again, one of the top leaders here at Ohio University. Dave Stott is a very experienced guy who is the head of the accounting department who teaches our accounting class. Ellen Gordon is the new. Along with some of the more senior persons, we've got another person, and one thing that she has in common with everybody else is just an excellent teacher. To get into this program, to teach in this program, you've got to be very high evaluations within the college. We have some others that aren't on the board there. Travis Davidson is the new head of the finance department who teaches our class. And again, anybody who teaches in this program is going to have one common thing. They're going to be a great teacher and they're going to have a lot of passion.
Lauren:    04:26    Okay, thank you, Professor Marchese. Could you also tell us why students choose to continue their education and earn their graduate degree at Ohio University?
Professor Tom M...:    04:33    Yeah. I think what people tell us about why they came to Ohio University is they like the flexibility of the program. We've got an interesting class format. I think we've got a couple of slides that'll talk a little bit more about that. But it's a format where you've got in person experience on Saturday residencies and then you also the flexibility because you've got some virtual classes in the evening, and then finally you have some courses that are online. So there's that flexibility, that hybrid program, along with the networking and professional development that goes on as well.
Lauren:    05:09    Thank you. Also, I'd like to introduce two of our recent PMBA alumni, Shane Colvin and Audrey Prokop. Welcome. Shane, would you tell us about your background and what you currently do, please?
Shane Colvin:    05:24    Sure. So I was actually fortunate enough to be a 2010 graduate of Ohio University. And it seemed natural as I looked through different programs to really come back to Ohio University for my MBA. So I spent the first portion of my career in the aviation field, which I graduated from Ohio University with in a background, and then transitioned into a company that I really wanted to be a part of a whole business as opposed to maybe just selling or maybe just being part of that. I spent the last 10 years in the state of Ohio working for a manufacturer of raw flexible magnets. We've got another two divisions as well that make tapes and films as well as inks and coating. I've spent the last 10 years working with those companies. And as a result, quite frankly, of being involved in this program, it's actually taken me to the top of the company where I've been recently promoted to be the president of that company. That's really the 30,000 foot view of how my transition went from starting out as a Bobcat and finishing as well.
Lauren:    06:27    Okay. And Audrey, can you tell us about your background and what you currently do?
Audrey Prokop:    06:32    Absolutely. So I actually also graduated undergrad from OU with a major in communications and minor in psychology. And after graduating, I went to work in insurance for about seven years. And three years after graduation is when it hit me that I needed to take control of my career more and not just work as hard as possible in the office, but really do whatever I could to set myself apart. So that's when I started looking at MBA programs, and I just naturally gravitated towards OU because I was comfortable with it. When I went to the open house, I just felt like I was in the right spot.
    07:13    I didn't feel any uncertainty, I just felt really excited and I could really hit the ground running. After I finished my MBA program, I went on to earn my green belt. [inaudible 00:07:25] six gave my certification. And within a few months, I moved from insurance to IT security. So I am currently an enterprise security business process engineer, which is a very long title. But what I am doing now is creating the vendor risk management program for Franklin County, and I'm also working with our county agencies to create process improvement initiative. So just keep things moving, just flowing and moving easily and making sure that everything's properly documented so that business can continue as usual if there were to be any kind of groundbreaking changes. So yeah, I'm happy to be here today. Thank you, guys.
Lauren:    08:07    Thank you for sharing, Shane and Audrey. We'll hear more about your experience in the master's program as we go through the session today. Professor Tom Marchese, can you describe the key benefits of Ohio's online professional MBA program?
Professor Tom M...:    08:21    Sure. Again, as I said before, it's a hybrid curriculum. That's really different. We have that blend of in-person experience, which I think is so important in any education, the ability to actually meet your classmates, meet your professor. You complete the program, it's a two year program, 24 months, six semesters. It says there are two courses per semester, but that's actually, you start off with two courses per semester, but then there will be a couple other semesters where you will take just one seven week course at a time. You do have the opportunity to specialize. We've got nine different concentration areas and that's been growing. We just added project management, for example, in the last past year. You got many other areas. We've got a slide that will talk about that coming up. A 36 credit hour program. Typically we get about 30 to 40 students in the cohort.
    09:17    We actually sometimes will have a cohort with only about 20 cohorts. One that starts in January typically is going to be a little bit smaller. So you get a lot of personalized opportunity there. The class sizes are, I think, just right in terms of good mix of being able to work with your professor and your classmates. And Ohio University is a highly ranked and recognized program, number four in terms of best business schools in Ohio. I think the largest graduate program from an MBA standpoint in Ohio, and we just keep improving it in the business rankings across the board.
Lauren:    09:53    Wonderful. Audrey, Shane, why did you choose Ohio's online PMBA program?
Audrey Prokop:    09:59    That's a great question. When I first started looking at different programs, nothing really felt right. I felt like there was a lot of uncertainty and nothing was really what I was looking for as far as flexibility because I was still going to continue to work full time and I didn't want to give up my career to go back to school, even though if I could, I would've. That would've been amazing. But this was just exactly what I was looking for. I knew that I did not want to be completely online because I really enjoy that face to face interaction and being with my fellow students and getting to know everybody.
    10:38    And I knew that if I chose this program, having that ability to do some online and some in person, it was just a total game changer. It was exactly what I needed and it gave me that true feeling of being back in school and not just continuing to sit at your desk after working all day, then going home and sitting at a desk more. It was just a totally different feeling of getting out there and getting to know people and it was just very hands on. So that's what really set it apart for me was that flexibility and the hybrid aspect of it.
Lauren:    11:16    And Shane?
Shane Colvin:    11:17    Yeah. That's, Audrey, spot on with what the program offered. I was fortunate enough in my career, I've been able to travel quite a bit. And as it came to light that I really wanted to go down this path, I was lucky enough to be able to stop in and, quite frankly, just talk to different colleges and universities about what their program looked like, how people interacted, how the staff interacted with students. And quite frankly, I was shocked when I stopped in Dublin to speak with the advisor there on a whim, brought me in, showed me the facilities, absolutely fantastic facilities in Dublin.
    11:50    I was shocked to know, one, that as an alumni, I didn't realize we had a campus there, and two, how new, modern, and how nice the technology was. So that was a piece of it. And then quite frankly, being able to come, as Audrey mentioned, to the facility, meet with people from different backgrounds, and have that personal connection, of which I can tell you I probably stay in touch with over two thirds of our cohort now, just because I thought that relationship was that important when it came to going through such a program. The combination of all that, and of course being a Bobcat alum definitely weighed in a little bit, but I was just shocked at how well everybody spoke of it and then what I saw when I stopped in and spoke with people.
Lauren:    12:33    Great. Thank you for your responses. Professor Marchese, can you describe more of the unique aspects of the professional MBA program, including the delivery model and what students can expect?
Professor Tom M...:    12:45    Again, that's our key differentiator, I think, is this hybrid program. To me, the in person classes are really the highlight, the once a month Saturday sessions. They are really dynamic sessions. This is not going to be like, if you can remember an undergrad class maybe where you had a lot of people in there and a professor lectures, that's not what this is about. These classes are going to be much more an executive session that you might take as some training for your job in the corporate world. People are going to be coming in there. They're very energized. You walk in the door. We've got your coffee and your beverages and so forth.
    13:25    And we're able to do things in the in-person class where we're going to be putting together in teams and you're going to be working with each other to solve problems. In my class, for example, both Audrey and Shane have been in my class where I was vice president of Elmer's for nine years. So I put people in a situation. Here's the situation I was in at Elmer. You need to now solve this problem and develop a new positioning for the product. And they're playing with arts and crafts and things like that, just very hands on to try to simulate problems in the real world. So those in-person classes to me are a real highlight.
    14:01    Virtual classes are awesome as well. Again, very different than just a completely online program where you have interactions with professors, but they're primarily in an office hour type situation for help. In the virtual classes, it's much like what we do in the corporate world where you're attending a meeting and everything about that meeting is live, you're just not physically present. The same thing happens with our virtual classes. You'll have, in our semesters that are 14 weeks long, you'll have six of these virtual classes on an evening. They're recorded. If you're traveling and you miss it, they're recorded. But again, you can attend even if you're traveling because you can attend from anywhere, and it's actually live instruction. And then the online modules are our concentration courses. You will take three courses that will be fully online and we do that in concert with our online program. So you'll be in that class with some people from the online program and others who are within your cohort.
Lauren:    15:07    All right. Wonderful. Shane and Audrey, was the delivery model one of the deciding factors in choosing our PMBA program as you were doing your research for [inaudible 00:15:17]?
Audrey Prokop:    15:17    Yes, absolutely. Like I said earlier, I love the in-person aspect of it all, but it was not realistic for me to be in a completely in-person MBA program while working full-time. So this was just the perfect balance, because we were always engaging with our professors and our classmates and you always felt like you had that support because you were together in person, you really got to know each other well, and then you're together at least once a week live and then you're doing additional projects together in groups. So it just really teaches you how to work with a lot of different kinds of people in different industries and backgrounds, and it gives me that flexibility that you need to feel like you have a true in person MBA experience, but still not have to spend all of your time in person and have that flexibility there.
    16:15    I truly loved the format and I will tell you that I wish I could go back to these in person classes because we had so much fun during the days and especially our presentation days, we would have a blast. And often after class we would get together a few of us and go get dinner or whatever and just spend time together. There were so many great relationships that were built because of the in person factor that I don't think would've been there if I did 100% online. This mix of virtual and in person and everything, it was a total game changer.
Lauren:    16:55    Wonderful. Thank you so much for both of you sharing your experiences. So we already spoke to the Saturday residencies. Here are a few visuals of the Dublin campus and our classroom. Professor Marchese, the students within the PMBA run the gamut in terms of years of experience in industry. Can you tell us why you are so purposeful in ensuring our students are diverse?
Professor Tom M...:    17:18    Yeah. I think right there, you could see it with Audrey and Shane. I think Audrey, if I remember you were only a few years out of school. I think three, did you say earlier?
Audrey Prokop:    17:28    Yes. Three years out. And I was like, "I'm ready to go back."
Professor Tom M...:    17:32    And then Shane, on the other hand, I think Shane, you said you had graduated in 2010, so probably when you got in the program maybe seven or eight years, you worked more towards that. You could see the kind of mix, and it's a great mix, I think, again, for someone like Audrey. She's gaining a lot from the knowledge that Shane's bringing in terms of his experience and so forth. From Shane's standpoint, he's gaining experience because it's very much like the real world where we work with people who've got different experience levels, different abilities from when it comes to technology and so forth.
    18:03    And I think everybody seems to appreciate that coming together from an experience standpoint. But then also just the experiences of the industries. I think is really valuable for someone like Shane to hear about people in the medical industry or in another industry. I think it's really valuable for Audrey to hear from people who, they're in banking. She's in insurance right now, but I wonder what's happening in the banking? And I could draw some analogies between that particular industry and my industry. I think the mix really makes it a fun and interesting program.
Lauren:    18:42    All right. Thank you. Professor Marchese, can you tell us more about the curriculum within the program?
Professor Tom M...:    18:48    Sure. So you've got your nine core courses that everyone will take and they range from the very first semester, you're jumping in and you're taking an organizational behavior and human resource management course. That's a fun course with Tammy Rapp. You're going to be getting taking leadership assessments and learning how to work within teams and so forth. But then you're also going to be taking a course in analytics, which of course is so important. It helps us set the stage for future courses where you'll need to have some of that analytical background. You then take two courses, one in accounting, and then you'll take my course in strategic marketing. So those two will be taught together.
    19:26    You then go on a sequence of a couple of seven week programs where you're only taking that seven weeks one course. You take managerial finance, operations management, and then my wife's course in strategic use of information systems. And then you actually come back and you take the other two core courses at the end, one in strategy and one which is an applied experience where you take all the learning you've had in the program and apply it to a simulation. You also take three courses over a seven week period online as part of your concentration, and those are the nine different concentration areas you have to choose from.
Lauren:    20:04    Wonderful. Audrey, Shane, how did earning this degree impact your career?
Audrey Prokop:    20:09    Sorry, Shane, I don't mean to keep going first.
Shane Colvin:    20:12    You're making my job easy, Audrey, to be honest with you, so I was letting you go.
Audrey Prokop:    20:16    Okay, perfect. Honestly, I don't know where I would be if I did not earn my MBA. It was truly the one thing that really set me apart from everybody else. And I don't know where I would be. I'm so grateful that for the opportunity that I had to earn it and be in such a great program. I know for a fact that there's no way that I would be in IT security right now if I did not have my MBA, showing that, hey, I can put forth the effort and learn new things and I am valuable, even though I don't necessarily have experience in IT security currently, which, in my defense, my position is not tech heavy, but not the point. It really set me apart. And there's not enough good that I can say about it really, because you can work as hard as you want at a company and you can do as much as you think is going to set you apart.
    21:15    But in my experience, I was doing so much and nothing was making a difference until I did something that directly invested in myself, and not just something that I was doing to invest in a company. It's just incredible what doors it's opened for me and how easily I can interact with people that are in higher up positions and how I feel like there's a different level of understanding when you meet other people that have graduated with an MBA, they understand the hard work that you put forth. There's a mutual respect that it's like, "Okay, I see you and I know that if I'm working with you, that things are going to be a little bit different and I have different expectations because I know what you went through to earn your degree, and it was a lot."
    22:07    It means so much to me because it really did set me apart from so many people because it's a very small percentage of us that go on to get our master's degrees, and I think it really just shows that you have what it takes to just really work hard and show that you can do so much more than what you're being given at the time. Yeah. There's not enough good that I can say about it, and I'm sorry I'm rambling. It's just I could talk about it for days. This degree just means the world to me and my experience that I had at OU.
Lauren:    22:41    Thank you, Audrey. And Shane, how did earning this degree impact your career?
Shane Colvin:    22:46    I touched on it briefly when we first let off the meeting. As I progressed through my career and my current position, it was obvious to both my boss and the owners of the company as I would bring new things to the table, as Audrey mentioned, you're in a setting with 20 to 25 other people in different industries and you're going to talk about things in that time that you're there with them about, I'm talking about insurance, I'm questioning people about the print industry. As many things as you could imagine to speak about in terms of business and what people's challenges are at that point in time, we were having discussions on. So I'm bringing that back to the company and showing value. As much as a benefit as it is to have the three letters after your name, quite frankly, it's the experiences that I was able to build on, bring back to my company, and show value of ownership and my predecessor as well to be amplified from the director of business development to the president of a company based here in Ohio.
    23:44    So that's full gamut. When you look at my experience as the career, as Audrey mentioned, it's so beneficial to be able to sit down, talk to people in other industries, learn the content itself as well. It's not just the connections you're making. It's the things that Tom's bringing from marketing. It's the things that Professor Davidson is having conversations with me on a daily basis when I'm in the finance concentration. He's saying, "Okay, we're learning this week. Now I want you to go out and read an article and bring it back to me from the Wall Street Journal and how that applies." So it's the real world section of, okay, we know how it applies to our business, we know how it applies to the world. Bring that back and affect all points of that. That's really the biggest how it helped propel me is that I was able to apply everything I could with both real world, both from the professor as well as my cohort.
Lauren:    24:32    Thank you, Shane. Here are the nine concentrations students can choose from. Each concentration has three courses. Professor Marchese, you mentioned that the learning development conference is a unique aspect of the program. Can you tell us more about this?
Professor Tom M...:    24:47    Yeah. We have a leadership development conference again, so all students who come into the program will be required to take... And I say required, people really love this program. It's a two day event on campus. We offer them several times a year. Hotel and meals are covered, and people come together. This is a great event because it's not just our program, but it's also our online program as well. You're going to have a couple of hundred people coming together, networking and hearing from some absolutely world class speakers. There will be keynote speeches. There's also breakout room and it goes over the course of a weekend. And so it's a great opportunity for networking as well as professional development.
Lauren:    25:37    Thank you. Now we'll go on and discuss a little more about the tuition. The professional MBA tuition is 973 per credit for Ohio residents and almost the same at 992 per credit for non-resident students. To complete the full 36 credit program, this works out to be just about $35,000 in tuition for Ohio residents. Note that as Professor Marchese mentioned, while your hotel and most meals are covered once you're on campus for the Learning Development Conference, the travel costs to Athens, Ohio campus will also be something you'll need to budget for, in addition to any auxiliary supplies and fees. We do offer financial aid and scholarships, and many of our students also take advantage of tuition reimbursement from their employers. Audrey, can you tell us your experience using tuition reimbursement to pay for your degree?
Audrey Prokop:    26:32    Absolutely. Since I was an alumni of OU, I was actually eligible for an alumni scholarship, so I was automatically granted $5,000 towards my tuition, which was an extremely easy, painless process. I also was able to get some tuition reimbursement through the company that I worked for at the time, which was also fairly painless. I just had to submit some documentation for that. But it's nice to know that there are ways to get help with your tuition for grad school.
Lauren:    27:05    Thank you, Audrey. And Shane, same question?
Shane Colvin:    27:08    Just like Audrey, like I said, making it easy on me. I was a Bobcat as well, so I got the $5,000 scholarship. And then as far as when it comes to your company, I was fortunate enough to where my company did back and pay for a significant portion of my degree, but I can tell you they would not have done that had I not gone in and really sold and given some of those feature benefits. So I would highly encourage any type of, if you've known somebody to go through the program, if you can reach out and talk a little bit more, if you can take some of the notes from this, I think that it would become a no brainer for anybody that's in a position to approve this, because you know you're going to gain so much and make the company and yourself so much better.
Lauren:    27:47    Thank you, Shane. Professor Marchese, many of our students want to know what their career outcome options are after graduating from our professional MBA program. Can you talk to us about that?
Professor Tom M...:    27:59    Again, it's an incredibly diverse program, so you see people moving up through the ranks to someone like Shane all the way to that president job. But you also heard Audrey, who this was really critical for her to move up through the ranks from that early entry level position into more mid-level positions within the company. We've had people leave the program with such a variety of experiences from chief financial officers to commodity managers, program managers, project managers and so forth. So it's really across the board. We have a lot of folks who come in as engineers and they want to get that experience that moves them into the corporate, into the managing people and so forth. A lot of people making that transition as well.
Lauren:    28:46    Thank you. Now we'll hear from Elizabeth Gerino, who will speak to the awesome GradCAT career support benefit for our graduate student.
Elizabeth Gerin...:    28:55    Thanks very much. Thanks to the innovative partnership between Ohio University and RiseSmart, students in degree graduate programs have the opportunity to enroll in an intensive four month career coaching program. We call this GradCAT and it stands for Graduate Career Acceleration Team. This unique experience includes a career team of three, comprised of an individual career coach, a branding expert who is also a professional resume writer, and a career concierge whose sole mission is to uncover hidden job opportunities that are not otherwise posted in the marketplace. This experience also includes a technology platform that provides access to webinars, templates, assessments, and many other resources designed to support career growth and transition. For students who opt in when they become eligible, this support continues for life.
    30:13    As team leader for GradCAT, I have the opportunity and the honor of leveraging my extensive background in human resources and talent acquisition to provide direct career services to students, as well as programming that is relevant to all phases of career entry, growth, transition, and acceleration. In a word, Ohio's graduate career services is dedicated to being meaningful for all students enrolled in master's programs at the Ohio's College of Business. Wherever students are in their career, no matter how far they want to go, to the C-suite or starting and growing your own business, the GradCAT team has the expertise and the commitment to support all students for life.
Lauren:    31:11    Thank you, Elizabeth. And now, let's discuss the admissions requirements. As far as the admission requirements go for this program, students need a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Students also need a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.
Professor Tom M...:    31:27    So thank you, Elizabeth. Just a little bit about our admission requirements. It's, I think, a pretty painless procedure. You've got to have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution. You've got to have a 3.0 GPA. Now, we do make some exceptions to that. So if you do have below a GPA, we do make exceptions based on work experience and so forth. We're going to need your transcripts, which are actually a pretty easy thing to obtain. A few letters, two letters of recommendation, a personal statement, your resume, and then $50 application fee. So it's really a pretty simple process in terms of application.
Lauren:    32:04    Thank you, professor Marchese. And also, thank you to our alumni. We are coming to the end of our presentation. Professor Marchese, is there anything else you'd like our viewers to know about the professional MBA program?
Professor Tom M...:    32:17    So a lot of folks, some people, their concern might be, what if my situation changes? What if I move? And we've had that happen. People move to Texas. My situation changes personally. One of the nice things about our program is that we have this professional MBA program and we also have an online... There actually is no worry for you if you did move, if something happened in the middle of the program. You can transfer pretty seamlessly and easily into our online program. So that also, I think, takes out a worry that someone might have about joining a program where they have an in-class person component. We think it's a pretty special program and we'd love to see you.
Lauren:    32:59    Thank you. Thank you again, Professor Marchese, alumni, and to everyone joining us today. If you're interested in moving forward with Ohio's Professional Master of Business Administration, you can call us at (740) 924-5725, or you can contact an enrollment advisor via email at getstarted@ohio.edu, or visit our website at ohio.edu/business to request more information. Thank you so much and we look forward to speaking with you soon. Take care.