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Mornings unPHILtered - GSU may expand its MBA program
Degree would target working professionals
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    The theme for Monday's “Mornings unPHILtered” show was business, business and more business. Host Phil Boyum welcomed Melissa Holland, the director of Georgia Southern University's Masters of Business Administration program in the school's College of Business Administration.
    Holland discussed the MBA program, which is different from the online Web MBA program. Holland's duties as director include handling marketing, admissions, as well as working with course scheduling and recruiting efforts.
    The program has more than 200 students and operates out of two locations — the Coastal Georgia Center in downtown Savannah and Georgia Southern. Set up to be convenient for working professionals, both locations hold classes in the evening — from 6:30-9:15 p.m.
    Holland said that two-thirds of the programs students are enrolled at GSU, while one-third are enrolled in Savannah. The general MBA program requires 30 credits, and takes five semesters, or about two years, if you take two courses per semester.
    Students can earn a general MBA degree or can add a concentration in International Business, Health Services Administration, and Information Technology. Holland spoke of how GSU may offer a concentration in logistics later on, which would help if you entered GSU's PhD program in Logistics. However, Holland said either a International Business or an IT concentration would be training for the graduate logistics program.
    The Savannah location serves mostly working professionals, whereas most of the Statesboro students are young undergraduates or local professionals who have decided to continue their studies at the graduate level. Holland said that students enrolled in the MBA program at the main campus are primarily from Georgia but added that there are students from all over the country and all over the world, including Africa, India and China.
    Holland shared that the school is considering a new Executive MBA program, which would target mid-to-senior level management with at least seven years of work experience. Though currently in the planning stages, if approved, the classes for this program might start as early as August 2011. The program would take approximately 22 months to complete.
    Holland said that having work experience is not required to enter the graduate business programs, but that some experience working in a business atmosphere can help student better understand the material and its application in the business world. Teaching soft-skills, such as managing decision-making in the business and human capital, or deciding how best to use your employee workforce are the hardest things to teach.
    Holland said the cost of the two-year program is about $12,000. According to salary surveys, Holland said someone with a masters earns approximately $200 more per week - about $10,000 per year — over someone who has just a Bachelors degree. In this challenging job market Holland said a masters may be the very thing that gets a candidate noticed over all of the other applicants in a typical job search.
    Those interested in the MBA program can call the MBA office at (912) 478-5767 or go online to http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/mba/.
     
    “Mornings unPHILtered” airs live Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on statesboroherald.com and also simulcast on WWNS-AM 1240 on the radio. You also can listen anytime at BoroLive.com on statesboroherald.com

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