The Smeal Executive MBA Team Blog

I’ve always told people considering an MBA that it is the faculty that counts.  Not just one or two members of the faculty that have written books, or spend time lecturing on a very limited circuit - but total faculty. 

Why? 

Well, one reason is that when the global economy undergoes a major shift as it has in the past weeks the business world, and EMBA students in particular, look for answers and perspective.  As Wall Street struggled through its worst ever time, members of the Smeal EMBA faculty shared their thoughts about the genesis of the crisis and an uncertain financial future. Find out who weighed in, and hear what they had to say in videos in this month’s Smeal Report. 

As you watch the video’s and read the bio’s of the professors consider this:  At the Smeal EMBA you will be taught by the 8th best MBA faculty in the US (Economist 2008).  As a Smeal EMBA you join the country’s second largest business school, and a community that has the resources to respond and inform not only to this current crisis, but future ones as well.

What differentiates your program? 

I love that question when I get it from prospective students - mainly because the answer is so simple - faculty.  Faculty not only differentiate the Smeal program - they (faculty) are what makes any program, and ought to be the first thing you look at when thinking about joining an executive MBA (any executive MBA).  Sure, the Smeal EMBA program offers an unparalleled out-of-classroom experience (networking, executive & career coaching, in-residence Friday’s with faculty/staff), but I would contend that it is the faculty that have the biggest impact on your learning, and ought to be the starting point of any discussion regarding the quality of a school.  As an EMBA student at Smeal you can bet on one thing - at Smeal you will be taught by the best MBA faculty in the country. 

In fact, at Smeal you get full time faculty members who have the academic credentials, teaching experience, and the real-world consulting/corporate experience you need to get a broad based and up to date education.  The mix of these three items (credential, teaching history, real world experience) provide the student an education that can not be matched by programs who use faculty that sometimes hold full time jobs in addition to teaching or are retired executives who use personal experience to teach, or in some cases use adjunct faculty that may be less experienced than members of the student base.

If you have doubts about the quality of faculty and wonder whether faculty really makes a difference consider sitting in on a class to take a “test drive” of the class room environment.  At Smeal you can sit in on a class as your schedule allows, no matter what class is in session - we have only the best, and are proud to offer you a few minutes in the class to see for yourself.