November 30th, 2008 by smealemba
Among top Executive MBA programs nationwide, more than 60% of students cover some or all of the program costs on their own. Lack of or limited corporate financial support should not be a barrier to your enrollment in an Executive MBA program. Several student loan products are available to help cover the costs of the program.
All candidates are eligible for the federal Stafford Loan program which provides up to $20,500 in low-interest federal student loans per academic year. In addition, federal graduate PLUS loans can cover all remaining costs of the program. Low interest rates and flexible repayment timelines make these products an attractive option for those considering an Executive MBA. For more information on student loan options, please visit the Penn State student aid Web site. To learn more about financial aid options, please contact the Executive MBA Program office at 1-866-999-EMBA.
Scholarships are regularly offered to students who work for the non-profit sector. To learn more about scholarships that Smeal offers to executive MBA students, please contact us directly at 866-999-3622 or visit our website www.smeal.psu.edu/execmba.
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November 12th, 2008 by smealemba
While the stock market is generally believed to be merely a barometer of economic health, new research co-authored by one of our EMBA professors here Penn State’s Smeal College of Business finds that the pessimism in our stock markets may actually be the cause of our struggling economy, rather than just an indicator of it.
In the current financial crisis, the rapidly spreading negative beliefs about the value of mortgage‐backed securities may have contributed more to the economic meltdown than the actual properties of those securities. That is, negative perceptions about the economy may weigh more heavily on economic performance than the actual health of production and investment activity that drives the economy.
“Our research shows that markets can exacerbate the negative,” says Anthony Kwasnica, associate professor of business economics at Smeal, who conducted the research along with Shimon Kogan of the University of Texas and Roberto Weber of Carnegie Mellon University. “Even when fundamental economic properties remain unchanged, we find that financial markets can lead investors to highly pessimistic beliefs that become self-fulfilling and can cause the economy to underperform.”
Kwasnica says that short selling and other techniques that reward negative performance communicate pessimism about the economy that can infiltrate the markets and may actually cause economic performance to dip into the negative.
Kwasnica just completed teaching an EMBA favorite this past week, bringing an incredible amount of current events into our dynamic classroom environment.
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November 8th, 2008 by smealemba
Cardiff University in Great Britain is holding a conference next month to mark the 30th anniversary of a seminal book in the management discipline co-authored by Charles Snow, Mellon Foundation Faculty Fellow at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business.
“Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process: A Reflection on the Research Perspective of Miles and Snow” will be held Dec. 3-5 in honor of Snow and Raymond Miles, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, co-authors of one of the most influential books in the strategic management literature, Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process.
The conference, which is sponsored by Cardiff University and the Advanced Institute for Management Research, will feature presentations from researchers in various fields who have used the Miles-Snow strategy typology in their research. Approximately 20 researchers from management, marketing, information technology, and public sector management will present at the conference, and Miles and Snow will deliver the opening address. The conference papers will be published in a book.
Originally published in 1978 and reissued by Stanford University Press for its 25th anniversary in 2003, Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process bridges the fields of strategic management and organizational behavior. The book has been cited in more than 1,100 scholarly works, has been translated into Japanese, German, and Chinese, and is used widely in classrooms around the world.
Smeal Executive MBA students learn from the 7th best faculty in the US, 17th best in the world.
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October 25th, 2008 by smealemba
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.
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September 15th, 2008 by smealemba
The Penn State network is famous for many things. Being the largest in the world, being connected through an amazing alumni database, and having truly dynamic and engaged alumni groups – to name a few. The Smeal Business Club of Philadelphia is no exception; in fact this group holds many monthly gatherings of Smeal Alumni in the Philadelphia area, click here to see what they are up to this month! Smeal Business Clubs are also located in Pittsburgh, New York and will be coming soon to other areas.
Smeal, the 2nd largest business school in the US offers graduates of the college opportunities to network virtually as well using the “Smeal Connect” website. Think facebook, LinkedIn and monster all wrapped together in a private online environment for Smeal graduates ONLY!
When you are looking at EMBA programs one thing to consider is the value of the network – and the energy and funding the college/university puts into actually connecting alum’s to each other. Joining Smeal as a graduate means a lifetime of connections.
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August 27th, 2008 by smealemba
We just finalized our fall schedule for events, and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was when I saw the entire season on paper, out in front of me. In addition to our normal “informational events” where we educate prospective students about our Executive MBA program we have philanthropic events (to support pediatric cancer research through our partnership with Dance Marathon), events celebrating “Women in Business” through our partnership with PINK Magazine, and events designed to help our vast alumni network connect after work at one of our many networking events. All in all, it’s a busy schedule – but one that will make the holiday season and our December 19th, 2008 early application deadline come fast. To learn more about our events visit our website www.smealemba.com!
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August 1st, 2008 by smealemba
One question that I get quite often with people is “what does my diploma have on it when I graduate?” The answer for us is simple – Masters in Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University, Smeal College of Business. With the Smeal EMBA the “E” refers to our delivery format, not our degree. With Smeal you get Smeal’s University Park faculty – a faculty recognized as top 20 in the world, and top 10 in the United States. With Smeal you get Penn State’s University Park degree – a degree that is ranked and recognized as a top MBA by every major MBA ranking publication. If you are looking to earn a degree that is ranked, recognized and respected, the Smeal EMBA offers you one – in suburban Philadelphia, on weekends. Visit our website at www.smealemba.com to learn more.
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July 12th, 2008 by smealemba
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.
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July 5th, 2008 by smealemba
One thing that always impresses me when I interview candidates is the level of engagement they have with philanthropic causes. “Giving Back” is something that differentiates the Smeal EMBA program, and as we look at multiple candidates we always try to establish if the Smeal program is a cultural fit for someone. And, it turns out that those who engage with their community by giving their time, talent or treasures to the community tend to be a good fit for Smeal.
Why? Because Smeal EMBA’s have been giving back to their community since the inception of the program. The inaugural class of 2004 donated $50,000 to the construction of the 200,000 square foot building that is now the home of the Smeal College at University Park. And, since 2006 the Smeal EMBA’s have joined all Penn State students and campuses in giving through Dance Marathon to the Four Diamonds Fund – a fund dedicated to providing care to, and finding a cure for pediatric cancer. Last year the Smeal EMBA raised more than $12,000 for this great cause in various ways. The EMBA program, students and for that matter Penn State students in general, have a culture of giving that is unparalleled. In 2007/2008, through Dance Marathon, the students of Penn State raised $6.6 million to help cure pediatric cancer.
You can only imagine my pride this past week when while planning for our annual “Dance Marathon” event we received a volunteer from every class (current & alum) to serve on the planning committee. Not only did we receive volunteers to serve, we started getting RSVP’s before we even sent the invitation! To quote Joe Paterno, “This (Dance Marathon) is what we mean when we say – We Are! Penn State!”
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June 29th, 2008 by smealemba
I enjoy wine, and I enjoy chocolate – in moderation. I never had thought, however, that these two things could be paired for an amazing taste experience. That all changed this past Friday when Traci Gentry, Director of Global Chocolate Innovation at The Hershey Company taught our students how to formally taste chocolate, how to describe the flavor nuances like a professional, and how to pair premium chocolate with readily available wines. The tasting included chocolates from Hershey’s extensive brand portfolio, including Cacao Reserve, Scharffen Berger, and Dagoba. My favorite was the “Raging Bull Zinfandel & Dagoba” pairing. Dagoba, an organic dark chocolate had (of all things) a chili pepper finish to it that was a very pleasant surprise and a great match to the spicy of zinfandel. For our students it was another experience and an example of the learning that happens outside of the class room on Friday nights when you are enrolled in the Smeal EMBA program.
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