MPPM Program Viewbook

momentum for your career

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 1

2/26/2010 3:40:17 PM

Birmingham-Southern College

MPPM MASTER OF ARTS IN PUBLIC A N D P R I VAT E M A N A G E M E N T

A MASTER’S IN BUSINESS

taken to the next degree The business and graduate programs at Birmingham-Southern College are internationally accredited by AACSB—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB International is the premier accrediting agency for programs in business administration and accounting. Regional Accreditation is by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The program also is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma. Beta Gamma Sigma is an international honor society in business and provides the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can achieve.

In addition, The Princeton Review lists the MPPM program as one of the Best 290 Business Schools, calling it a “rarity in the graduate business world.”

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 2

2/26/2010 3:40:47 PM

YOU’VE BEEN OUT THERE. YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE. YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED.

and you know what it’s going to take to push you

to the next level.

YOU’RE EXPERIENCED ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY ALL KINDS OF DEGREES: DEGREES OF INCOME DEGREES OF INFLUENCE DEGREES OF INSPIRATION

Come to Birmingham-Southern College and get the one degree that affects all the others.

TAKE YOUR CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

I chose to pursue an MPPM degree because I wanted to balance out a creative career with a more in-depth understanding of business management, and the program’s liberal arts approach appealed to me.

Thanks both to the coursework and to being in classes with interesting and insightful people from a variety of different fields, I’ve gained an improved perspective that helps me see the big picture more clearly. I’ve enjoyed being able to apply what I’ve learned at BSC in my work on a daily basis and feel well prepared for future opportunities.

REBECCA F. LIPSCOMB ’08 Director of Promotion Southern Living At Home magazine

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 3

2/26/2010 3:40:49 PM

A MASTER’S IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MANAGEMENT AT BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE

a different kind of degree for a different kind of success The knowledgeable executive must be able to meet the demands of clients, industry, and the changing market.

Today’s economy is as much about managing the constant influx of information as it is about managing resources.

The Master’s in Public and Private Management degree will give you the tools to make analytical decisions and strategically manage information to best meet the needs of your business.

The Birmingham-Southern MPPM program has been an invigorating experience. For me, the curriculum encompassed the constantly changing economic climate and leadership essentials necessary to be a successful business contributor.

I have had the opportunity to uncover important aspects of international trade, corporate ethics responsibility, and domestic marketing operations— all under one roof. With a dedicated faculty and the ability to study alongside other working professionals, the MPPM program has enabled me to make a difference.

LEIGH JONES LANEY ’08 Strategic Account Manager AT&T Corporation

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 4

2/26/2010 3:40:59 PM

recreate your future Based on the liberal arts tradition of Birmingham-Southern College, the MPPM program integrates learning strategies that produce leaders, decision-makers, and team players.

The college’s liberal arts tradition means that learning is a multidimensional transaction—teacher to student and peer to peer. In the classroom you will engage in stimulating dialogue through collaboration with your peers and professors.

The Master of Arts in Public and Private Management program at Birmingham-Southern College prepares leaders for today and tomorrow—leaders who know that leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do it, and believe that it is the quality and the character of the leader that determines the results.

FRANCES HESSELBEIN Chairman of the Board of Governors Leader to Leader Institute Founder Peter F. Drucker Foundation

The professors in the MPPM program hail from a wide variety of specialties—everything from behavioral science to business law. They won’t just prepare you for your degree but for life after your degree, so that you leave BSC ready to meet the challenges of the global economy.

Our management program is more than just a credential. The MPPM program at BSC is an actual chance to learn—about yourself, about your industry, about nonprofits, about the world of business—while also furthering your career.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 5

2/26/2010 3:41:05 PM

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, LOCAL TEAMWORK, THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE,

practical experience Never again leave a class wondering: how is this supposed to help me in my professional life? In BSC’s MPPM program, the real world stays with you the entire time. The MPPM program is designed to teach practical application of current business practices and theories.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 6

2/26/2010 3:41:09 PM

The MPPM program provides students with the opportunity to think outside of the box. It gave me critical and strategic thinking skills beyond crunching the numbers.

It helps individuals to understand what the numbers mean and gives a broader perspective on what to do next. The decision-making process enabled me to think about all contributing factors of a given issue, not just parts of it.

The program certainly developed me into a leader that recognizes each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses, but must work together to achieve a common goal. It has personally changed my life and the way I think about issues we face today. I was challenged, enlightened, engaged, and I loved every moment of it.

KATRINA CADE ’05 Vice President Marketing The Birmingham Zoo

When you choose the Master of Arts in Public and Private Management program at Birmingham-Southern College, you are choosing to brand yourself as a legacy of the traditions, the quality, and the history that is The Hilltop. It lies, mostly, in the people who have traveled through here, on their way to bright futures and fuller lives. When you choose the MPPM difference, you benefit from the best that the college has to offer: the best faculty, the best thinking, and the best processes. All three help you reach your destiny; all three provide the framework for you to achieve your goals.

DAVID G. HILL ’96 Marketing/Communications Director Birmingham Metropolitan YMCA

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 7

2/26/2010 3:41:17 PM

THE PROGRAM

the MPPM program consists of 16 courses.

Each student begins with “Perspectives on Management,” a yearlong study of critical success factors essential for effective leadership.

Unique to the MPPM’s core curriculum is “Humanist Perspectives on Management,” emphasizing the humanities and the arts and including such subjects as ethics, the role of the arts in the community, communication and persuasion in executive decision-making, dealing with change and ambiguity, cross-cultural studies, and the impact of technology on society.

To conclude the program, you will complete an integrative, practical learning experience via either a consultancy or thesis. Through this experience, you will synthesize your entire MPPM education and apply it to produce a tangible outcome.

Entering the MPPM program, after 19 years in the for-profit sector, validated my belief in the need for continuing education and personal development. Completing the program, while heading the local affiliate of a nationally recognized service organization, enhanced my leadership and management skills, ultimately easing my transition into the nonprofit sector.

ELAINE S. JACKSON ’00 President and CEO Birmingham Urban League, Inc.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 8

2/26/2010 3:41:28 PM

I think of the program as a liberal arts MBA. The focus is on teaching people to think rather than just crunch the numbers.

The MBA focuses almost entirely on the analytical aspects of problem solving such that if the numbers can’t be crunched, problems become more difficult. Using the liberal arts approach, people learn from a broader perspective, develop a more expansive spectrum of skills, and typically perform better as they move up in the organization and manage people.

Birmingham-Southern’s Master of Arts in Public and Private Management program is indeed special. MPPM graduates not only acquire the technical skills needed, but can communicate effectively and think practically through issues.

DOWD C. RITTER Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Regions Financial Corporation

The global marketplace visits the classroom - Students discuss the significance of foreign competition and the potential of international markets.

The private sector meets the public - With concentrations, public and private, the MPPM program addresses the entire spectrum of the business world from FORTUNE 500 companies to local nonprofits and the crosspollination between the two.

Evidence-based decision making - Students learn how to make decisions supported by statistical data rather than through guesswork.

Ethics - The program prepares students to assess decisions, approaches, and solutions in terms of their ethical dimensions.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 9

2/26/2010 3:41:35 PM

PROFESSIONALS

as students The MPPM program specifically selects students who will enrich one another, so that the graduate experience radiates between all of the program’s participants.

Typical MPPM students are professionals, managers in private enterprises or public domains, and include everyone from nonprofit executive directors to engineers to attorneys. From these diverse backgrounds, students easily share perspectives on leadership and management. Students also come with a variety of life experiences, academic achievements, and motivations for learning.

You are a busy professional, and the MPPM program at BSC recognizes this.

Consequently, the MPPM program is designed to meet the needs of working professionals while maintaining high academic standards.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 10

2/26/2010 3:41:43 PM

If I were looking for one word that would describe the MPPM program, it would be “relevant.” The MPPM program is relevant to leading and managing in today’s public sector environment. The program stresses and balances three major areas which are inherently important in being successful: analytical skills, human behavior in organizations, and moral/ethical leadership. It is this focus—that leaders and managers should be well-rounded people—that makes the MPPM program both attractive and relevant.

ROBERT EZEKIEL ’95 Chief Mountain Brook Fire Department

My experience with the MPPM program has provided me with an increased knowledge base comparable to that of MPH programs. MPPM offers a distinctive blend of behavioral theories and business principles coupled with a diverse curriculum. The quantitative analysis and multi-thematic approach to learning has enabled me to appraise social, ethical, behavioral, and economic aspects of issues that often arise in the workplace. The program has definitely prepared me for my current position at a 300-plus-bed medical facility where I supervise over 100 employees.

NIKESHA R. UPSHAW ’06 Therapy Services Manager Brookwood Medical Center

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 11

2/26/2010 3:41:53 PM

PROFESSIONALS

as faculty MPPM professors are senior faculty members from behavioral and social sciences, business administration, and humanities. And they bring more to the MPPM program than academic preparation. Many faculty members have been fully employed by, or currently have consulting jobs with, public, private, and nonprofit organizations.

In addition to the full-time faculty, the program also benefits from the contributions of faculty-fellows who are academically qualified professionals—meaning that students get the benefit of a full mix of scholarship and practice.

Teaching methods and class structure range from innovative and interactive teaching techniques to seminars, lectures, and case analyses. Faculty members structure the MPPM learning experience to teach professional students to solve professional problems.

I thoroughly enjoy teaching my MPPM students in Humanist Perspectives 500, and one of the most positive outcomes that I see for them in this program is the experience of being in our small classes where the students get to know each other and establish longterm friendships that go beyond the few years they spend with us.

DR. BILL NICHOLAS Professor of History Birmingham-Southern College

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 12

2/26/2010 3:42:09 PM

The MPPM program is like no other.

It is designed for managers who seek to become leaders. Teaching in the program is really a joy, because students bring a variety of rich experiences to the classroom. The courses almost teach themselves. We connect the classroom to the workplace.

It doesn’t get better than that.

DR. NATALIE M. DAVIS Chair, Department of Political Science, Economics, and Sociology Professor of Political Science Birmingham-Southern College

Students enjoy small classes with class sizes capped at 20 students. Faculty members are available outside of class, and they realize that MPPM students are fully employed with personal and professional responsibilities in addition to pursuing their graduate work.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 13

2/26/2010 3:42:17 PM

The MPPM program is distinctive in that it blends together a liberal arts approach to leadership, decision-making, and organizational behavior with contemporary business strategies. Our students learn the value of applying these techniques in the varied disciplines in which they work. The MPPM program creates an environment rich with classroom interaction between students and our world-class faculty as well as each other. The level of peer-to-peer learning in the MPPM program is simply outstanding.

The MPPM graduate is poised to assume greater leadership in his or her respective organization as well as assuming leadership roles in the larger community.

DR. STEPHEN H. CRAFT Dean of Business Programs and the Elton B. Stephens Professor of Marketing Birmingham-Southern College

AT HOME

on the hilltop For more than 150 years, Birmingham-Southern College has been one of the nation’s most respected liberal arts institutions. Located on a wooded hilltop just three miles from downtown Birmingham, the United Methodist Church-affiliated private liberal arts college is nationally renowned for the quality of its education, its value, and the accomplishments of its graduates.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 14

2/26/2010 3:42:34 PM

Our production manager earned her MPPM from Birmingham-Southern. The program greatly improved her technical skills. More importantly, she learned how to think more creatively; how to analyze an issue from all sides to determine the underlying causes. As a result, she produces more innovative solutions to the issues that face our business and our clients’ businesses.

SEAN M. DOYLE Principal FitzMartin

Consistently recognized by national publications, the Fiske Guide to Colleges includes Birmingham-Southern as one of 26 private institutions in the nation as a Best Buy for the “quality of the academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance.” Colleges That Change Lives author Loren Pope names BirminghamSouthern as one of 40 colleges that are “outdoing the Ivy League schools and the major universities in producing winners.”

In addition, the MPPM program has a legacy of distinguished graduates ranging from corporate boardrooms to nonprofit foundations across Alabama and the Southeast.

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 15

2/26/2010 3:42:46 PM

MPPM MASTER OF ARTS IN PUBLIC A N D P R I VAT E M A N A G E M E N T

For more information, contact: Office of Graduate Programs

Birmingham-Southern College 900 Arkadelphia Road Box 549052 Birmingham, AL 35254 205/226-4803 graduate@bsc.edu www.bsc.edu/mppm

mppm vwbk_draft 6_small.indd 16

2/26/2010 3:42:54 PM