Willamette University MBA Viewbook 2017-2018

W I L L A M E T T E U N I V E R S I T Y | MBA

For more than 40 years, Willamette University MBA’s purpose has been, and continues to be, to prepare persons for leadership and management roles.

In so doing, we position students for successful careers in business, government, and not-for-profit organizations.

Our view is that all organizations exist to serve, to satisfy customers, citizens, or clients. We believe there to be essential, foundational management principles that transcend sector. These principles, and the practices they imply, are the means by which value is created.

Our task then is to identify and convey these universal management principles, examine them, and demonstrate their robustness across sectors.

Alumni from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management have put these principles to action for more than four decades, becoming the top-tier source for management talent in Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond.

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Dean’s Welcome

Debra J. Ringold Dean and JELD-WEN Professor of Free Enterprise

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Table of Contents

Contents 06 14 18 22 28 30 34

Early Career & Career Change MBA

Innovative Programs

International Students

MBA For Professionals

Career Management

Faculty & Research

Welcome to Oregon

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

Early Career & Career Change MBA Your MBA is an investment. And smart investments made at the right time result in the greatest returns. Our fulltime program equips candidates with the tools, skills and experiences to launch – or relaunch – careers in business, government, or not-for-profit.

Personalized attention. Real clients, real projects, and access to real capital.

World-class faculty that lead their fields in business, government, and not-forprofit management. These are some of the cornerstones of the Early Career & Career Change MBA. Willamette University’s full-time MBA is a 21-month program designed to give you the tools and experience to launch and guide your career with purpose and direction.

Whether you’re preparing for your first professional position or a shift or advancement in your career, you will emerge from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management with a network and portfolio that will make you a highly valuable addition to any organization – including venturing out on your own!

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Dual Degrees & Areas of Interest BA/MBA - From Willamette Undergraduate to MBA Willamette University undergraduates can launch their MBA in their senior year and earn both a BA and MBA in just five years. On average, that means entering the job market at 22 years old with your MBA. That’s a great starting position for any professional looking to launch into business, government or not-for-profit sectors.

JD/MBA - Juris Doctor and MBA in Four Years You can also earn your Juris Doctor and MBA (JD/MBA) with Willamette University in a dual degree format that combines two powerful graduate experiences in just four years of study. This option allows graduates to practice law with a much better understanding of management, or enter the management world with legal training that few can match.

Areas of Interest We offer nine areas of interest for you to focus on throughout your MBA studies.

Each area comes with curriculum suggestions for how to craft your specialty in: Accounting

Marketing

Entrepreneurship

Operations, Analysis & Systems

Finance

Organizational Analysis

Global Management

Public & Not-for-Profit Management

Human Resources

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

Whitney Pitalo Willamette University MBA ’18

My experience in the Oregon foster care system taught me resilience and showed me the power of community. Through my adoption, I was given a second chance with the opportunity to thrive and succeed. I’m fortunate to have people who invested in me and believed in me.

I’m inspired by Willamette’s motto, “Not unto ourselves, alone are we born,” because it speaks to my commitment as a citizen to give back to the community that shaped me. The empowering experience of community heavily impacted my decision to attend Willamette University College of Liberal Arts and has led me to pursue a career in social enterprise. I have found the same community at Willamette’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

You won’t find better professors, leaders, and managers that are dedicated to making your experience unique and meaningful while creating a more equitable and sustainable society. willamette.edu/mba | 9

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How we’re different.

Our Early Career & Career Change MBA is built on a simple but powerful premise: The earlier you earn your MBA, the better your return on investment (ROI). Few MBA programs in the world take this approach, but we’re used to doing things differently.

Our full-time MBA program has the rare distinction of being accredited by both the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AASCB) and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) with disciplinary focus around business, government, and not-for-profit sectors.

Willamette University is consistently ranked as the top MBA program in Oregon by publications like Forbes, Bloomberg’s Businessweek, CEO Magazine, Poets&Quants, Princeton Review, and more.

Career Management is more than just a department. Our expert staff work with motivated MBA candidates on a personal level to help lay the groundwork for a purposeful career. Career management is actually built into the curriculum of the Early Career & Career Change MBA program.

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

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Designed for Experience & Exposure Our faculty and staff carefully develop curriculum and programs that insure students get actual, hands-on experience.

Many MBA programs require students to already have extensive professional experience. Early Career MBA students at Willamette earn that experience as it’s built into the curriculum through innovative programs like Practical Application for Careers and Enterprises; the O’Neill Student Investment Fund; and both our Angel Fund and Non-Profit Grant Management programs, the first of their kind that give students direct experience managing real money for real impact.

Career Change MBA students at Willamette are most commonly in search of the same new experiences in their quests to reconfigure their professional lives to align more closely with career and personal goals.

Karin Hokanson Willamette University MBA ’18 Atkinson was a no-brainer for me. It was the only MBA program I found that catered to all levels of work experience. As an individual right out of undergrad this was very refreshing, since many larger institutions required years of experience before they would even look at your application. Atkinson also offered unique programs, like PACE, that allows students to work and engage with real-world businesses. What I gained from those courses is invaluable, and I know it has prepared me well for the future.

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

Two foundational learning concepts you’ll hear a lot about at Willamette University MBA:

ex·pe·ri·en·tial ik spirē en(t)SH(ə)l/

Learning through hands-on experience.

Working with real clients. Managing real projects.

con·se·quen·tial känsə kwen(t)SHəl/

Making decisions under uncertain conditions with real capital and very real outcomes.

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

Innovative Programs We talk about two styles of learning that play a big role in our success as the top-ranked MBA in Oregon – experiential and consequential learning. Both are critical to our Early Career & Career Change MBA as a way to give those with little or no management experience direct, hands-on interaction with real clients, real capital, and real consequences. It doesn’t get any more real than this.

PACE Program First-year students in our Early Career & Career Change program participate in our Practical Application for Careers and Enterprises (PACE) program.

From the week you arrive for orientation, the process starts. You are introduced to your PACE team and you and your teammates begin work on a real consulting project and a new venture plan, both of which will be formally presented at the end of the academic year.

The PACE program exposes you to the hard decisions and frustrations that often come with attaining positive management outcomes. Not only do you gain real-world professional skills from PACE, but you will also make a difference for your clients by enhancing their operations with your teamwork. willamette.edu/go/pace

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Angel Fund Program Ranked by Inc. Magazine as a “top 10 U.S. entrepreneurship class,” the Angel Fund Management Program is a one-of-a-kind experiential learning opportunity that brings you closer than ever to the inner workings of free enterprise.

You will work to understand both sides of the entrepreneurial process: launching a business, and investing in one. Since you and fellow students are embedded as active members of angel investment groups, you will work with business leaders, owners, and managers to find exceptional opportunities for investment and growth. willamette.edu/go/angel

Not-for-profit Grant Administration Program Modeled after the Angel Fund, the Notfor-profit Grant Administration Program completed its inaugural cohort in Spring 2017.

“Grant Administration: From Concept to Consequences” is the result of a joint venture with Mountain West Investment Corporation where students manage $150,000 in seed money and are tasked with determining how to distribute the fund among dozens of not-forprofit groups across five counties (Marion, Polk, Benton, Linn, and Yamhill) in Oregon.

After completing the challenge of choosing criteria and selecting recipients, students are responsible for tracking outcomes and proof of impact. willamette.edu/go/nonprofit 16

Early Career & Career Change MBA

O’Neill Investment Fund Students commit real dollars to the stock market and track performance of their investments, as well as the investments made by students in previous years. This program will put you in front of professional fund managers to make a case for your investment strategies.

Through careful and thorough research and expert guidance, you will look at domestic and international economic, financial, and political developments and trends to develop an asset allocation model and a risk model that represents the risk tolerance of the University and students. willamette.edu/go/invest

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Early Career & Career Change MBA

International Students International students choose Willamette University MBA because we provide hands-on, early career experiences with a highly personal touch.

Adapting to the lifestyle of an MBA student takes some time and effort. Exploring a new country and culture at the same time is quite a feat. But year after year we have students join the Willamette University MBA community from around the world. And they form a critical part of our academic and cultural growth.

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Fangming Wu Willamette University MBA ’18 Willamette MBA gives students the opportunity to take part in actual business projects and gain real professional experience. In addition, the various study abroad opportunities are very attractive. I participated in the London/Dublin Study Abroad Program and KEDGE Business School Summer Exchange Program (France). The unique experience sharpened my career focus and made me even more confident in working in multi-cultural environments. I am glad to be a part of this experience and to have the competitive advantage of being a Willamette MBA candidate.

Early Career & Career Change MBA

Students from across the world choose to earn their MBAs from Willamette University because we offer a top-tier program in one of the most beautiful and welcoming areas of the country.

Our international candidates – from Asia, India, the Middle East, Europe, and all across the globe – represent an uncharacteristically high diversity for any MBA program. They bring a global perspective to a management program in a time when most careers require interaction with, and exposure to, international colleagues and their respective cultural norms.

For domestic students in our MBA, they gain the invaluable experience of working, collaborating, and socializing with classmates from around the world.

For international students, they come to Oregon to learn and live in American professional culture for a much more well-rounded MBA experience. willamette.edu/go/international

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MBA for Professionals 22

MBA for Professionals

Pressing pause on your career to earn a graduate degree is not an option for many professionals. You are looking to learn while you earn, and we’ve developed a custom program designed to fit the lives of busy professionals.

There’s a word we hear over and over from people interested in our part-time, evening MBA for Professionals – “options.” Folks with years of experience are looking forward and want to create a versatility within their career that allows them a flexibility most others don’t have.

Our MBA for Professionals enhances your existing career momentum and adds a layer of management expertise that allows for a higher trajectory in your current organization, or the confidence to grow into new roles with new organizations.

The MBA for Professionals program starts each fall in Salem and Portland (at our Pearl District campus) and again each January in Portland. willamette.edu/mba | 23

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We fit our MBA into your life.

A Balanced, Transformational Experience You will learn from experienced, distinguished faculty who offer a rigorous and transformational education, as well as the personalized attention you need to succeed. Specialized career management programming will help you work towards your professional goals.

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MBA for Professionals

Catered for Convenience

Two Convenient Locations

Night classes don’t have to mean skipped meals.

Classes are held at the Atkinson Graduate

Your tuition includes catered dinners on class

School of Management on the Willamette

nights. You’ve worked all day and are in class

University main campus in Downtown

two evenings a week. A meal shared with fellow

Salem with an annual September start. At

students is a chance to refuel and recharge, and

our conveniently located Portland Center in

takes one more detail off your plate!

the city’s Pearl District, students can start in September or January each year.

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Curtis Thomas Willamette University MBA ’19 I chose the Willamette MBA for Professionals program because of their strong commitment to community and passion for developing all sectors. As a notfor-profit leader, I am able to tackle important issues in the sector; continue to learn from my diverse cohort; and create positive change in my organization and our community.

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MBA for Professionals

How We’re Different We understand what motivates our MBA

The MBA for Professionals program is

candidates and we align our program with

accredited by AACSB International, a

their professional goals. The outcome is more

distinction shared by less than 5 percent of

career versatility and flexibility for graduates to

business schools worldwide.

advance their careers.

Your education doesn’t end after you’ve earned With just two night classes per week for 24

your degree. Our MBA for Life program enables

months, our MBA for Professionals program

all MBA alumni to take classes with us forever.

offers you the opportunity to earn an advanced

Your graduation day not only marks the end

degree and learn from exceptional faculty

of your MBA pursuit, but also the start of a

without having to sacrifice your career or your

lifelong learning opportunity.

life.

You have access to our Career Management We offer transparent tuition so you can see

services to help fully leverage the versatility

exactly what your dollars are being spent on.

our MBA adds to your career. We offer by-

Additionally, your tuition rate is locked for the

appointment career coaching, as well as

duration of your time in the program, which

scheduled events and workshops throughout

means no unexpected increases in cost.

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Career Management Career management is, in many ways, the core of what we do at Willamette University MBA. Students seek out our MBA programs because they want to take control of their futures. Our Career Management team and their expertise are the connective tissue between academia and the professional realm.

That includes establishing and maintaining a pipeline of talent from Willamette to the regional business community and beyond. Career Management maintains a robust internship program where nearly all students are paid and our graduates can be found across all major sectors comprising an integral part of the Pacific Northwest economy.

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Career Management

Our team works with our MBA candidates one-on-one to prepare them for interviews; work on their LinkedIn profiles; and to develop their personal brands as professionals. We also arrange programming to connect students with professionals and employers to learn more about a variety of industries, companies and career paths. There are also annual domestic and international trips to visit companies and alumni around the globe.

And through our longstanding connections and partnerships with organizations in the business, government, and not-for-profit sectors, we’ve got the network that helps ambitious students create their professional future. willamette.edu/mba | 2 9

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Faculty & Research Faculty are the backbone of any MBA program. At Willamette University, we have quietly assembled one of the strongest rosters in academia for business, government or not-for-profit management education.

In addition to undertaking industry-leading research, our Willamette University MBA faculty bring a wealth of experience, wisdom, and practical application to students’ lives.

Our faculty are committed to your development and success, and that means:

Tony Cadena, Contributing Associate Professor

Connecting with students on a personal level.

Developing dynamic curriculum allowing for individualized attention.

Tapping into their breadth of contribution across all sectors to provide the best management education possible.

A. Andrew Kach, Assistant Professor of Operations Management B. Romana Autrey, Associate Professor of Accounting C. Ashley Nixon, Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior D. Kawika Pierson, Associate Professor of Accounting and Quantitative Methods E. Jameson Watts, Assistant Professor of Marketing F. Marianne Bradshaw, Contributing Associate Professor of Marketing and Faculty Internship Advisor

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A

B

C

D

E

F

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Faculty

We are not a high-volume, low-cost provider. We pride ourselves on a rigorous, intensive, hands-on learning experience for our students, and our high-quality team of experts and educators is a reflection of this value.

The Willamette MBA faculty affect change through their research by influencing public policy, shaping management practices, and inspiring new and specialized areas of scholarship.

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Welcome to Oregon Your Environment Based in Salem, Willamette University MBA is almost literally an hour (in any direction) from everything. An hour to the west is the legendary Pacific Northwest coastline where Oregon meets the ocean. An hour north puts you in Portland, one of the quirkiest, most lovable metro areas on the planet. Head due east and you’re in the Cascade Range of mountains, home to some of the most jaw-dropping peaks in the country.

Travel south and you can explore any number of places - from quaint Corvallis to bustling Eugene, Oregon.

Earning a Living Making a career in Oregon (or the Pacific Northwest) with your MBA from Willamette University is an exciting opportunity. Our proximity to the State Capitol (directly across the street) allows unmatched access for students and graduates interested in government. For those interested in business, iconic brands like Nike and Columbia Sportswear call Oregon home, along with dozens of other companies (Intel, Adidas, and more).

And the Pacific Northwest has always been buzzing with hot start-ups and next-big-things. The very giving and selfless culture in Oregon also lends itself to a not-for-profit sector with deep roots and strong principles, ready to tackle the myriad issues that face segments of our population here and across the world.

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Oregon