New school of business, MBA track will expand business program visibility
Newman University will create a new School of Business that focuses not only on knowledge and expertise in business, but also ethics, entrepreneurship and socially conscious practices in business. The new school will officially launch in the fall 2016 semester.
Newman is also launching a new Master of Business Administration with a Nonprofit Management concentration, which will begin in January 2016. The new MBA track is designed to help employees in nonprofit organizations become more effective at managing their institutions, serving their clients and achieving their mission.
The new school and MBA track are designed in part to bring more visibility to the university’s business programs, and to create unique programs in the region that will better serve the needs of businesses and students.
“We have a lot to offer the local business community and business environment,” said Newman Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Austin, Ph.D. “The school will be unique in this area because of its Catholic nature and its emphasis on business ethics. It will be infused with the social justice mission of our sponsors, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and the urging of Pope Francis to establish a business climate sensitive to the values of the Catholic tradition.”
The new school will also bring the university’s existing undergraduate and graduate business-related academic programs into a single school administered by a Dean of Business.
The new MBA track is designed to show students how business practices can be applied to nonprofit agencies to make them more efficient and productive. Director of the MBA Program and Associate Professor of Marketing and Management Wendy Munday, Ed.D. began creating the concentration three years ago. She observed that many nonprofit organizations struggling to survive the recent economic downturn and resulting drop in donations turned to business consultants to find better ways to operate and maximize their resources. In the process, it was discovered that nonprofits could adopt a business model and be very successful.
Munday also worked with the Wichita Nonprofit Chamber of Service on a research study of its members. The study found that participants preferred an MBA with an emphasis on nonprofit leadership over other master’s degrees, and felt the most beneficial skills to acquire are leadership, management/organizational behavior, finance/budgeting, marketing/recruitment, and Management Information Systems – all of which are addressed in the Newman MBA.
To suit the needs of working adults, all courses in the new program will be offered in the evening, and the program can be completed in as few as 18 months. Munday added that the program is a perfect fit with the Newman mission of empowering graduates to transform society.
“With Newman being a nonprofit institution and having faculty and staff who have experience working in nonprofits, we can incorporate the current best practices from the field into our program, to help nonprofit agencies better serve their people and achieve their mission,” she said.
To read more about the new School of Business go to go.newmanu.edu/BusinessEthics.