By A.J. KING

ajk012@latech.edu

 

Students in the College of Administration and Business will be making changes and experimenting with new ideas while getting their master’s of business administration.

An MBA program in innovation and management has been proposed and accepted in the College of Administration and Business.

Shirley Reagan, dean of the CAB, said, “The program itself is innovative.”

Reagan defined innovation as seeing positive change in an organization.

“New thought processes, a different direction in a marketing plan, a change in administrative structure and change in a leadership model are all innovative,” Reagan said.

She said the CAB has been looking for ways to improve the traditional MBA program.

“Society, especially the business world, is ever-changing, and we need to look at a program to meet the needs of students and the needs of the students’ employers,” Reagan said.

Reagan also said the new MBA program will not start until she has retired at the end of this year and the new dean will have worked a year in the CAB.

“When you want to do something new, you do a little experimentation,” Reagan said. “We’ll be doing a little experimentation in the coming year with the idea. We’ll come out with the MBA in the Fall of 2008.”

Rebecca Bennett, interim associate dean for graduate studies and research, said the MBA is applicable to a wide range of fields.

“Everyone can benefit from innovation. It rounds out any degree,” Bennett said.

She said the new MBA program will build upon the current MBA program which is designed around the foundation courses of management, marketing, finance, accounting and quantitative analysis.

“There will be the same foundation courses, but with emphasis on innovation,” Bennett said.

She said some examples of integrating the values of the MBA with the core courses would include learning how to finance entrepreneurial ventures in the finance courses; how to lead new ventures in management courses; and how to market new products in marketing courses.

“The MBA is a solid program and valuable for the university to have,” Bennett said. “Louisiana Tech is in a unique position because of the strength of the engineering program, so innovation and management is a way to tie into that strength.”

Bennett used the example of engineering majors who may have developed a product, but need business skills to market the product.

However, Bennett said the usefulness of an MBA is not limited to engineering students because the program also attracts students from forestry and aviation.

Jared Regan, a sophomore finance major, said the new MBA would be appealing to him because it would complement whatever he would want to pursue.

“I can see pairing it with finance in venture capital,” Regan said.

Regan also said he enjoyed going into new territory and developing new strategies.

He said, “You can use it to create something totally new and accomplish your goals without having a book to follow.”