Collegiate Times

Pamplin College of Business and the College of Engineering have collaborated to offer a joint master’s degree program to Virginia Tech graduate students.

The new two-year program will provide students the opportunity to earn a Master of Business Administration and Master of Industrial and Systems Engineering and will replace the current concentration in systems engineering management.

Patrick Koelling, director of graduate programs in industrial and systems engineering, called the partnership a natural marriage, noting the overlap in both fields.

“Our students often times take classes from the business school,” Koelling said. “This gets students a very technically-oriented degree in combination with the exposure to all of the business topics that companies like to see.”

The notion for a dual-degree was first contrived nearly five years ago, Koelling said, though serious discussions did not begin until March 2007. Koelling worked alongside Steve Skripak, associate dean of graduate programs in Pamplin College of Business, and with university committees in both fields.

Skripak said the original idea came about when a student working toward a doctorate in building construction came to the business school and expressed interest in receiving her MBA at the same time.

“I wondered how many other people would like to do something like that,” Skripak said. “I sat down with someone in the College of Engineering, and they were very receptive to the idea. It really just kind of germinated from that one student raising interest.”

Skripak emphasized the benefits of a diverse classroom environment.

“Students on the business track will get exposure to additional background and points of view,” Skripak said. “One of the things I think is most valuable about getting an MBA is you have people from all different backgrounds coming together bringing different viewpoints to class. You’ll see a whole lot of diversity.”

Skripak added that for industrial and systems engineering students, an MBA could be a great career advancer.

“They are getting access to a reputable, highly recognized, highly regarded MBA program,” Skripak said. “When they get into the working world, they find out they are real well educated as an engineer, but they don’t know much about business. To manage people or advance their career they need to understand how the numbers are put together.”

Students enrolled in the program would be required to complete the standard core requirements for an MBA and then use the remaining elective credit space to earn their Master of Science in industrial and systems engineering.

This arrangement between the two departments may be new at the graduate level, but students currently enrolled in industrial and systems engineering at the undergraduate level are able to obtain a business minor with just two additional courses, said Eileen Van Aken, associate professor and associate department head for industrial and systems engineering.

Van Aken said in a typical year, 60 percent of undergraduate students in industrial and systems engineering opt to receive a business minor. Because of this, Van Aken noted that considerable interest could be garnered.

“This is new, so we’re not quite sure, but we’ve often had industrial and systems engineering students have a lot interest in topics covered by college of business courses,” Van Aken said. “Of course it is a lot of credits, but we are excited about this moving forward.”

In total, students would take a minimum of 53 credit hours, three credit hours more than what is presently required of MBA candidates.

Continue Reading: 12 Next » 

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.