Master in Management
New Graduate Business Program Comes to Salem
A new graduate program is being offered in Salem that’s particularly appropriate for people who work in government, nonprofit agencies and small businesses.
The Masters in Management (MiM) program aims to provide broad education around strategy, marketing, budget/finance, legal and other core concepts with an overall focus on organizational leadership. It looks to help students improve organizational performance through strong people-management skills.
The MiM program began at the Medford/Ashland campus in 1999 and has since been introduced to several other Oregon campuses. “It was designed to meet the needs of supervisors and managers working in a variety of organizations who may have had limited business background,” Bowling says. “There are certain business concepts that apply to all types of organizations and management roles.”
While a traditional MBA deals with quantitative methods and metrics, he says, the MiM program focuses on the qualitative and “people dynamics” side of management, giving it a broader application to those working in government, nonprofit organizations, small businesses and corporate environments. This degree has a strong orientation toward leadership decision-making and change management.
“Our successful graduates describe feeling “transformed” as leaders with a greater understanding of themselves as well as organizational functioning,” says Bowling. “Since most of our students already have jobs, they often become eligible for advancement and new responsibilities within their organizations.”
Danny Jordan, the Jackson County Administrator, in effect, the county CEO, is one of them. When he entered the MiM program in Ashland in 2005, he’d already held senior executive level position in three different counties over an approximate 15-year span, and had a B.S. in Business/Economics from what was then known as Eastern Oregon State College. So he was already conversant with the traditional subjects offered in most MBA programs, i.e. accounting, audit and investing.
“What interested me in the MiM program was the more theory-based concepts rather than the technical aspects,” says Jordan. “The MiM program significantly allowed me to hone my skill set, to learn some very important concepts that are often overlooked and/or not even understood at all, and . . . helped me to develop my ability to be a better leader.”
Jordan was most impressed with the Emotional Intelligence course. “It introduced me to a whole component of leadership about which I had little knowledge, understanding and/or experience. It has become part of my main basis for leadership. I lead and manage with focus and attention toward expectations that those I lead work to develop themselves as leaders and as technical experts. Included in this expectation is an assumption that they will work to develop personal and social competencies, and manage relationships.”
The MiM classes are taught in seminar settings with interaction from fellow professionals who bring real experience into the classroom discussions. Students work in teams to solve problems.
“The collaborative nature of the program helped me grow both personally and professionally,” says Rogue Federal Credit Union CEO Gene Pelham. “The MiM raised my leadership skills to a whole new level.”
In addition to a core curriculum of 28 credits, MiM students can individualize their focus with 17 credits of graduate-level electives. Core courses include Budget and Finance, Strategic Management, Organizational Leadership and Communication, Marketing for Public and Private Organizations, and Legal Issues in Management. The MiM degree is fully accredited.
“We’re very excited to bring this unique graduate business program to Salem,” says SOU School of Business Dean Raj Parikh. “It’s been very successful in Medford, Roseburg and at our sister campus in Guanajuato, Mexico, and we believe it will be well-received in Salem as well.”
To learn more about the Master in Management program, call 541-552-8116, email mim@sou.ed.