The Oregon Executive Masters of Business Administration program, offered in partnership by the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University, will move to the 200 Market Place building in Portland this fall. The new facility will become home to the Oregon Business Institute which, in addition to the OEMBA, will offer courses in executive education.
The partnership between the three Oregon universities has enabled the creation of a program that one university could have achieved on its own.
“Each school has its individual strengths plus (the partnership) give us size,” James Bean, dean of the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business wrote in an e-mail. “The three of us have 150 faculty in the Willamette Valley. That size can compete nationally.”
As the executive education program develops, the three major Oregon universities will continue to build a strong relationship.
“Outreach programs will be bundled under one roof so that it is easier for clients to find the executive education programs they desire,” Ilene Kleinsorge, dean of the Oregon State University College of Business said.
PSU plans to bring its “Leading Innovation” series, a program geared toward management in the technological industry, to the Oregon Business Institute.
“We are looking to do a four-week program in Lean Manufacturing and a two-day program in mergers and acquisitions,” Dean of the PSU School of Business Scott Dawson said.
The executive education program will include seminars and workshops for non-degree-seeking students.
In addition to developments in executive education, plans for a new commercialization center are also on the horizon.
“The center would be a filtering point for finding resources in each school for help with commercialization in a particular company,” said Dawson, but added the center is still in preliminary planning stages.
Administrators of the OEMBA hope that the move to the 200 Market Place building will draw greater visibility to the program. Previously, the Capital Center near Beaverton served as the facility for the program.
“It didn’t have the right feel and it wasn’t convenient for companies on the east side,” Dawson said.
The program will now operate in the heart of Oregon’s business center. “It’s a world-class facility and we are co-located with the Portland Business Alliance and the Portland Chamber of Commerce,” Bean said.
The OEMBA program has drawn increasing support from the business community of Oregon since its conception in 1985. Russell Development Inc. has agreed to provide more than $1 million in improvements to the new facility, including state-of-the-art classrooms.
“John Russell, (president) of Russell Development Inc. has been instrumental in making the move downtown,” Bean said.
Sponsors of the program agree that it plays an important role in Oregon’s economy. More than 150 firms have sponsored students to the program and many of these are repeat customers. The program boasts alumni such as John Miner, president of Intel Capital, and Joseph Robertson, dean of Oregon Health and Science University Medical School.
Along with developing business leadership, the program aims to provide technical assistance and develop a workforce for the 21st century, according to Kleinsorge.
On average, students of the OEMBA program have 14 years of experience in business.
The program gives those with various backgrounds, such as engineering or science, a very comprehensive understanding of business.
“Every class is real-life experience,” said Dawson. The student’s capstone course is a Business Project in which they create a business plan for their organization.
Along with the expertise students gain from professors they can also learn from each other.
“Students are assigned to a team which they remain with throughout the duration of the two-year program,” Kleinsorge said. “Teams are chosen to ensure a variety of business fundamentals as represented, such as accounting and marketing.”