Kelley Direct students always talk about the sense of community they feel in the program. I have found that it extends beyond just the distance MBA program. I have enjoyed being part of the Kelley School of Business community. I try to attend any Indiana University or Kelley School of Business activity that is held in my home town of Seattle.
I had the opportunity to attend a Kelley School of Business alumni networking event last week hosted by Louis Jordan and featuring Wayne Winston. Mr. Jordan earned an MBA in finance from the Kelley School in 1980 and has had a distinguished career in finance. He currently serves as Senior Vice President – Finance for Starbucks Coffee Company. Dr. Winston is a professor of Operations and Decision Technologies at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
I enjoyed the event. It was fun to see how many Kelley School alumni currently live in the Seattle area. It was also inspiring to hear Mr. Jordan speak. The highlight of the evening was Professor Winston. I had followed him on Twitter and I occasionally check out his web site, WayneWinston.com to see how he uses math and metrics to predict the winner of sporting events.
Several of the people in attendance at the event had attended Professor Winston's MBA classes as students. It was interesting to see how beloved he is by his former students.
As if the evening wasn't exciting enough, I won a copy of Professor Winston's book, Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football. Professor Winston even signed the book for me. I look forward to reading it, but I won't have time until the current quarter ends. I have more than enough to read right now for my Marketing, Operations, and Supply-Chain Management classes.
Nothing can really prepare you for the first bill you get when finally start your MBA program. It is a time of thoughtful reflection for sure as you work through the loan paperwork or dip into hard earned savings. However, as I was recently paying that first bill of mine, I realized that my experience in Kelley Direct was already starting to pay off.
After a very long, but engaging week at my first in-residence (C511 Organizational Development and Change), I returned to work to find a number of projects and assignments in a state of disarray, including a very large project where I am the technical adviser and a key stakeholder. Initially dismayed at missing a week and seeing such an important project fall even further behind, I met with some other members of the steering committee to see what needed to be done to get things back on track. As we began to discuss the issues, it was quite an exciting feeling to realize that the tactics and strategies I had just learned about from Prof. Sheri Fella were very applicable to my current dilemma. And, instead of continuing down what would very likely have been a path of failure, I was able to apply the techniques Prof. Fella had shared with us to the change process this project was trying to manage. Long story short, instead of weeks, even months, of fruitless work, mounting frustrations, and loss of interest, I was able to diagnose and recommend actions that have immediately put the project back on track, renewed interest and energized the project team, saving us a significant amount of time and money.
Why was I able to have this impact? At Kelley Direct, you learn from the best faculty of any business university online. Not only do they really know the academic side of business, but they have amazing real world experience. Sure, I could have chosen another part time MBA college at a fraction of the cost and likely have covered the same theories and subject matter. But world-class faculty make a difference, and that is where Kelley Direct has really distinguished themselves from other online MBA colleges. Prof. Fella was not only one of the most engaging instructors I have ever had, she was excellent at making sure we all understood how to take the material she was presenting and turn it into something concrete and actionable. Being able to immediately act on what you are learning is definitely key to making it pay, and is why I am glad I chose Kelley Direct. Plus, paying that first bill was a lot easier knowing that I had already used what I had learned to save my organization time and money, earning some much valued career credits along the way.
I often get questions from prospective online mba students about our in-residence requirement. I want to take a moment to talk about the in-residence and its importance to a student's learning experience.
All of our degree programs require an in-residence experience. The Kelley Direct in-residence takes place over the span of one week (5 days) on the Bloomington, Indiana campus. During this week students are oriented into Kelley Direct and Indiana University, learn about our course delivery technology and meet with other students.
The in-residence is the students’ opportunity to connect with Indiana University as a whole. Although students are usually pursuing a distance MBA program this week allows them the chance to visit the campus and attend on campus events. All students receive IU identification cards and have full access to the IU bookstore.
This week is not just a week-long orientation; students take a 1.5 credit course toward their degree. The basis of the course is about organizational change, and students are put into groups to complete assignments and compete in a case competition. In actuality, the week is pretty intense and many students stay up into the early morning hours working on course work.
I think the in-residence is a great benefit for individuals considering their local part time MBA program. The in-residence helps to bridge the gap between those two experiences.
The biggest advantage of in-residence is the networking opportunities. Each evening students are provided an opportunity to network with the entire incoming class. Many strong relationships have been built during in-residence and many students team up with other students to take classes together throughout their MBA/MS experience.
Overall, the in-residence is a way to bring people together who are considering distance MBA programs or an online MBA school.
Learn more about In-residence here: http://kd.iu.edu/aboutkd/inresidence.htm
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