While the new Wharton building has yet to be completed, the school has already started its next round of expansion - all the way to the west coast. On Tuesday, the Wharton School announced the creation of Wharton West, a San Francisco-based program that will start giving Wharton degrees on the west coast next fall. The program will offer the Wharton master's degree for executives, MBA courses for Philadelphia-based Wharton students spending time on the west coast, internships, expanded executive education programs and faculty research projects. "This new initiative serves various constituencies in ways that haven't been possible in our history," Wharton School Deputy Dean David Schmittlein said. And already, the program has begun by providing internships out west to Wharton undergraduates. Another major component of Wharton West is its executive MBA program, modeled after Wharton's program in Philadelphia. The program, called WEMBA, will offer the equivalent education and degree but will structure the program's curriculum around a full-time professional work schedule. In the MBA program, courses will meet two days every other week for two years, at a total cost of nearly $100,000. Some courses will be staffed by current Wharton faculty temporarily based out west. According to Schmittlein, Wharton West is beneficial to both sites of the program. "The two sites are linked together through technology," said Schmittlein. "It is possible for us to tap into talent in Northern California and provide a link for our Philadelphia-based students." Through the program, current Wharton students will be able to spend a semester in California and will be able complete the requirements for the Wharton degree if relocating to the area. "There is an enhanced opportunity for our Philadelphia-based students," Schmittlein noted. "This allows them to engage in educational activities in the area where they want to be." In conjunction with Wharton West, internship positions will soon be offered to students from the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a joint degree program between Wharton and the Engineering School. "There are a substantial number of students interested in working and establishing contacts in California, specifically San Francisco," Schmittlein said. Wharton faculty will also look to increase their roles on the west coast. In addition to conducting on-site executive training for different companies, the school has launched the Wharton Fellows in e-Business program on the west coast to prepare senior executives for the transformation to a global e-business environment. Part of the recent interest in the California area stems from the growing importance of companies on the west coast and in the Bay Area. For example, approximately 20 percent of last year's graduating business class is now located in California. Schmittlein attributes the desire for the new program to the large number of alumni on the west coast. "The need is coming from both our alumni and our students," he said. "The alumni base would like to engage us there by providing such opportunities - they want to enrich contact with Wharton students."
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