Most Whartonites can't wait to graduate and enter the world of business, but a few hope that earning graduate degrees will help keep them in the classroom even after graduation.
The Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership, an MBA program started at the end of last month, aims to "teach the teachers," said Liv Mansfield, associate director of Wharton Executive Education.
Participants in the program, a joint effort between the Wharton Business School and Penn's Graduate School of Education, hope that their experience will help them become better teachers.
The students can earn a Masters of Education after successfully completing three course blocks and a thesis. To get an education doctorate, students must complete five course blocks and complete a dissertation. Both degrees are issued by the School of Education.
Students spend the first and last week of each course block on the University's campus and meet once a week to work on projects.
The program is divided into five "course blocks," periods that are each a little shorter than a semester.
"There has been a growth in demand for corporations to . distribute learning throughout the organization," Mansfield said, and the program aims to satisfy that demand.
Students participating in the program come from a variety of organizations, including Xerox, Staples, JetBlue and the Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Most of the 14 students are only able to participate in the $124,000 program with the financial assistance from their employers, and they continue to work full-time in addition to being students.
"It's not an easy balance," said Deb Tees, a student who also manages retail education for Consumer Bank. "It's a challenge, but the reality is I get a lot of energy from the work that I'm doing with UPenn."
Tees added that, despite the steep costs, her corporation believes it will recoup its costs.
"They know that the work that I do . will all be relevant to the work and the strategy of the organization," she said. "It will help them become more profitable."'
Stephen Oliver, another program participant who works as a self-employed consultant, added that the program is harder for employees in large corporations than for people like himself, who have more flexibility in setting their own schedules.
Oliver added that he chose the program because it combines Wharton's business acumen with the Graduate School of Education's expertise in adult learning
Mansfield agreed that the program's combination of disciplines helps make it unique among other business schools and top-tier universities.
As "an intra-university program . this is part of Dr. [Amy] Gutmann's mission and objective," she said.
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