(EMBA/MBA)
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IN THIS (ISSUE) News from your class agent News From Your Class Agent What’s New With You? Alumni Spotlight: Chris Goebel Keeping Time Homecoming 2011 Family of the Year Run With Friends Football Game Coupon Fall Alumni Events From the Desk of Lisa Tilma
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Kurt Richardson, G’99/M’04 EMBA/MBA Class Agent krichardson123@cox.net
Read about Homecoming 2011 inside!
Welcome to the beginning of fall! I love this time of year with school starting, fall sports practices under way and the promise of cooler weather in the months ahead.
Let me introduce myself, my name is Kurt Richardson. I completed my undergraduate degree at Friends University in 1999 and my EMBA in 2004. My oldest daughter is also a Friends University graduate. I have worked at Boeing / Spirit AeroSystems for 33 years. I have served in the past on the Friends University Wichita Alumni Advisory Board and I have been looking for ways to stay active and support my alma mater. I think we all have to find our own way to stay engaged and connected with Friends. I am excited for the opportunity to interact with EMBA/ MBA alumni as your class agent. I also want to say a big thanks to Bonnie Stephenson, M’04, for being the class agent over the last several years. Great job Bonnie! As part of my new duties as your class agent, I thought I would share with you what new developments have recently been made to the program. To start with, I sat down with the MBA Program Director, Dr. Jay Johnson, to talk about changes being made to the program.
One of the biggest changes is that the program is now offered online. Currently, of the 240 students enrolled, 120 students are taking it online, even as far away as California. The University has also added an MBA with an accounting track for people who are working on becoming a CPA. One of the course changes to the MBA program – based on feedback from the students and the community – is the addition of operations management to the curriculum. Dr. Johnson is also working on new outcomes assessments that will allow the University to better assess student learning throughout the program and make changes as needed to the curriculum based on those assessments. He is also in the process of setting up a panel to identify any MBA program updates based on changes in our community. In addition to these academic changes, I would like to hear what is new with you and share your personal and professional accomplishments with our network of fellow EMBA/MBA graduates. Send me an email and I will include your news in the next class newsletter. Have a fabulous fall!!