Going the Distance for 20 Years

The flexibility offered by the Distance MBA program fit Starkville resident Kevin Daniels' needs.

photo by Logan Kirkland

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

Going the Distance for 20 Years

By Joni W. Seitz

The year 1998 was a pivotal one in the development of the digital realm. The dot-com bubble was at its peak. The release of Microsoft’s Windows 98 operating system, Apple’s iMac and search engines like Google made the World Wide Web more accessible than ever. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that 42.1 percent of American households owned a computer, and 26.2 percent had access to the Internet by the end of the year.

The web offered boundless possibilities, and that year Mississippi State saw an opportunity to serve those who serve this country in a new way. Members of the U.S. Marines Corps in Japan were seeking remote access to a quality Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, which appeared to be an impossibility until MSU presented them with a viable plan for delivering course material through interactive video classrooms.

Because time in Japan is 14 hours ahead of Starkville, faculty utilized McCool Hall’s interactive video classrooms well past midnight several times during the semester to teach the interactive classes to Marines in remote classrooms in Japan.

With these late-night sessions, the College of Business’ Distance MBA program was officially established.

The interactive video classroom delivery system set up for the Marines served as a model for the growth of the Distance MBA across the state through the Mississippi Interactive Video Network (MIVN).

Both military personnel and civilians took advantage of this opportunity to earn MBAs without having to travel to campus. By 2005, the advancement of technology and the nationwide upward trend of online education precipitated the decision to discontinue delivery through the MIVN and provide the program entirely online, as it is today.

This decision permitted students anywhere in the world to take advantage of the flexibility of online learning while getting the same high-quality education as MSU’s on-campus students. This included 2016 Distance MBA graduate Kevin Daniels.

Daniels grew up a Bulldog in Starkville. Both parents were professors at MSU for more than 30 years, and he completed his Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering on campus in 2008.

When Daniels began pursuing his MBA a few years later, distance education did not seem like a fit for him because he lived and worked in Starkville, and the campus was practically in his backyard. Then a call came from Yokohoma Tire Manufacturing asking him to join their start-up team as they built a new tire plant in nearby West Point, MS.

If not for the Distance MBA program, accepting the job would have meant postponing his MBA because the company required a training period of over two months in the Philippines.

“I knew the Distance MBA program delivered the same quality education I was used to from MSU,” Daniels says. “It allowed me to pursue my MBA and, at the same time, take advantage of the opportunity Yokohoma was offering. It was great to not have to make a choice because I wanted and needed to do both.”

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS | MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

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Daniels found the same high-quality MSU education in the Philippines as he did on campus.

photo courtesy of Kevin Daniels

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MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Daniels accepted the offer and set off for the Philippines, where he scheduled his studies around his job training. If a conflict between job training and classwork arose, he had the flexibility to rearrange his studies to accommodate the situation.

“I liked the flexibility of online learning, but I certainly had to be on top of my time management abilities,” he remarks. “It forced me to stay organized and to compartmentalize my tasks in order to accomplish all I had to get done in a day.”

He says that learning online is not very different from learning in a traditional classroom setting.

“I’m an auditory learner, which I think is good for online learning,” he explains. “If I can hear someone say it, I can absorb it, so the online videos and voiceovers on PowerPoint presentations made it easy to learn.”

When asked why earning an MBA was important to him, Daniels describes his desire to continue to move ahead in his career.

“I’ve worked in manufacturing since I received my undergraduate degree in industrial engineering,” he explains. “As an engineer, you may know how to execute a project from an engineering standpoint, but you have to be able to secure the money for the project, which means speaking the language of business. You must communicate in the world of operations – ROIs, net present values and savings, just to name a few things.”

Daniels completed his Distance MBA and is now a manufacturing engineer for external assembly at PACCAR, which designs and manufactures diesel engines for Peterbilt, Kenworth and DAF. At PACCAR Daniels is tasked with, among other things, developing and implementing process improvements.

“My MBA helps me see things from a business, big-picture perspective,” Daniels says. “I have more confidence in my job because of the knowledge I have now. I wouldn’t have that if not for the distance option of the MBA program.”

DIVIDENDS | FALL 2018