JONES COLLEGE ALL★STARS
ALLYSON BAUGH GRADUATE BUSINESS ADVISOR
When Allyson Baugh meets with prospective graduate students in person, there seems to be a moment where it clicks that they can get their M.B.A. degrees while working full time or by staying a few more semesters, and they “light up.” A graduate academic advisor for MTSU’s Jones College of Business, Baugh has played a crucial role in almost 300% enrollment growth in the Flex M.B.A. program last year. A former elementary school teacher, she still enjoys helping and seeing students succeed. “I definitely love working with students,” Baugh said. “I work with a range of ages, from students right out of undergrad to those who are midcareer.
I AM STILL ABLE TO WORK IN EDUCATION AND WITH STUDENTS . . . BUT IT’S IN A DIFFERENT CAPACITY THAN I INITIALLY IMAGINED. I even have some who are utilizing their 65-andover waiver. “And with that, there’s a range of different life experiences those students are going through, from becoming parents or getting married, to starting their careers or earning promotions, to having children going to college while they’re going to college.” While the pandemic made many reflect on life goals and/or provided extra time they previously spent commuting, the M.B.A. program further benefited from Jones College’s new partnership with an external marketing firm and a promotional campaign by the College of Graduate Studies. Baugh noted. Along with affordability and flexibility, the M.B.A. also is accessible to students with nonbusiness degrees. MTSU’s double AACSB international accreditation for both the College of Business and in Accounting is another significant factor. One graduate student chose MTSU over Vanderbilt, whose accounting program isn’t accredited additionally by AACSB. 32 | ENTERPRISE
“Students can take classes online; they can take classes on campus; and they can switch back and forth between the two from course to course and by each term,” Baugh said. “Also, we don’t require them to take a certain number of classes each semester.” Associate Dean Kim Sokoya, the M.B.A. program director, calls Baugh a “tremendous asset.” Graduates of the program always mention her in exit surveys as a part of their positive experiences. “The truth be known, she has been the ‘heavy lifter’ in the background as we experience the increase in enrollment for our M.B.A. program,” Sokoya said. “She is always willing to step up for additional duties to make sure that our students have a good experience from the application process through graduation.” Baugh, who also took some business courses in college, earned a Sociology degree and a master’s in Teacher Education before leaving teaching for a better work-life balance. She joined MTSU in 2015 and previously assisted with the master’s in Management, the IGNITE professional development program for students, and the annual BEST Career Fair. In her current position since 2017, she helps plan events including mixers where online students can meet in person. Baugh was the 2019 E.W. “Wink” Midgett Outstanding Staff Member award recipient and completed the 2018 Dale Carnegie Immersion course. “I am still able to work in education and with students and help them,” she said. “But it’s in a different capacity than I initially imagined.” But now she has more time for life outside work, which includes her cat, an interest in cooking, and visiting national parks with her husband, Frank Baugh (’06). “So far Glacier National Park has been our favorite. I wanted to go to Yosemite out in California last summer—maybe this summer.”
