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{ 13 Questions } Aiming Higher with Jay Meldrum and Mari Buche of Michigan Tech University

Last fall, Michigan Tech University (MTU) established its first official northern Michigan office – a research center and workspace in the Traverse Connect building. Starting this fall, MTU will host actual classes at that office, giving local students the chance to earn an MBA from MTU without ever leaving Traverse City. We sat down with MTU’s Jay Meldrum (who heads up the Traverse City research center) and Mari Buche (associate dean for the university’s college of business) to learn more about the new program. 1 > MTU is based in Houghton, approximately 380

miles away from Traverse City. What attracted the university to set up an office here?

Meldrum: Over the past few years, Michigan Tech has formed all sorts of partnerships with entities in Traverse City, from TCAPS to NMC to 20Fathoms. We’ve been looking for opportunities to align on talent development programs, student-teacher placements, research, technology commercialization, and more. For a time, all those partnerships were being managed by people in Houghton. Eventually, though, we just needed boots on the ground here. 2 > Tell us about this MBA. What makes it unique?

Buche: MTU’s MBA program is called the TechMBA®, and it fuses the typical business administration curriculum with a technology aspect. The program was developed with the intention of providing an MBA that would be well-suited for students with STEM-focused backgrounds. 3 > And the plan now is to take that program, which

has traditionally been offered on MTU’s campus in Houghton, and bring it to Traverse City?

Meldrum: Yes, exactly. Students that would prefer to take an all-online asynchronous version of the TechMBA® will have that option, but what we’d like is to have a cohort of students here, in the Traverse Connect building, interacting with one another and going through this experience together. 4 > And that in-person section in Traverse City will

link up with the TechMBA® classes being taught in Houghton?

Meldrum: Yes. The instructors will be in Houghton, as will a group of students, but we’ll connect with that classroom via Zoom during class hours, which are 5:30-8:15pm, Monday through Thursday. 5 > Will there ever be MTU faculty on the ground

here in Traverse City to teach some of those classes in person?

Buche: I think it would be great to have faculty members come down there and meet in person once or twice. That would be another way for us to make more of a physical presence and establish a stronger connection with the students there.

6 > How long does it take to complete the TechMBA®? Buche: The TechMBA® consists of eight core courses, which cover business fundamentals like operations management, financial risk management, business and corporate strategy, and more. Students add two electives to complete the degree. Ultimately, it’s a 30-credit MBA that can be completed in 18 months, or less.

7 > And it’s all evening courses, so that people with

full-time jobs can fit it into their schedules?

Correct. The TechMBA® program, including the remote portion in Traverse City, is structured to allow students to enroll without having to take time off work. 8 > What kinds of advantages do you see this program

bringing to the Traverse City business community?

Meldrum: Something I’ve noticed as a hot topic in northern Michigan is succession planning. There was an event held by Traverse Connect recently on that subject, looking at the trials and pitfalls of the process. That’s an area where I think the TechMBA® could be really helpful to local businesses – specifically for Traverse City manufacturers that are thinking about the future.

9 > Will the program feature any integrations with

Traverse City businesses or the community at large?

Meldrum: In general, MTU education is very experiential. I taught alternative energy at the university, and I would always try to find somebody in the community that needed solar panels, or that wanted to implement some kind of added energy type, whether it was wind turbines or heat pumps. I think we’d like to have similar projects for the local cohort, drawing upon the community for educational ideas.

10 > How about some basic nuts and bolts of the

cohort? Number of students, prerequisites students will need to have to enroll, cost?

Buche: We’re aiming for 12-20 enrollees for our first cohort. The prerequisite courses are Statistics and Principles of Economics, though we recommend students come in with finance and accounting courses under their belts, too. As for cost, the current sticker price for the program is $38,400, which includes all MTU fees, books, and supplies.

11 > Will there be scholarships?

Meldrum: We have been talking with some local folks who want to offer scholarships. I also think people sometimes overlook the opportunities that their employers have for ongoing education and development, so we are working with some local employers to make sure their employers know about the options available to help them pursue the TechMBA®.

12 > MTU has been building its local presence for

years, but offering a local MBA program takes things to a new level. Will other educational opportunities follow?

One program we have been working with NMC is geospatial engineering, also known as surveying. Surveying has become so automated and involves so much data that it now really is an engineering discipline. And because surveying involves both land and sea, we’re working closely between MTU’s Great Lakes Research Center and NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute to build out that side of the program. 13 > Lastly, how can people learn more about the

TechMBA® program?

Buche: Those interested in being a part of the Traverse City cohort can learn more about the program on our website, at www.mtu.edu/business/graduate/techmba, or they can feel free to contact me directly with questions at mwbuche@mtu.edu. Northern Express Weekly • aug 15, 2022 • 13