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Gonzaga School of Business Administration programs soar in U.S. News’ latest graduate school rankings
April 29, 2024
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Gonzaga University News Service
Gonzaga University’s MBA program in its School of Business Administration moved up 10 spots in this year’s U.S. News and World Report Graduate School Rankings, placing 53rd on the 2024 list.
In addition to the MBA program, which is offered in-person and online, several of the business school’s other graduate programs had impressive results in this year’s rankings, including Accounting (No. 41), Entrepreneurship (No. 11), Finance (No. 21) , Management (No. 21) and Project Management (No. 4).
Ken Anderson, dean of the Gonzaga School of Business Administration, says the new rankings “speak to the high quality of our graduate business programs and the thoughtfulness in which they are delivered. We have an excellent brand.”
With the MBA ranking in particular, Anderson credits his colleagues at the school – administrators, faculty and staff – as well as the students who join Gonzaga to pursue their graduate studies for continually raising the bar for what postgraduate studies -graduation from business school can be.
Director of Gonzaga MBA Programs and Associate Professor of Management Rebecca Bull Schaefer says it is “delightful” to see a program of Gonzaga’s size climb the rankings. She attributes this success to “our students and our community.”
“We have a large group of students who want to come to Gonzaga because they want to build networks and build family and community, and they want to get involved,” Bull Schaefer says.
“That’s something that makes us really unique compared to other MBA programs that might, say, partner with large, publicly traded institutions. We have many relationships with national and small organizations that are based here in Spokane. And with non-profit organizations too. [Students] They are looking to us because of our holistic way of teaching. They love our emphasis on ethics and social justice. We are attracting a special group of professionals.”
Contemplating the strength of graduate business programs, Anderson says it comes from a combination of three things: “a high-quality business education, grounded in Jesuit values and strengthened by our focus on the individual student.”
Given the dynamic nature of higher education in 2024, the School of Business Administration is always working to meet the needs of students competing in a volatile and rapidly evolving employment environment. New programs have appeared online recently and are just starting to get noticed.
“Our two most recent programs, the Virtual MBA and the Masters in Business Analytics, are still being studied,” notes Anderson. “Both are great programs in Gonzaga’s graduate business tradition.”
Bull Schaefer emphasizes flexibility within graduate programs – some of which evolved from necessary changes during the early days of the pandemic, and some that were adopted to meet the needs of modern students and businesses – as attractive aspects of a graduate in administration from GU Education. Although core MBA classes are offered each semester, electives change regularly and reflect changes in the workforce.
“Our electives are taught primarily by professionals from the local community, experts in the field,” says Bull Schaefer. “We have cybersecurity for non-technical managers. We have some social media apps for realtors. We are offering a labor law course so that managers understand the employee life cycle. Electives change depending on what students need and what’s happening in the economy.”
Among other features of the program that prove appealing to students are a partnership with the Gonzaga Career Center on a “professional development championship program” that complements classroom academic work with classes on social media, interview preparation and field trips. newsletters for local businesses. “This way, people feel much more comfortable in the job market and know how to use online tools to find the next opportunity,” says Bull Schaefer.
There is also a two-week trip to Italy each summer for both working professionals and graduate students, which is evolving into a fall course in partnership with Gonzaga’s Florence campus. “This is definitely a partnership we are building. It’s good to develop intercultural skills and be able to see the world”, says Bull Schaefer.
Explore the School of Business Administration’s graduate programs