Director’s Message
Happy New Year from the Professional MBA faculty and staff!
When the Professional MBA program was started in 1998, there were some people concerned that the program could not survive long-term because we would exhaust our market. I am proud to say that they were WAY WRONG! ProMBA continues to grow and thrive!
2010 was a great year! We minted 53 new grads in December, bringing our alumni total to nearly 500, and we admitted a record class of 70 students in August of 2010. We have added project advisors and leadership development coaches, keeping our student-faculty ratios low. Our customer service is still terrific because program coordinators Ruth Topley and Sherry Snider are still here, staying on top of student, faculty, and alumni needs, and we’ve hired a new assistant director, Kim Mallory (ProMBA ‘09).
ProMBA continues to offer the high-quality, high-touch experience that has made a difference for so many people.
The primary reason ProMBA continues to thrive and grow is because of you. It seems as if every new student has some connection to the Professional MBA family, and that makes our job easy and fun. Please keep referring people to ProMBA, inviting me to speak at your companies, sharing my emails with your friends, and sending me updates and articles to share with your classmates.
Here are a few other highlights from 2010:
ProMBA Rocks Latin America
- The 2010 international trip involved a week in beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina. We toured factories and visited with U.S. embassy representatives and Argentine government and business executives to learn about the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Latin America. We also squeezed in some fun, including a day-trip to Uruguay.
- The 2011 class will travel to Santiago, Chile, this March. You will have the opportunity to follow their adventures via a travelogue that will be posted to our website. Information on accessing the travelogue will be emailed to all alums before the trip.
ProMBA Dominated the Alumni Networking Reception
Last May, the Center for Executive Education hosted a networking event for Knoxville-area alums from all of UT’s MBA programs (executive-level and full-time). It was great to see all of the Professional MBA alumni who took the time to stop by Calhoun’s on the River for a few hours of casual networking. Several receptions are being planned for 2011 in Knoxville and in the Tri-Cities, Chattanooga, and Nashville, so watch your email for more information soon.
Hope you enjoy eConnections. It’s another way for us to keep you connected to ProMBA. If there is anything else we can do for you, please let me know.
All best,
Doc