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Astrid Sheil, Dean,
Halpin-Harrison Hall, Room 104
(540) 665-4572, asheil@su.edu

Explore the School of Business on our university website.

Mission

The mission of the School of Business is to educate its students to become successful, principled leaders with a global perspective.

Students will graduate with confidence in their ability to solve problems, be an effective communicator and work successfully as individuals and team members. The graduate curriculum prepares students to operate in a dynamic, ever-changing global business environment.

Vision

The School of Business will become recognized as a provider of individualized business education driven by entrepreneurial thinking, global understanding and ethical practice.

Guiding Principles

The School of Business carries out its mission through its commitment to four guiding principles — learning, integrity, recognizing the contributions of others and continuous improvement.

MBA Program Learning Goals

The learning goals for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program are driven by the business school’s mission statement, which is to “educate its students to become successful, principled leaders with a global perspective.” It includes the following concepts:

1. Successful: to be able to make and communicate effective decisions.
   1. To gather, validate, structure and communicate information, leveraging technology, in support of decision-making. [Application]
   2. To apply widely accepted, known decision models that are appropriate to the situation. [Analysis/Synthesis]
   3. To integrate knowledge across business functions to identify the best decision. [Evaluation]
2. Principled: to be able to act ethically.
   1. To apply ethical foundations to the role of business professionals in corporate, partnership and/or small business settings. [Application, Analysis, Synthesis]
   2. To recognize potential ethical dilemmas, evaluate their consequences and select the best course of action to follow. [Synthesis]
3. Leaders: to be able to demonstrate leadership qualities.
   1. To develop an action plan for developing leadership skills in oneself and others through a process of self-examination, classification of strengths and weaknesses and concluding with an appropriate leadership style. [Application, Analysis, Synthesis]
   2. To select the best style of leadership after assessing the situation, people involved and the organization. [Synthesis]
4. Global Perspective: to be able to function effectively in a global business environment.
   1. To demonstrate the ability to adjust business goals to global changes. [Application]
   2. To analyze how this adjustment affects each of the major business functions when moving from a domestic operation to a global operation. [Analysis]
   3. To develop an enterprise strategic plan to respond to the global marketplace. [Synthesis]
   4. To assess the achievements of a strategic plan and compare it to best practices in the field. [Evaluation]

MBA Program Description

The School of Business is committed to providing high-quality educational programs that assist individuals in their preparation to become principled leaders within the global business environment. The program is “value-added” for both the individuals who are pursuing the degree as well as for organizations that support them in their quest for higher education. Students bring knowledge and experience of their own work environments to bear on the educational process, enriching the learning experience for everyone. Graduates of the program attain increased confidence in their ability to identify problems and implement solutions, either individually or as creative members of business teams. Today’s managers need broad organizational understanding to successfully plan and discharge their areas of authority and responsibility. They need to know how to motivate, lead and work with people to accomplish organizational and personal objectives. The program is applicable for managers and leaders working in entrepreneurial enterprises, corporations and governmental agencies regardless of their undergraduate studies. Classroom discussions, seminars and integrated case studies prove especially valuable to managers whose formal undergraduate education was highly specialized.

The advantages of the Shenandoah University MBA program include:

• Accredited by AACSB International
• Small classes with high level of student-faculty interaction
• Experienced, caring faculty
• Evening and weekend classes for varying work schedules
• No need to relocate job, family or home
• New state-of-the-art building
• Provides additional hours to fulfill the CPA licensure requirement

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