In the Executive MBA’s 17-year history, never before has the program been as well-positioned in LA’s competitive higher education market as it is today. Student enrollment has steadily increased over the last few years, more than doubling in size since 2011. LMU EMBA students are a very diverse group of professionals with more female representation than other schools. And thanks to a much-needed renovation, EMBA students now have access to state-of-the-art classroom facilities and technology.
LMU’s Executive MBA was recently ranked for the first time by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best programs in the nation, landing 5th in the West and 19th overall. In addition, CEO Magazine placed LMU’s EMBA in the “tier one” global category and 9th overall among business schools across North America and Europe.
“What an honor to see our EMBA ranked highly among so many excellent programs,” said Stafford. “This recognition reflects the high quality, dedication and deep engagement of our faculty, staff, students and alumni.”
Due to widespread technological innovations, the EMBA program is making efforts to enhance its curriculum to better position its students for success. A “Business Analytics” pilot course was taught last spring in response to the explosion of Big Data and the increasing demand for professionals who can interpret this internal/external data in a meaningful way. This course, which transitioned from a basic statistics course, is being offered again this spring.
“The students all agreed this was a valuable course; the challenge is how to make it relevant for all students, regardless of experience or background,” said CIS Professor Kala Seal who co-teaches the course.
The EMBA Program is also looking to incorporate more technology into its curriculum by introducing a new course titled “Management in the Technological Future.” The course will help students better understand the nature of technology in the workplace and how technology can impact an organization. The initial plan is to focus on three areas of technology: artificial intelligence, robotics and 3-D printing.
“Not a lot of attention is being placed on technology in other EMBA programs so we see this as a real opportunity to distinguish ourselves from our competitors,” said Stafford. “Our goal is to develop effective, principled senior leaders who are technically savvy and analytically strong. We want to give our graduates the best tools to succeed once they leave the program.”
