The exterior of the Tepper Quad

Tepper Adds New Part-Time Program

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business is launching a new part-time MBA degree.

The business school announced Monday that the degree will be for Pittsburgh-area professionals and is designed to provide more flexibility with online, evening, and weekend study.

“This is the MBA program designed for the future of Pittsburgh,” Kathryn Barraclough, head of the MBA program at the Tepper School, says in a press release. “Pittsburgh is rapidly evolving to become a leader in technology, health care and energy, and the Tepper School of Business is committed to help grow the technical and analytical skills of the local workforce to meet the demands necessary for continued growth.”

Part-Time Flex MBA

According to Tepper, the new program, called “The Part-Time Flex MBA”, will take place of the previously offered “Part-Time On-Campus MBA.”

Previously, the original format required part-time students to attend three hours of evening classes on campus at Carnegie Mellon twice a week.

However, under the new format, students will take a combination of intensive in-person weekend classes six times a year on campus and 75-minute courses twice a week online. Additionally, students will also be offered the choice to take electives during the evening, daytime, or online.

Barraclough says the new program is aimed at providing more flexibility for students.

“We’ve heard from many of our part-time candidates, both current students and graduates, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to juggle various demands on their time-full-time jobs, business travel, raising young families-and coming to campus for three hours a night, twice a week is a challenging commitment to keep,” Barraclough says. “The new Part-Time Flex program will give them the flexibility they need without sacrificing the existing high-quality Tepper experience.”

Professional Development

A large number of students Tepper is catering to are part-time students who are looking to advance their careers at their existing company.

One feature that makes the new Tepper program unique is the “Tepper Roadmap”—a three-year personalized professional development plan that, according to Tepper, “emphasizes self-discovery, leadership development, network building and career skills that complements the classroom experience to take a student’s career to the next level.”

Kelly R. Wilson, executive director of masters admissions at Tepper, says the feature is important to help part-time students grow their careers.

“As busy working professionals, we find that our part-time students know where they want their career to go, but they need help creating and executing a plan for how to get there,” Wilson says in a press release. “The Tepper Roadmap provides a framework for students to focus their efforts and the school’s resources to advance their growth during and after the program.”

Sevin Yeltekin, senior associate dean of education at Tepper, says the program will drive the in-demand skills companies are seeking.

“With the Tepper School’s strengths at the intersection of business, technology and analytics — along with CMU’s reputation for expertise and innovation across industries — companies know that our graduates are uniquely prepared to address the business challenges of the 21st century,” Yeltekin says.

Sources: Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Mellon University