CBE launches college-to-career program

Thomas Farrell ’15 finished Lehigh with a journalism degree, but he wants to refine his analytical and quantitative skills to better position himself for a career in the financial industry.

French major Garilania Reyes ’15 wants to be able to leverage her knowledge of biology and languages to get a job in healthcare management.

Charlie Baldwin ’15, who has a degree in environmental studies, wants to be become fluent in the language of business as he pursues his career interests in sustainable development.

Count them among the 22 students in the inaugural class of the new Master of Science in Management (M²) program in the College of Business and Economics. The full-time, 10-month program—the first to be launched in the region—is designed to give recently graduated, non-business degree students the core business skills they’ll need to succeed in today’s competitive job market.

Orientation for the 2015-16 academic year got under way Aug. 10, with workshops, networking opportunities and how-to sessions with industry leaders.

“This is an exciting day for us,” said Andrew Ward, associate dean for graduate programs and the Charlot and Dennis E. Singleton chair, on the first day of orientation. “We’ve reached the starting line.”

The inaugural class includes recent college graduates who received degrees in a cross-section of disciplines, including bioengineering, psychology, physics, computer engineering, behavioral neuroscience, English, international relations and chemical engineering.

“You all have very different expertise,” Ward pointed out. The value in that, he said, is that the students will bring different perspectives to issues in the program.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, the students share a desire to develop a fundamental business skillset that will give them an edge in their search for high-level job opportunities. Many also hope the program will help them refine their career goals.

The offerings, said Shannon Cassidy ’16, who has a degree in global studies and political science, is “a recipe for success.”

Program Director Mary Theresa Taglang tapped experts in the students’ chosen career fields to join in the two-week orientation sessions so that the students could learn about career opportunities.

Among the speakers were Steven Berns, chief financial officer for Shutterstock; Jim Davis, director of demand planning and customer service for Colgate-Palmolive; Ellen Iobst ’81, senior vice president for Sunny Delight Beverage Co.; Christy Harper, director of staffing at Lutron; Richard Brandt, director of the Iacocca Institute at Lehigh, Jon Cozens ’04, ‘08G , managing director of New Energy Risk; Allan Blanchard ’86G, president and chief executive officer at EMS Environmental Inc., and Wendy Branche ’90, vice president of Global Organizational Effectiveness at Tyco.

“It’s exciting to be part of the inaugural class,” said Farrell, adding that students were already bonding through team exercises. “There’s been a good energy in the room so far.”

In just the opening few days of orientation, he said, students had learned how to enhance their personal brands and to make the most of networking opportunities, including through LinkedIn.

“We’re trying to act like sponges and take it all in,” said Farrell.

Baldwin, who traveled to Nicaragua twice and India as part of his studies, minored in sustainable development at Lehigh. He has an interest in renewable energy, but could also see himself working at the crossroads of the entertainment, education and environmental fields. Given the three pillars of sustainability—social, environment, and economic—he said the M² program will help him strengthen his knowledge of the economic arm of a sustainable system.

Baldwin said he knew there would be “a lot of positive energy” with the launch of a new program, and he wanted to be part of it. “Because I can see myself possibly going into so many different directions [with a career], this was very attractive to me,” he said.

M² students will earn 30 credits through lockstep courses in accounting, finance, statistics, management, economics and marketing. They also will have the option of a study trip to Peru over winter break.