Jack Hulse was working in management when he enrolled in Chapman University’s master of organizational leadership program. Hulse felt he didn’t need a master of business administration and appreciated that this program included course work in ethics. Grad school provided another benefit. “It helped me get a better job,” says Hulse, a senior vice president at Diversified Title Insurance.

The manager of Chapman’s human relations program, Mimi Murray, says students report “that a graduate degree is highly valued, especially when moving up a career ladder where other candidates have similar work experience, background or skills. This is even more the case when the economy is soft.”

As Hulse discovered, the traditional MBA is not the only option for a graduate business degree from one of the region’s colleges and universities.

Experienced managers enroll in executive MBA programs. Master of science business programs are targeted at people with recent undergraduate business degrees. Those aspiring for Ph.D. credentials can pursue a doctorate in business administration or strategic management at Alliant International University.

Some students study for degrees in two disciplines. UC Irvine offers a dual MBA/MD degree. The University of San Diego and SDSU have master of business administration/juris doctorate degree programs. Students in USD’s program attend classes on campus; SDSU partners for the four-year degree with Cal Western School of Law.

Another option for business students is taking courses in a specific area to earn an MBA with a specific emphasis or concentration. MBA students at University of Redlands can earn an emphasis in global business, information systems or finance. New this fall is a geographic information systems, or GIS, emphasis. It consists of four courses developed in partnership with ESRI, a Redlands-based developer of GIS software and technology.

Classes start in October, and non-MBA students can take the four courses to earn a GIS certificate. The certificate also can be applied to an MBA emphasis, says Kathy Chennault, university marketing analyst.

Chennault notes that industries using GIS software include retail, real estate, finance, government, environmental agencies and transportation. Businesses employ GIS “to improve productivity, improve profitability and more effectively use existing data,” reports Michael Phoenix, ESRI education solutions manager.

Another new program is the MBA in sustainable management at Presidio World, an affiliate of Alliant International University. Classes for the green program started in August in San Francisco, says Ali Abu-Rahma, assistant dean of the business college at Alliant’s San Diego campus. “If it goes well, we will have it down here,” he says.

The new program blends environmental concerns with business skills. Alliant’s current San Diego programs include the MBA, international MBA and MBA with a strategic management concentration. Also, the university and UCSD joined for a strategic management certificate program.

Specializations Are Not For Everyone

CSU San Marcos’ MBA program for fully employed students “is designed for the generalist, the manager or leader, as opposed to the functional area specialist,” says Keith Butler, MBA program director. “The curriculum integrates traditional business disciplines and recognizes the importance of both theory and practice. The program emphasizes skills and values essential to effective leadership: ethics, communication, teamwork, a global viewpoint, use of technology, problem recognition and solving.”

Course schedules allow students to take three classes per term by coming evenings and/or Saturdays, says Butler. The 36-unit program includes a three-unit master’s project. An additional 12 units of foundation courses are required for students who haven’t completed a recent undergraduate degree in business or a course of study that provides the foundation background, says Butler.

Keller Graduate School of Management of De Vry University has seven graduate business programs, says Thomas Horstmann, San Diego school director. The MBA is the most popular degree, followed by the project management degree. There’s also strong interest in the master of accounting and financial management, says Horstmann. Keller also offers graduate degrees in human resource management, information systems management, telecommunications and public administration. Graduate business students can earn an emphasis in those subjects, says Horstmann.

Core courses are offered on campus. Other courses are held in a classroom or online, allowing students to combine direct instruction with distance learning via their computers.

Two Years Or Three Years

SDSU has 49-unit MBA programs and master of science degrees in business administration and accounting. The part-time MBA takes three years, a year longer than the full-time program. Students who earned an undergraduate business degree within the last five years can enroll in the 30-unit MS business program.

The executive MBA program at SDSU is on a two-year track with students meeting on Fridays and Saturdays. “We have a range of graduate programs to meet the needs of people,” says Candace Williams, EMBA program director.

National University held its first executive MBA course in January, reports Nancy Bush, associate chair of the business department. That class was online. Bush says the program will probably be a hybrid, with some courses on campus and others online.

Students in the traditional MBA program can earn a specialization in finance, human resources and electronic business.

National’s MS in organizational leadership is for those who are proficient in functional business areas. These students want to learn how to better work with people, says Bush.

UC Irvine has a 21-month executive MBA program and a two-year health care executive MBA program. Both begin in the fall. EMBA classes are held Friday and Saturdays every other week. Students in the health care EMBA program meet once a month from Thursday evening through Sunday noon.

Students can enter the fully employed MBA program in the fall or spring. Program length ranges from 27 to 33 months. Duration is based on when a person starts and if classes are taken during summer. The cohort structure means that a group of students begin and finish the program together.

This provides a sense of camaraderie, says Tony Hansford, program director. Program cost includes books, meals and parking.

The New UCSD MBA

At UCSD, classes in the executive MBA program begin in fall 2004, says Robert Sullivan, dean of the new Graduate School of Management. There are 65 seats available, and students will meet on alternate Fridays and Saturdays. Sullivan says the focus will be on science, technology and health — areas related to the future of the region.

Looking ahead, the graduate school will launch its full-time MBA program in fall 2005. Joint degrees under consideration include an MBA/MD offered in conjunction with the UCSD School of Medicine.

The business school also will begin offering customized forums for entities such as UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering. The grad school will hold courses this fall for the engineering school.

The University of San Diego’s graduate programs include the MBA and the International MBA, says Jerry Singleton, business school director of graduate operations.

USD students also can earn an MS in accounting and finance, executive leadership, global leadership, information technology or supply chain management. Each MBA program is 48 units; MS programs range from 30 to 36 units.

Programs like the supply chain management degree grew out of the recommendations from USD’s institutes advisory boards. Institutes conduct research and coordinate activities, providing a “formal link off the mesa to leaders in the business world,” says Singleton. (USD’s Leadership Institute for Entrepreneurs opens with a Nov. 14 conference.)

Global Management And Health Care

University of Phoenix offers a general MBA degree, MBAs with an emphasis and a master of arts in organizational management. The MBA prepares people to manage an organization’s capital assets like finances, and organizational management students learn to manage human capital, says Michael Reilly, chair of the Graduate College of Business and Management. Those enrolled in the master of arts program include police officers seeking to advance and people working for nonprofit organizations.

Reilly says that the MBA with a global management emphasis attracts students ranging from people doing business with maquiladoras to working in law enforcement.

People in the medical profession take courses for an MBA with a health care management emphasis. Reilly says the MBA/technology management program draws students from a range of backgrounds. “Most have a technical degree of some sort — in engineering, chemistry, biology or computer science.”

MBA and organizational management students take some of the same courses. This overlap “tends to give students a variety of perspectives,” says Reilly. “They bring such diverse ideas and experience into the classroom.”

While the general MBA remains a valuable degree, campus officials continue to develop new graduate business programs. Courses in USD’s MS in real estate program start next year, and Bush says National University is considering programs in biotech, women’s business and entrepreneurship.