A new fully online graduate program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management offers students the ability to develop well-rounded skills that will help them confidently advance through the corporate ranks as business leaders.
Accepting applications now and beginning in the fall 2020 semester, the Jindal School’s MS in Management Science Online degree program is offering what Dr. Scott Janke, the program’s director, describes as “the most flexible MS program you can get at JSOM.”
“With only four core classes, you can take up to eight electives from any department within JSOM,” said Janke, a senior lecturer in the Operations Management Area.
Students, Janke said, can take a wide range of electives and choose from 15 concentrations to develop into business leaders who know how to solve problems.
“My focus is on getting students in the program to take a few more general business courses along with a focused concentration,” he said. “For many people, this is the last degree they will get. … I encourage my students to make this a degree where they know they have the skill sets to be able to work for the next 20 years in elevating their role in an organization.”
Gaining Perspective, Maximizing Potential
The program, Janke said, offers courses that are both quantitative and qualitative in nature, thus providing graduates a well-balanced perspective of how an organization works and how best to maximize its potential. Core courses are business analytics, database foundations, statistics and data analysis, and spreadsheet modeling and analytics. Electives could include entrepreneurship, marketing, operations management and organizational behavior.
“Graduates will be well prepared to address the current and future needs of an organization, he said. “They will be the specialized generalists of the organization, adaptable and proficient in multiple business areas.”
Best of all, the 12-class, 36 semester-credit-hour STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program is self-paced and asynchronous, meaning that students can access coursework from anywhere, anytime — including internationally.
“Many of our students work all day and maybe have a family to support,” Janke said. “It really helps not to have to drive through afternoon rush hour to get to class on time. In addition, many of our students are international. With the current COVID-19 lockdown impacting those wishing to pursue a U.S.-based graduate program, the online program provides them an alternative.”
The graduate management science program at the Jindal School can act as a catalyst to help graduates cover the ambiguity that most careers will experience, Janke said.
“This program is so flexible that it can help you define your own boundaries,” he said. “Our students are finished in 18 to 24 months and are ready to succeed.”
