Now the ever-popular MBA is at hand for business students who want to earn that prestigious Master in Business Administration degree. California State University Bakersfield, who ranks among the top universities in this graduate field, is offering an “MBA Experience” this September.
Despite our hard economic times this is good news for local graduates of Antelope Valley College and others that at long last the region is attracting four-year schools.
According to Dr. Michael Bedell, CSUB program director, the MBA curriculum which is designed for application to the real world, includes a faculty, all of whom have doctoral degrees with work experience related to business. Traditional entry levels are executives in insurance, health care, accounting, management, human resources, and others. The entire cost for the up-to-two-year program is approximately $20,000, and the classes meet two hours two nights per week.
The CSUB School of Business and Public Administration has earned accreditation from AACSB representing the highest standards of achievement for business schools (among only 5% of business schools worldwide.) For information go to www.csub.edu.bpa.
For years local students seeking four-year-college education have been forced to travel out of the Antelope Valley to study for bachelor and master’s degrees. But in recent years the region has seen the establishment of several state universities: CSUB at the Lancaster Learning Center and on the Antelope Valley College campus and California State University Long Beach.
Bob Johnstone of the Aerospace Office and other employers have warned about the shortage of engineers and technical workers and have advocated for technical education be made available here. As a result, Dr. Dhushy Sathianathan, associate dean of the CSULB College of Engineering, announced recently that the university was starting mechanical and electrical engineering classes at the Lancaster University Center this fall.
AVC President Jackie Fisher said, “Quite often our children leave the area for their education and never return. Local employers who hire from outside our Valley have retention issues. This is great that students who have an aptitude in math and science can get on the fast track to an engineering career by attending AVC and getting a bachelor’s degree from CSULB.”
Then there are a variety of private colleges, some of which have been around since the early 1970s: Brandman University (formerly Chapman University) and Emory Riddle Aeronautical University. More recently, Lancaster natives Marcus and Sandra Johnson founded the University of Antelope Valley in Lancaster, that offers assorted technical and academic certificates and degrees, and West Coast Baptist College on the east side of Lancaster offers four years of religious education. Others are the University of Phoenix, the DeVry University, and the Aero Institute in Palmdale.
