Full-time UST MBA

Applied Learning

Being relevant in today’s business world means having the confidence and ability to compete in a changing marketplace. Theory without the experience of practical application can leave managers hesitant when facing challenges common to complex organizations.

In the Full-time UST MBA, you will practice what you are learning in live simulations and actual business environments. The confidence and expertise gained from this will help you confront and resolve the issues you encounter throughout your professional career.

Discover what makes the UST MBA so relevant by exploring these practical application opportunities.

   Communication, Leader Development and Ethics Labs
Consulting Project
Business Simulation Project
Investment Fund Management
Teams

   Communication, Leader Development and Ethics Labs

In addition to coursework and team projects, the Full-time UST MBA curriculum includes personalized lab sessions in which students practice the essential skills of business leadership. You will work one-one-one with business communication and leadership professionals who coach business people on leadership competencies, presentations, reports and interpersonal communication.

Communication Labs enhance your ability to communicate skillfully using effective writing, persuasive speaking and successful media management. While the core curriculum provides you with solid skills in all core business functions, the communication skills gained through the labs are essential in order to transfer your knowledge to others, lead organizations and people and navigate your career. Instructors in our communication labs are professionals who bring their experience coaching corporate leaders into the UST MBA classroom. Your presentations in core classes are captured on video, critiqued and evaluated by our communication instructors who provide invaluable feedback to your growth and development as an effective business leader.

Leader Development Labs offer insights into your own work strengths, motives, values and developmental needs in the business environment and develop healthy processes for self-management and leadership of important business relationships. Our lab instructor challenges you through a guided, hands-on personal leadership assessment, strategy and action throughout your 21 months. In the Full-time UST MBA, you will develop personal statements of leadership, identify leadership personality strengths and potential pitfalls, practice your leadership abilities and evaluate yourself and your peers through 360 degree feedback sessions. We refine your approach to leadership through active workshops on diversity management, enlightening executive speakers and intensive discussions after visiting corporate leadership institutes.

Ethics Lab sessions take you to local companies to learn how ethical dilemmas arise as part of the daily practice of business. Lab work expands on ethical concepts covered in all core classes and helps you discover real-life, real-time responses to situations in which values compete or conflict. In the Full-time UST MBA, our ethics lab instructor will show you how to bring your individual values to the workplace to foster organizational growth and ethical decision-making. Students visit organizations that put ethics into practice, such as  Medtronic Corporation, a Fortune 500 medical company.

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   Consulting Project: Applied Business Research

Full-time UST MBA student teams are partnered with clients to conduct a research project for a Minneapolis/St. Paul organization. Consulting project clients include small business, major multinational corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. While projects vary, each team is responsible for analyzing a major challenge the company is facing, collecting information and delivering practical solutions to the company's needs. This project is far more than a theoretical exercise that results in paper output. Rather, you will learn to define the score of a project, identify questions that need to be answered, collect information and develop solutions that can be implemented to produce results.

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   Business Simulation Project

The sophisticated business simulation project offered throughout the Full-time UST MBA is a launching pad for students in the first semester and a comprehensive capstone experience in the final semester. Teams make weekly decisions about opportunities, product development, strategy, production and positioning in the global marketplace. Students receive weekly feedback on sales results, market share, stock prices and bottom-line profits. The business simulation enables students to more fully integrate all the elements of our solid MBA education: teamwork, analytical skills, communication skills, core disciplinary knowledge, strategic thinking and effective decision-making.

In the second year each class elects CEOs who must then recruit and form their own leadership teams to run their simulated companies. Students are required to call upon their core business knowledge, assess challenges and implement plans of action. Full-time UST MBA students become exponentially better at identifying where the payoff resides in a range of choices, which is exactly what is asked of them in the intensely competitive business community today.

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   Investment Fund Management: The St. Thomas Aristotle Fund

The Aristotle Fund is the student-managed investment fund of the University of St. Thomas. The fund was established by a large gift from an anonymous donor and is managed by graduate business students. The Investment Fund Management class is responsible for the day-to-day management of the fund. Although the fund is an actual course for credit, it functions somewhat like a club. Students can apply to take the course as one of their electives.

The class focuses on practical, hands-on experience in individual stock valuation and portfolio management. Student managers commit nine months to the management of the fund from September through May. Their class meets weekly but the students are expected to maintain contact more frequently through phone and e-mail correspondence. Student managers have access to a trading room on campus where they can meet to conduct research and discuss strategy. They are responsible for all administrative duties necessary to manage the fund—trading, presentation materials and performance reporting. The time commitment for the course is substantial as the students are managing real money for the University.

Visit the Aristotle Fund's web site for more information.

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   Teams

Today's workplaces are team-oriented. An organization's most important work is accomplished through the efforts of formal and informal groups of diverse employees sharing their ideas and expertise. To function effectively on such teams, today's leaders need the interpersonal skills to bring out the best in each team member, foster creativity and cooperation and channel conflict constructively.

The Full-time UST MBA curriculum makes extensive use of rotating teams and groups to simulate the work environment while tackling class projects. You will  work with a progressively larger group of people, allowing you to interact with a variety of personalities and styles. Additionally, students process their group and team experiences in leadership labs that help them identify their strengths and weaknesses in leading others in a group environment.

Course schedules include time periods designated for teams to meet, and Full-time UST MBA spaces include rooms designed specifically for team processes and projects.

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