Seven students in the Collaborative Master of Business Administration program received their degrees during the May 6 Commencement ceremonies at Eastern Mennonite University.
Administration of the joint 22-month program, including residency weeks, rotates between four universities — EMU, Goshen (Indiana) College, Bluffton University and Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg.
For much of the program, the students participated in live video conference classes. But they came together for a face-to-face session at EMU in August 2016 and then midway through for an experiential learning trip to Costa Rica. Given their choice of locations for concluding presentations and graduation, the group decided to return to EMU, said George Lehman, program director and chair of the division of business studies at Bluffton University.
A guiding principle of the program is “leadership for the common good.” The program focuses on personal formation, competency in business and economic skills, and building relationships.
One reason that Aubrey Bauman-Kreider, vice president of marketing at AMERIgreen Energy, enrolled in the Collaborative MBA program two years ago was for “the opportunity to learn with professors and classmates from across the country and the world.”
That certainly happened: Gathering together for graduation meant air travel for most of the cohort, who hail from four states — Pennsylvania, Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota — and two different countries, Brazil and Mexico.
Ruben Dyck is pastor of youth in the Blumenau Mennonite Church in Chihuahua, Mexico, where he also helps with various organizational and administrative aspects of the church. The online format fit his full-time work schedule, but he also appreciated the emphasis on leadership, common good in the global context, sustainability and the “integration of faith into business,” he said.
As many members of his congregation are businessmen, Dyck says the knowledge and skills he has acquired through the Collaborative MBA program will allow him to “better connect and provide advice” in a challenging economic environment.
Matt Lehman Weins’ final presentation linked his coursework to specific projects he developed as director of donor relations at Mennonite Mission Network.
“There was direct applicability of coursework to many challenges I face in my working environment,” he said, adding that classes allowed him to focus new skills on those challenges. Especially beneficial, Wiens said, were discussions about leadership, which included time to explore his own leadership style and the concept of servant leadership.
“I think this program teaches you how to be a better person, which can benefit you in all aspects of life, whether it’s business leadership or relationships,” said Melissa Stoner, leadership and planned gifts officer for American Friends Service Committee. “And the understanding that the concept of sustainability for an organization goes beyond environmental conception is important.”
The next cohort meets on the Goshen College campus Aug. 9–12 for the opening residency and to get started on MBA 522 Leadership & Management for the Common Good.
Graduates
- Emma J. Brewster, New Buffalo, Mich.;
- Jesse Aaron Aiah Johnson, Minneapolis, Minn.;
- Aubrey L.B. Kreider, Lancaster, Pa.
- Priscilla Magliari Saade, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
- Ruben Jacob Dyck Stoesz, Chihuahua, Mexico;
- Melissa A. Stoner, Philadephia, Pa.;
- Matthew R. Lehman Weins, Wichita, Kan.
More Commencement coverage:
- ‘We Made It!’ EMU confers 540 degrees, and one honorary doctorate, at 100th Commencement
- Leymah Gbowee’s 2018 Commencement Address, Eastern Mennonite University
- CJP graduates from eight states and 12 countries charged to ‘maximize healing’
- Eastern Mennonite Seminary graduates 22 ‘better Christ-followers’ to many callings