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UNLV's College of Business this fall launched a redesigned master of business administration program designed to better meet the needs of today's businesses.

Among the many changes in the MBA program are an increased emphasis on teamwork, a greater emphasis on international studies, and the offering of a number of concentrations in areas such as entrepreneurship and health care administration.

And plans for further changes, such as joint degree offerings with other colleges at UNLV, including perhaps the William S. Boyd School of Law and the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, are in the works. Another development that is in the planning stages is an executive MBA program that would allow students to earn their degrees by going to school only on weekends.

"What we're doing is redesigning our program so that our graduates will be better equipped to be leaders in the businesses of today and tomorrow," said Elvin Lashbrooke, dean of the college. "We want students to choose UNLV for their business studies because they know that here they will find a quality education that will prepare them for the demands of a rapidly changing business environment."

Nasser Daneshvary, the college's associate dean, said the previous MBA program was very good but had originally been designed many years ago for the business climate that existed at that time. While modifications had been made over the years to keep up with trends in the business community, the time had come for a major reworking of the program, he said.

"In the old days, for instance, people in the business field often specialized in a single area such as accounting or marketing. Things were fairly compartmentalized," Daneshvary said. "Today, a person's primary duties may be in the marketing area, but that person must know about many other aspects of the business as well if he or she wants to be competitive in the marketplace.

"The new program prepares students to succeed in today's business environment by providing them with the needed skills, knowledge, and tools to become visionary and creative leaders," he said. "The program focuses on ethics and critical thinking, business communications, the role of the firm and its goals and markets, firms' strategic planning and positioning, value chain management approach, international business culture, technology management, integration of curriculum, and teamwork."

To provide a focus for the creation of the new program, the college developed both a vision statement and a mission statement.

The vision statement calls for the college "to be the college of choice for business and administration in Nevada and the Intermountain Region."

The mission statement directs the college "to advance the knowledge and practice of the disciplines that constitute business and administration and to foster the intellectual and economic vitality of Nevada and the Intermountain Region through teaching, research, and outreach."

Among the highlights of the new program are:
-- a holistic approach to business management that starts with the role of the firm, its goals and markets, and its strategic planning and positioning.
-- major course modules with team teaching using cross-departmental faculty and a greater emphasis on student teamwork.
-- a "capstone experience" that will integrate important issues in the MBA core and provide students with a specific business problem they will work to solve as a team.
-- accommodating the needs of both full- and part-time students by offering courses during nontraditional hours, such as early morning and evening.
-- maximizing students' learning and accommodating students' schedules by offering courses in full- and half-semester models.
-- offering dual concentrations in areas such as economics for decision-making, entrepreneurship, finance, health care administration, human resources, international, marketing, and production and operations management.

For additional information on the MBA program, call the MBA office at 895-3655.