Keep Your Day Job…

and Build Your Career

How working professionals can build their business expertise without interrupting their careers by enrolling in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Evening MBA program..

By Bill Shepard

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Let’s say you’re a working professional considering enrollment in an MBA program.

Chances are, you’ll have to make a tough decision: whether to quit or curtail your job to enroll full-time.

But at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, you’re in luck.

More business people are discovering that they can continue working while receiving world-class MBA educations by attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Evening MBA program.

“Our program helps companies retain their best people, since they stay employed while they are enrolled,” explains Michael Knetter, dean of the School of Business at UW-Madison. “For students, the return on their investment in the Wisconsin Evening MBA program lies in a better long-term career progression, a higher salary and a more fulfilling career overall.”

Courses typically are held two nights per week, and the entire program takes just three years to complete. Created in response to input from companies and prospective students, the program also is structured in a lock-step cohort format, meaning the same group of students takes courses together during the entire program. The result is a challenging learning experience that blends rigorous academics with the students’ daily “real life” experiences on the job.

“The international trip, now required in the program, is a big plus,” notes Donald Hausch, associate dean and professor for the Wisconsin full-time and Evening MBA programs at the School of Business. Hausch, the academic director for the Wisconsin Evening MBA program, says the value of the international trip is that students “interact with businesses, government and ministry officials, expatriates — they would never get these different experiences all rolled into one trip anywhere else.”

“Besides the international trip and the Milwaukee-Madison shuttle service for Wisconsin Evening MBA students planned this fall, other factors distinguish this program from offerings at other schools,” says Linda Uitvlugt, program director.

Other benefits she lists are the program’s “world-class faculty, tuition consistent with our peer institutions, such as the University of North Carolina and the University of Michigan, and being part of a nationally recognized business school.” (In 2006, UW-Madison’s full-time MBA program was ranked 31st nationwide in U.S. News and World Report, and as of January, the London Financial Times ranked it 19th among U.S. public university programs.)

How is the program boosting careers and helping companies? Here’s what a few recent graduates had to say.

Looking back, Hollenstein is glad that he graduated from the Wisconsin Evening MBA program.

“All of my promotions stem from what I learned through this program,” says Hollenstein, who rose from a product manager to his current position as vice president of product management at Duluth Trading Co. in Belleville, Wis. “It gave me a broader business perspective, helped me hone my management skills and strengthened my expertise in marketing and product development.”

Hollenstein had considered enrolling full-time in an MBA program but was attracted to the Evening MBA program because he could continue working full-time at Duluth Trading Co.

“If you can apply what you learned at night in the program to what you do in your day job, you get so much more out of the experience,” he says. “It is a real benefit.”

Hollenstein appreciates the fact that the “day professors teach at night, so you receive the same high-caliber instruction that full-time MBA students get.”

When asked if he would recommend the program to colleagues in the business world, Hollenstein’s response is a resounding “yes.”

“You learn the latest concepts and theories from the best professors, and you also benefit from and share best practices with fellow students who work for medium to large companies,” he says. “It’s the best of all worlds.”

For Higgins, deciding on an MBA program wasn’t difficult.

“When I found out UW-Madison had an Evening MBA Program, it was abundantly clear to me where I would receive my degree," says Higgins, who works for American Family Insurance in Madison. “I knew the MBA would greatly expand my knowledge of business operations and position me to continually add value to my organization.”

She already was sold on the strength of UW-Madison’s academic excellence, having received her bachelor’s degree in business administration there. Once she embarked on the Evening MBA Program path, it led her to new heights both academically and professionally.

“Learning to speak their ‘language’ — the language of business executives across the organization — greatly enhanced my role as a leadership trainer and coach,” she explains.

Six months prior to graduating from the program, she was promoted to business analyst in American Family’s information technology division.

“I have to rely on a variety of business skills as I work with our executive team to identify strategies and solutions to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations,” she says. “It’s a very challenging position that is both rewarding for me and beneficial to the organization.”

Thanks in part to the Wisconsin Evening MBA program, Higgins enjoys even greater job satisfaction while contributing to American Family’s competitive edge.

You might say Martin already had “made it” in the business world.

“I had a nice job working for a Fortune 500 company,” he says. “After eight years, though, I wanted to venture out on my own and go into business for myself.”

But before he took the plunge into the world of entrepreneurship, Martin had to arm himself with the knowledge needed to succeed.

“A former colleague of mine highly recommended the Wisconsin Evening MBA program, and after looking into it I noticed that a growing number of successful business people have graduated from the program,” he explains. “It wasn’t long before I realized it offered exactly what I needed.”

Besides the program’s rigorous academic strengths and excellent faculty, Martin found that his fellow classmates were a great resource for learning.

“The breadth and depth of the experiences and relationships you build in this program will last you for a lifetime,” he says.

These experiences and a strong foundation of business knowledge enabled him to launch the Orange Shoe Gym, a successful Madison-based personalized physical fitness center where he serves as president. Not a day goes by in which Martin doesn’t find himself putting into practice the theoretical and practical concepts he mastered in the Evening MBA program.

As Martin sums it up: “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the Evening MBA program.”

Although she didn’t have a strong business background, that didn’t stop Hinz from advancing her career in the field.

“My background was in health care, but I knew deep down that I wanted to move in a different direction: business,” Hinz explains.

After investigating various MBA programs, she recognized that UW-Madison offered the best combination of strengths through its Evening MBA program.

“I chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison because of its excellent faculty and great academic reputation,” she says. “And best of all, I could keep working while I was enrolled in the program.”

It wasn’t long before Hinz made a big career switch at Covance, the Madison-based drug development firm where she worked. After one year in the program, Hinz switched from the clinical laboratory area to the marketing department, a move that she credits in large part to the marketing courses she took in the Evening MBA program.

“The program also is structured so you can get additional instruction if you need it,” she says. “Extra sessions are offered, and the professors are very flexible and willing to help you when you need it. They want you to succeed.”

Thanks to the Wisconsin Evening MBA program, business professionals like these can grow intellectually and professionally, without putting their careers on hold while earning their MBAs. It’s a win-win-win — for the students, the companies that employ them and for the university, too.

Visit our archives to read articles from previous issues of the UW Business Wire.