Newest MBA Cohort

Last Thursday, I welcomed 30 new students to our Health Care Leadership MBA joint degree program. These students are high achievers and are pursuing an MBA in addition to either their physician's program at KCUMB or their Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Rockhurst University.  As we took a bit of time to get to know each other and learned about their backgrounds and goals, one of the questions I asked was why they were wanting to pursue an MBA as well as their DO or DPT degrees. Their responses were quite interesting and inspiring.

The room was filled with students who have wonderful undergraduate degrees from some of the best schools in the country.  Most of the degrees were filled with bio-, chem-, -physio type of prefixes which (besides making my head spin) means that they have had a heavy dose of science courses in preparation for their doctoral path. What everyone articulated though was the understanding and desire to figure out the business, economic, and public policy models in health care today.  Almost everyone spoke about the need to understand these issues because of how it will impact their lives and careers and their ability to effectively serve and lead in their profession.

At their young age, I was impressed that they already understood that if they didn't get the education and information necessary to deeply understand how their field works and functions, that they would never be able to manage and take charge of their own career.  And as I've told hundreds of students over the years, if you're not in charge of your career, someone else is doing it for you.

It's very inspiring to see 30 new student leaders who already understand that concept and are ready to do the work necessary to prepare themselves for a powerful, impactful life.

Dedication to the students

I love the academic cycle in our world.  At least three times a year, there is a feeling of accomplishment, closure, and a look to the future.  That's a difficult feeling to get in most careers, and I think it is what keeps all of us tied to higher education.

What I'm most impressed with though is the dedication we see in our faculty as they prepare for the next wave of students and courses.  Often, academics are painted with a negative brush in that there is the assumption that there's a lot of free time and that we all just dust off last semester's lecture notes as we enter the classroom.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Just before Christmas we had a fairly large snow event that hit Kansas City in the morning commute, and it continued for much of the day.  The university was closed until 10:00 a.m., and since the semester was finished, most faculty members were done until after the holiday break.  But not our accounting faculty.  Below you will find Tony Tocco, our chair of accounting and finance discipline, Jeff Wright, our wonderful newest faculty addition, and Bruce Moore, a retired accounting partner who teaches tax for us.  Now that's dedication -- working to improve the educational experiences for the upcoming classes on the last, very snowy and stormy day before holiday break!