ACU to phase out MBA program, enhance undergraduate degrees For Immediate Release September 3, 1999 Abilene Christian University has made a strategic decision to phase out its Master of Business Administration program and raise the quality and intensity of its undergraduate business program, said Dr. Rick Lytle, acting dean of the College of Business Administration. MBA courses will continue to be offered at ACU through July 2000, and Lytle hopes most students will complete their core courses by that time. Beginning next August, Hardin-Simmons University has agreed to offer students the courses necessary for them to complete the MBA program. ACU is not admitting new students to its MBA program, Lytle said. These changes are part of a strategic plan by ACU's College of Business Administration to focus resources at the undergraduate level as the university seeks an important new level of national accreditation. The business program already is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, and ACU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. ACU currently offers rigorous bachelor's programs in accounting, finance, management, human resources management, marketing and international business, and the university will continue to offer its Master of Accountancy degree. ACU undergraduate accounting students pass the CPA exam at three times the national average, and the master's program in accounting flows seamlessly from the bachelor's degree, Lytle said. "ACU is different from many other schools of business because our best professors with outstanding career experience and academic credentials teach our sophomores, juniors and seniors," Lytle said. "At large, research universities, that level of teacher is reserved only for master's and doctoral-level classes." Business graduates from ACU are actively recruited by national corporations such as Arthur Andersen, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, GTE, Nissan, UpJohn, Johnson & Johnson and others. ACU business graduates also have attended prestigious graduate programs at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Emory, MIT, Notre Dame and Oxford universities. For more information about the MBA program transition, contact Lytle at 915-674-2503. -30- Archived News Releases - Current ACU News and Events If you are a member of the media who would like more information about this release, please contact Tom Craig, director of media and community relations, at craigt@nicanor.acu.edu or call 915-674-2692 (cell phone: 665-5469). Last update: Sept. 3, 1999 This page is maintained by Tom Craig, craigt@nicanor.acu.edu. http://www.acu.edu/events/news/990903-mba.html