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| 06-28-2004 | Previous edition: 06-25-2004 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Purdue, IU to offer dual degree in agribusinessBy Jon MillsSummer Reporter Purdue’s School of Agriculture and Indiana’s Kelly School of Business are teaming up to offer a dual degree program to prepare food and agribusiness professionals for leadership positions. The program will be a distance learning 27-month course in which students will earn two degrees. One degree will be an MBA from IU and the other a master of science in agribusiness from Purdue. In order to earn both of the degrees, students must complete 57 credits, 21 in Purdue agribusiness and 36 credits in IU management. The coursework is separated into 12-week quarters, with two courses taken each quarter. "The dual-degree program delivers the best of both worlds, an industry-specific focus on current issues in food and agriculture and a general MBA," said Jay Akridge, Purdue professor of agribusiness and program director, in a statement. The program is primarily for people who are already employed in agricultural fields as a way to advance their degree without missing work, said Luanna DeMay, program manager at Purdue. There will be five one-week residency sessions over the 27-month period; two will be at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, one at IUPUI in Indianapolis and two at Indiana’s Bloomington campus. Since the program only requires students to be on campus five weeks out of 27 months, it allows flexibility to the students who will complete over 85 percent of their coursework online. However, DeMay stressed the importance of the campus work as a face-to-face networking tool and a chance to experience a campus setting. "They also get to meet their professors and that’s real important and get a sense of the actual campus." While students are at Purdue, they will work as a cohort group, which means they will work together in a group setting throughout the courses. The hope is that Purdue can foster business relationships here at the University and those will continue to grow once the students have graduated. "Networking is very important with food and business; it’s a very small world — someone always knows someone else," DeMay said. "So the more you network, the more you can get your products seen throughout the whole industry." Printer-friendly version |
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