I needed the speed of a two-year MBA to catalyze my career change, but also wanted the flexibility to continue working on side projects. The Accelerated MBA program offered both and was a perfect fit for my ambitions. The program also offered a cohort experience similar to traditional MBA programs, facilitating close relationships with my classmates.

The Accelerated MBA program has been an enriching experience. Spending an entire year with my cohort not only made classes more enjoyable, but also provided valuable perspectives on group dynamics that have already helped me develop my management approach.

The experience has helped our cohort develop a class identity and a deep camaraderie that is unique among part-time MBA programs.

Santa Clara University and the Leavey Business School are well known both inside and outside of the Valley. This extensive network of relationships SCU has with its alumni and business leaders in the region has provided valuable experiences inside and outside of class, and will be an important resource in the future.

Constructing eco-friendly buildings is only half the battle of going green, according to Lindsey Cromwell Kalkbrenner, director of the SCU Office of Sustainability and MBA alumna (‘09).

“Santa Clara’s main goal is to develop a culture of sustainability within the campus faculty, students and staff,” said Cromwell Kalkbrenner, who also was instrumental in the “Greening of Lucas Hall” team. She explained that her job involves three main goals:

•    Stewardship -- promoting recycling, energy conservation and other efforts to reduce the University’s ecological footprint 
•    Education – integrating sustainability into academics as well as campus events
•    Outreach – taking lessons learned to other institutions and the wider community

Cromwell Kalkbrenner is somewhat unique in the world of sustainability coordinators. The job at other institutions is usually tied solely to facilities departments. At Santa Clara, the facilities and operations staffs have been working on greening projects for years. Cromwell Kalkbrenner said her office takes that movement to the next step – building the bridge between academics, operations and campus culture.
“It just makes financial sense to reduce energy consumption,” she said. “Because we’re a Jesuit institution, we have a moral imperative to create a better place for future generations.”

After earning a biology degree at SCU, Cromwell Kalkbrenner admits she didn’t really know what she wanted to do. She taught at a marine mammal facility in her native Hawaii until returning to California in 2006 to start the sustainability position at SCU.
“This job has opened up a whole new field for me,” she said. “My family didn’t recycle when I was growing up. I lived in a rural area and we had to take our trash to the dump. But I learned a lot about conservation at my first job out of college and started changing my habits.”

Although she tries to be as eco-friendly as possible, she admits that she occasionally forgets to take her reusable coffee mug to Mission Bakery and ends up with a disposable container. Still, she can check off most of the boxes on the University’s Sustainability Pledge “Beyond Green”  part of a campaign her office spearheads on campus.

She decided to take up graduate business studies because she felt the program was the most likely to give her the flexibility to go in different directions.

 “My job is all about communicating, negotiating, leading, and networking—definitely easy to apply my newly-acquired business skills.”
 

The Accelerated MBA at SCU has provided me with an intense, immersive, and experiential education that has unmasked the complex intricacies -- subtle and obvious, technical and human -- of creating, growing and leading as successful organization.

Today’s rapidly-evolving world economy requires more than great business skills, it requires leaders with confident, ethical integrity. The Accelerated MBA has given me the tools and frameworks for problem-solving, adaptability, innovation and creativity that will be assets throughout my career. It has done so with a model of leadership development that affects learning and change through collaborative interaction amongst a mature, diverse, and select peer group, by relevant academic instruction from a highly qualified and experienced faculty, and with direct industry involvement for an irreplaceable and practical real-world grounding.

I am truly impressed with the program’s comprehensive curriculum which integrates classroom learning and real-world experience into a structured 21-month program. The Leavey School of Business also features several organizations that give participating students the opportunity to network with other current students and an expansive pool of SCU alumni with similar interests.

By serving as the Vice President of Partnerships for the Entrepreneurial Connection, one such MBA organization, I am able to broaden my professional network to include local entrepreneurs and venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley. 

I believe an MBA from Santa Clara is not only a degree, but a life-long experience filled with world-class resources and access to networks that I can utilize throughout my personal and professional career.