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| Palmdale Mayor James Ledford, IBM Professor Susan Peters and Associate Dean Shanthi Srinivas met with Cal Poly Pomona Antelope Valley PMBA students for a recognition ceremony on Oct. 4. |
Most students in the Professional Master's of Business Administration (PMBA) degree program are able to graduate without ever stepping foot on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.
The College of Business Administration launched the PMBA program in Spring 2003 for the working professionals seeking graduate business education close to their work or home. With the choice of six program sites throughout the Southland, the program stresses convenience, flexibility and service to the students. Classes are held on weekday evenings or on the weekends. The flexible academic calendar caters to students' careers and personal obligations, and all advising, admission, matriculation, registration and customer service functions are performed off-campus.
Recently, the PMBA program, which has two sites in Palmdale, was recognized by Palmdale Mayor James Ledford as “a great relationship brewing between industry and academics.” The College of Business Administration's Associate Dean Shanthi Srinivas and International Business & Marketing Professor Susan Peters joined Ledford at a recognition ceremony on Oct. 4 at the NASA AERO Institute in Palmdale.
The city of Palmdale is situated in the heart of the Antelope Valley and is a national center for the aerospace industry. Besides Edwards Air Force Base, Cal Poly Pomona is currently the only public university offering an MBA program in the Antelope Valley, where about 50 students attend. Overall, there are approximately 200 students in the university's PMBA.
Ledford noted the connection between education to industry exemplified by Cal Poly Pomona and the NASA AERO Institute, where one of the PMBA programs is offered, in his 2005 State of the City address.
“Cal Poly Pomona is going to operate out of the AERO Institute, designed to create a connection of engineering with K-through-lifetime learning,” said Ledford. “When you have people doing graduate work, post-graduate work, working at the school, inspiring kids to make engineering their career path, its a natural fit.”
In addition to the Palmdale sites, CBA offers PMBA programs in Alhambra, Canoga Park, El Segundo, Downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena and Ridgecrest.
For more information on the PMBA program, contact Allen Lu, MBA marketing specialist at (909) 869-4907 or by e-mail at alu@cpp.edu, or visit www.pmba.cpp.edu.