At Harbert: Graduate Executive Programs
Celebrating 25 Years of Mastery
In early fall of 1998, a group of bright and motivated new students came from across the country to begin their studies at Auburn University. But these were not your typical 18-year-old freshmen. This cohort included vice-presidents, division directors, and senior managers, and they averaged 39 years of age. All already had full- time jobs at major organizations, including BellSouth, Chrysler, Southern Company, and Sun Microsystems, among others. These men and women were the inaugural students in Auburn’s innovative new Executive MBA Program. Fast-forward 25 years, and that initial success has resulted in expansions that now include a Physician’s
Graduate Council, and then the Dean and I went to Provost Paul Parks. Dr. Parks gave me a very serious look and asked “do you really think this will work?” I replied “yes, sir, I believe it will.” He approved and we were off and running. In the 1990s, Executive MBA programs typically held weekend classes, and served their local region, so most programs were in or near urban areas. Auburn’s location meant developing a successful traditional program would be difficult, and so to compete with other Universities and serve the needs of potential students, the team behind the EMBA program turned to Auburn’s successful distance learning / Outreach MBA program. At that time, Outreach MBA students were mailed VHS tapes of recorded classroom lectures – the same lectures that on- campus students attended. But these lectures to younger full-time MBAs were not the best for managers with 10- 20 years of experience. To get the best of the personal connections of the Auburn campus experience with the convenience of distance learning, the EMBA program was designed as a blended program, with an on-campus residency week at the start of each semester. Students in the program would come to Auburn’s campus and attend classes and learn with their classmates and faculty in person for that week before shifting to a distance-learning model for the remainder of the term. This mix of face-to-face classes followed by online discussions permitted students who lived far from Auburn, or who might travel a great deal, the opportunity to come to class and build that connection to each other and to Auburn University, while maintaining the flexibility to balance the demands of full- time work and family. As the programs grew, and with the help of the Media Production Group, the EMBA programs shifted from VHS tapes to CDs and DVDs, and to iPods and iPads, and then to online video streaming. Faculty went into the TV studio to plan and record lectures, production values improved, and Auburn’s quality and reputation as a leader in this space continued to climb. This blended model allowed Auburn to recruit students from a wide geographic area, reaching those who otherwise could never have attended Auburn University.
Executive MBA Program, and a Master of Real Estate Development Program that have been ranked among the best. A sprawling alumni network now includes over a thousand accomplished professionals. These programs have contributed to building Auburn’s Harbert College of Business legacy of excellence in business education. With over a quarter-century of history, how did this success story come about? Daniel Gropper, MBA Director at the time and Associate Dean and Luck Professor Emeritus since 2013, credits the program’s success to the innovation with which it
Frank Oprandy, Executive Director of Graduate Executive Programs, presents a recognition award to Kim Kuerten, former Executive Director of the programs for 25 years. Kuerten has taken a new leadership role with The Winchester Institute.
was designed and delivered by the selected all-star group of faculty and staff. “Kim Kuerten, Stan Harris, Bob Niebuhr and I had various leadership roles, and with a broad faculty group founded the program. But all of that only happened because of the support of Dean Wayne Alderman and the Auburn University top leadership. I remember presenting this program to a skeptical
20 Harbert Magazine, Spring 2025
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