A colorful campus filled with painters, dancers, actors and actresses, murals and a Fighting Pickle mascot, University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) marks a refreshing contrast with other universities in the Triad area. A leading co-educational arts conservatory, UNCSA offers high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees in majors from filmmaking to music, dance and drama.
Degrees in business or management are not available for these students, though some may desire them. Less than five miles away, Wake Forest students take finance, accounting and management classes in the School of Business every day.
On Feb. 14, the Wake Forest University School of Business and UNCSA announced a new partnership meant to promote and support UNCSA graduates to pursue further studies with the Wake Forest School of Business Master’s in Management program. The Master’s in Management is one of the largest of its kind, and was ranked No. 4 in the nation by The Economist. Wake Forest News interviewed Gordon McCray, vice-dean in the School of Business.
“We are excited to launch this partnership with UNCSA,” McCray said. “Our organizations share a commitment to excellence and a dedication to providing the kind of education that encourages students to have an impact on society.”
At its core, this new partnership offers UNCSA graduates the opportunity for accelerated admission to the Master’s in Management program. Further, it grants more access to both merit and need-based scholarships for interested and qualified students. Intensive recruiting efforts will also take place on both campuses as part of this new partnership, intended to seek more interested students who conventionally studied arts.
The 10-month Master’s of Arts in Management program is designed for non-business majors specifically, seeking to pair their area of study with business skills.
“As one of the most innovative programs in graduate business education, [the program] builds on the skills and knowledge gained in your undergraduate studies preparing you for a broad range of fields and careers,” according to the School of Business.
Students graduating with this degree are faced with a 99 percent employment rate, according to statistics from the class of 2016 from top companies including IBM, Deloitte, PepsiCo, AT&T, Bank of America, Oracle and others.
Catherine Seher is a junior in the School of Business studying Business and Enterprise Management. She is interning for PepsiCo this summer in Dallas.
“I think at least for now that this agreement is a good way to foster better relations with students outside of the Wake Forest community and institute greater diversity in our Master’s in Management program,” Seher said. “At the same time I would be interested to know how much priority these outside students will have and how this affects the demographics and reputation of the program in the future.”
While the partnership was just announced this month, the plans put in place will become effective immediately with the upcoming 2018-2019 class of Master’s in Management.
