Alabama Manderson

History

Dean Lee Bidgood championed the effort towards establishing an MBA program in Culverhouse, the School’s primary business schooling facility in 1944. He capitalized on the potential of Culverhouse and founded the avant-garde MBA program. The same year four students acquired the MBA degree from the University of Alabama. Dean H. H. Mitchell, Dr. Lonnie Strickland and Director Gina Johnson introduced the Executive MBA program in 1986. In 1987, renowned businessman Lewis Manderson’s continuous support and relentless efforts towards the University led to the graduate division of the school being renamed as The Manderson Graduate School of Business.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Culverhouse College of Commerce is an inclusive community engaged in innovative research, service and rigorous learning – with a personal touch – that develops highly respected business leaders who solve challenges of the global society.

Core Strengths of the School

The Manderson School of Business promises to add value to the students’ MBA by enhancing corporate relationships and strengthening its stature at an international level. The curriculum is designed to boost the leadership potential of students in order to make them leading innovators and forerunners of business in the future. The School’s commitment towards ensuring Return-on-Investment to its students is supported by the small class size structure that enables higher interaction between the students and the world-class faculty. This has led to long-lasting bond between the students and the faculty. The curriculum offers advanced technology and ultramodern facilities to its students, so that they are able to imbibe the current business practices and carve a career path in the right direction.

Uniqueness in MBA Pedagogy

The entire curriculum is designed keeping in mind the requirements of today’s employers. Business Communication and Leadership have become core courses of the curriculum, as there is increasing emphasis on leadership and communication skills at the global level. The curriculum provides an in-depth understanding of the business fundamentals that enables them to relate to real-world business challenges. The course also focuses on inculcating analytical thinking and problem-solving approach in the students that would be expected from them when they take on decision-making roles in the organization. There is extensive focus on teamwork skills, as there is a high demand for good team players across all industries. The School provides enough opportunities for group discussions, case studies, project work and assignments that help students realize the importance of teamwork and respect others’ perspectives. The School strongly believes in community service and encourages students to start their own community service projects. Students have rendered services to numerous local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, RISE, Boys and Girls Club of Tuscaloosa, Salvation Army, etc., in the past.

The School houses a cluster of research centers and institutes like Center for Business and Economic Research and The EDGE- Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where the students get the exposure to work on real-world projects, thus giving them the opportunity to implement the business concepts learnt within the classroom to a real business situation.

There are several student organizations like the Bear and Bulls or Net Impact, where students work in groups and render services to the community. Net Impact is a community of MBA students, who want to be future business leaders and want to make a positive social, environmental and economic impact on the business front. Bear and Bulls is a professional club, which encourages members to indulge in experiential learning in order to acquire knowledge in the areas of Finance and Accounting.

CONCENTRATIONS OFFERED