Dear Colleagues:
The Master of Health Administration program is receiving lots of attention this month when Modern Healthcare magazine ranked it 19th among top business graduate schools for physician-executives. The Memphis Business Journal picked up the story last week to amplify the praise:
The MHA program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). The 53-credit hour program offers both on-campus and executive options designed for both recent college graduates and working professionals.
As Dr. Lisa Klesges, dean of the School of Public Health, said, “Gaining this high level recognition for the quality and value of our MHA degree validates the great opportunity that we offer in the region as well as a national standing. We are proud of this accomplishment and the contributions of our talented faculty that support the MHA program. The program has been successful because of the hard work and commitment of our university administration, staff, students, alumni and community partners.”
While all this is impressive in its own right, the national attention will likely increase a year from now when the Executive MHA option is launched in June of 2015. Dr. Dan Gentry, professor and director of Health Systems Management Policy emphasizes that this is an innovative program that blends distance education with periodic on-campus experiential learning, professional development and career networking, while still allowing students to complete the degree in two years. Those with full time careers will now be able to earn this prestigious degree with minimum time away from their jobs.
Congratulations are in order for their national ranking, and also for the forward thinking innovation which will bring future recognition when the new program starts next year.
Go Tigers!
M. David Rudd, Provost