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Once every summer, the Evening MBA students get together
at Turner Field to watch baseball, eat hot dogs, and mingle with their
classmates. Until recently, this event was a rare opportunity for the
students to feel part of a cohesive Evening MBA community, but 2005 marks
the beginning of change, say Vu Pham ’06EvMBA
and Natedra Davis ’05EvMBA, co-presidents
of the Evening MBA Program’s student government.
“Half of the MBA experience is networking,” Pham says. “So
this year, one of the student government’s two goals is to build
community. That means making sure all of the different partners we have,
including current students, prospective students, professors, alumni,
the program office, and rest of the business school, work together.”
The second goal—branding—goes hand-in-hand with the first. “Branding
means building the program’s identity as distinct within the Goizueta
community,” Davis explains. “We’re making changes on the
Web site, for example, to make ourselves more visible. When prospective
MBA students come to visit the school, they’ll see three distinct,
great programs [the full-time MBA program, the Executive MBA program,
and the Evening MBA program].”
To realize these goals, the student government is working tirelessly to
plan a series of fun, productive events. The first of these took place
in November, when more than fifty EvMBA students, their family members
and dates, and EvMBA faculty and staff met for an upscale night on the
town. The group gathered at MidCity Cuisine and later walked to the Peachtree
Playhouse, where everyone enjoyed the parody play Peachtree Battle. “The
play was hilarious,” Erin Melick ’05EvMBA
recalls, noting the importance of events that include students’ families
and friends. “When they’re away from home so much with school
and studying, they want to include spouses and loved ones more in outside
events.”
In February, at Gordon Biersch Brewery in Midtown, approximately 200 Executive
MBA and Evening MBA students spent a few hours talking and playing pool.
Then, in March, the Evening MBA students squared off against the Executive
MBA students in a soccer match. “We probably had an age advantage,”
Pham admits. “But they’ve played more often, so they had more
experience.”
Later this spring, there will be an alumni event designed to connect Evening
MBA students with Evening MBA alumni.
Susan Gilbert, associate dean and
director of the Evening MBA Program, notes that such events provide “a
wonderful opportunity to let Evening MBA alumni know how much we value
their continuing involvement in the program and in the community.”
Many alumni already have reached out and said they welcome the opportunity
to come back to campus and participate in programs, recruiting, interviewing
candidates, and advising students, Gilbert says.
Other Evening program events include: a combination graduation/ welcome
to new students/end-of-year celebration on May 20, for everyone in the
Evening MBA community; an annual summer baseball event at Turner Field;
and the program’s annual picnic, which offers students, their families,
faculty, and staff an opportunity to “enjoy the sunshine together
and create a sense of family,” Davis says.
—Brook Raflo