Oregon State University's College of Business has announced that it is launching a new MBA in innovation and establishing a campus in Portland.
The new MBA track in Innovation Management will focus on entrepreneurial business growth, as it pertains to Oregon businesses. The new track joins a suite of other OSU MBA focus areas, including executive leadership and business analytics. The school will also add tracks in financial planning and supply chain management in the fall.
OSU's MBA program is a hybrid offering, mixing online components with in-class learning. The program is designed to be completed in 21 months.
OSU has also announced that it is opening a campus in Portland, which is some 85 miles outside of its home campus in Corvalis.
“It’s an exciting time for us to grow in the Portland market,” says Mitzi Montoya, the OSU College of Business dean. Montoya points to Portland's status as a growing center for innovation as one of the reasons for the new campus.
“OSU is an engine of innovation, and Portland is an exciting and growing innovation economy,” Montoya says. “I am excited about the tremendous potential of our work to grow Portland’s capacity to innovate even further.”
Indeed, although it's no Silicon Valley, Portland has emerged in recent years as a hub for technology innovation and startups. A 2014 report by US News found that in the previous five years, two main innovation programs had incubated some 60 startups, raised more than $140 million, and generated more than 775 jobs.
With the new campus in Portland, OSU joins a competitive market for business management programs in the city. Not only do stalwarts like Portland State University and the University of Portland offer MBA programs in the city, but in recent years, other Oregon schools like the University of Oregon have begun to offer business programs as well.
Prospective applicants interested in Oregon State University's new MBA programs in Portland can visit an upcoming open house on February 18th. For more information, please see the OSU news release announcing the new MBA in innovation and the new Portland campus.
Image: "The skyline of Portland, Oregon looking west from the Hawthorne Bridge" by Fcb981 / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
