Outside of Class

In the classroom, you will immerse yourself in projects that build your critical thinking skills and a business curriculum that expands your understanding of the business world. Outside of class, you have the opportunity to get engaged with your cohort and explore industry, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Socials

• Everyone on the CREATE Path to the MBA, from incoming freshmen to rising MBA students, as well as the faculty and staff, are invited to meet and mingle at our Fall Kickoff Social and Spring End-of-Year Social. Throughout the academic year, we also host themed socials. Through small class section sizes, you will get to know your peers, and through these larger socials, you will meet the rest of your cohort and the cohorts of other graduating classes.

Field Trips

• Each year, you will typically have several opportunities to visit company plants and facilities, including presentations about the company and what they look for in new hires. These plant tours can be eye-opening for you, so you should go on at least one, even if you do not immediately know how you can fit in at the company. We have taken students as far as NASA’s Michoud Facility in New Orleans or as close as the recently expanded Tuscaloosa chassis plant for ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a German auto parts maker that works closely with the Mercedes-Benz facility in Vance, Alabama.

Speakers

• Nationally renowned speakers come to campus to speak to students on the STEM and CREATE Paths to the MBA. They generally meet with a group of students over breakfast, another group over lunch, and give a lecture in the afternoon. Previous speakers include Rob High, CTO for IBM’s Watson Group, Vijay Govindarajan, professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and Jan Davis, former NASA astronaut and VP and General Manager for Jacobs Technology.

Innovation Abroad

• In Summer 2015, a group of STEM Path to the MBA students traveled to India and immersed themselves in the history and culture of India. They spent weeks learning about India and the unique challenges that impact Indians living in poverty.
• The inspiration for this trip was Vijay Govindarajan’s book, Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere. Since 2015, groups of students have traveled to India, practicing reverse innovation as they create solutions tailored to those living in Poverty.
• This trip has grown into a variety of study abroad opportunities, and we refer to them collectively as Innovation Abroad. To learn more, visit innovationabroad.ua.edu.