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Academics

You’ll be glad for the opportunity to join “an institution steeped in tradition and pride” and to “get an excellent education at an affordable price from professors who care, in an environment that promotes a full student life,” but you’ll have to work for it. Packing a full MBA program (including a required internship) into an intense three semesters is a challenge, but it is one students welcome thanks to educators who “are passionate about teaching their subject matter. There is not the overwhelming emphasis present in the classroom that they are ‘too busy’ to teach or help students that need it outside of class.” The key is in making the subject matter engaging and interesting. “They have real world experience that they apply to the classroom, and they are very informed in all areas of business.” These “very engaging” professors “have a great sense of humor, which makes the material 100 times more interesting.”

Notably, “the professors all have lengthy experience working in industry prior to teaching, so the lessons are very well grounded in what actually takes place outside of academia.” Even more important, these educators “continue to remain active in their previous fields, so they continue to infuse current lessons learned from industry into their classes.” This means “they teach you skills that you can use in the real world.” Those skills come through an education Knoxville students can tailor to suit their own needs, choosing to either focus on a single concentration or to pursue a dual degree with business analytics, engineering, or law. Supply chain management “is the program’s flagship area of study,” but concentrations in business analytics, entrepreneurship and innovation, finance, human resource management, operations management, and marketing are all on the agenda.

While “there have been a few communication issues between the professors and staff,” by and large students praise the accessibility of their teachers and the work of the administration. “The administration works hard to make everything easy for potential and current students,” while professors “are very easy to contact and very willing to help.” Indeed, “faculty and staff are always available to talk about our career paths and advise us for the future.” None of it comes easily—in the classroom, students “are challenged and expected to give maximum effort in order to succeed”—but students wouldn’t have it any other way. One student sums it up: “Overall, this program has been a great academic experience and I learn something new about myself and my leadership skills every day.”