Stephen Mulready, dean of the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business, recently sat down (virtually) with the Hartford Business Journal to talk about his new role and the business school, which has 535 undergraduate students and about 1,000 graduate students who attend mostly part time.
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When Stephen Mulready got his MBA in the 1970s from the University of Hartford all his classes were in person.
The online education phenomenon was still decades away.
The pandemic has ushered in a new era of remote learning, but even before that, UHart’s MBA and other graduate business programs had gone mostly online, reflecting a vast shift in the way business schools deliver instruction and cater to the needs of working professionals who increasingly need more flexibility to complete a graduate degree.
But after more than a year of many people being hunkered down in their homes, Mulready, who was recently named permanent dean of UHart’s Barney School of Business, said some MBA students have a desire to return to in-person learning.
“They feel like they learn better that way,” said the 71-year-old Mulready, who is UHart’s first business school dean to also have attended the school. “Because of that we are starting to think that in order to satisfy all of our customers, we need to find a way to be remote for students who want that and to offer an option for those who want to be here on campus.”
It’s one of many issues he will be tackling in his new role. Mulready brings a mix of private sector and education background to the job.
He previously served in several roles at the school, including adjunct instructor and executive in residence, teaching various topics over the years, including organizational behavior, strategy and investments. He was also a member of the business school’s board of visitors, an active group of about 30 business people in, or with strong ties to, Greater Hartford who advise the school and actively participate in some of its programs.
He also had a long career in the insurance industry, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Crum & Forster, a New Jersey-based property and casualty insurer.
Mulready recently sat down (virtually) with the Hartford Business Journal to talk about his new role and the Barney School of Business, which has 535 undergraduate students and about 1,000 graduate students who attend mostly part time.
Can you talk about the evolution of UHart’s MBA program from an in-person offering to a remote one?
Pre-COVID most of the MBA classes and courses were online. That switch happened about five years ago. And it’s been very successful because you can reach people outside of your geographic area, which we have done.
But we are starting to see, maybe because people have been in their homes for so long, that they want to come back into the classroom. I’m not saying it’s a lot of students but we are starting to get that feedback. It will be interesting to see how we can accommodate that. We will be evaluating it.
I’m looking at some technology now that would allow it. We would put [camera/video] technology in some of our classrooms so the professor is always facing students whether they are in person or at home.
They wouldn’t have to stand at the podium and pivot the camera for the remote folks. They would be able to walk around the room as they typically do and the camera follows them. They would also have video in front of them so they can see all the students who are remote. It creates inclusion for everyone.
You’ve been interim dean since Aug. 2020. What’s been a major change within the business school since that time?
The prior dean did a survey of recent grads asking them what other services or programs they wished we offered. One of the things they said is they probably could have gotten more experience with specific tools or programs, like Excel or Tableau.
So, over the last eight months we’ve been working with Microsoft, Tableau, Bloomberg terminals and have begun offering skills-based training certification programs from the manufacturers. And it’s free for students.
We call this our passport program and it allows students to not only put on their résumé they have these skills but they will actually have certifications as well.
What’s an in-demand program within the business school?
Our business analytics program has been around for a few years and that’s such a booming opportunity for our students because businesses are talking about and using things like artificial intelligence and data analytics.
More and more industries are using it now. We have undergraduate and graduate programs in it and it’s becoming increasingly popular.
You mentioned you have a very active board of visitors made up mostly of local business people. What are they telling you they need from your students?
Part of it depends on what company or industry they are in. The finance folks are looking for more depth in terms of course material, so two years ago we separated economics and finance into two different degrees and doubled up the number of finance courses available to students.
The other need we heard from them is more instruction on cyber liability, including how to avoid this risk and then how to deal with it. That’s become an important part of our risk-management course. That could spill over to the accounting and taxation folks as well because of the audit functions they have.
Has the pandemic impacted the business school at all?
We have had some falloff with enrollment because of the pandemic particularly with our foreign and international students who couldn’t get into the country. They want to come here and get educated with the opportunity to eventually have a job in the U.S.
I’m certainly hopeful that will turn around in the fall semester.
Business schools need strong partnerships with the private sector. Can you give an example of an important partnership with an individual company?
We have a big program with Cigna. Cigna and the Barney School have been working together for the last three years offering MBA programs to Cigna employees. We will have about 500 of them that will have a graduate degree by the end of next year.
Some of our students have also helped companies solve problems and we’ve partnered in that way too.
For example, Hubbell was introducing charging stations and they brought in Barney students from different disciplines to help evaluate the most effective areas to place charging stations. We’ve also had a program with Amazon in terms of return products that they couldn’t resell, so our students got involved with finding charities that could use some of the products.
Are companies still paying for students to get their MBAs?
They are still doing it. A lot of companies want to make sure the MBA is in their field of focus. Typically they will pay only up to the federal limit, which is $5,250. Anything after that is taxable.
I think they feel continuing education is important because a lot of companies don’t have internal training any longer. It was an expense they could no longer afford, so selectively they will look at employees that may be on the fast-track and who don’t have higher degrees and send them here.
