Opportunity for Shomer Shabbat Professionals to Earn Advanced Business Degree
Executive MBA programs, by definition, are offered on weekends when busy executives presumably can make time to attend, but ‘weekends’ virtually always translate into Saturday classes. Beginning this fall, professionals with at least seven years of business experience who are Shomer Shabbat, as well as others with Saturday conflicts, can take a Masters of Business Administration degree at Yeshiva University when the Syms School of Business launches its new Executive MBA program.

Middle managers and other aspiring business leaders who enroll will “build critical skills in an increasingly tumultuous business environment,” according to Dr. Steven M. Nissenfeld, the program’s director and professor of management at SYMS.

The program, offered as part of the Syms Center for Executive and Professional Education, alongside a Masters of Science in accounting, will focus on teaching managers to make strategic decisions and lead organizational change while underscoring absolute adherence to ethical business models.
The faculty of leading business practitioners and active researchers will include Dr. Tamar Avnet, most recently the co-author of an article called “Rethinking Regulatory Engagement Theory”; Dr. Avri Ravid, an expert in international financial markets; and visiting professor Dr. Andrew Geller, a partner in Mercer Consulting and a nationally-recognized expert in leadership development. 

“The program focuses on building a personal development portfolio for the students, tailored to their career objectives and aspirations,” said Michael Strauss, associate director of Syms. “The objective is to provide students with practical knowledge and experiences that they can immediately apply to their jobs.”

The Syms School of Business Executive Masters of Business Administration Program will offer courses on Sundays and one Friday a month, at Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus in midtown Manhattan. A pair of 10-day summer residencies — in Asia and Israel — are planned as highlights of the two-year program. The Israel summer residency will focus on Jewish business ethics in collaboration with the Center for Ethics in Jerusalem, as well as on innovation and technology in Israel, where the business environment is distinguished by its entrepreneurial prowess. Study trips to China and India, as well as potential destinations in Eastern Europe and South America are under consideration. 

“The Executive MBA Program is absolutely central to our vision of re-invigorating Syms,” says Dr. Moses L. Pava, director of the Syms School of Business. “With its emphasis on ethics, we have put together a particularly important and timely curriculum for mid-level managers hoping to expand their career opportunities in a real and meaningful way. This is an exciting time for Syms. We are confident that this is an idea whose time has come.”
Classes begin in August.

To learn more about the Syms Executive MBA program attend an open house in midtown Manhattan on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012. To reserve your space and find out where and when the event will take place, please email symsemba@yu.edu or call Margie Martin at 917-326-4839.