By ABBY BRAVO
News Editor
The College of Saint Rose and Albany Law School have teamed up to offer Flex Master of Business Administration (MBA) students both a masters degree and an advanced certificate in Government Affairs and Advocacy.
The Flex MBA program is meant to cater to students who want to earn a degree but may not be able to make it to in-person classes. Students can decide how they want to complete their coursework on a weekly basis, whether that is from home, in the classroom, or a combination of the two.
The Flex MBA is a 36-credit program, and for students who decide to apply for the advanced certificate, 9-credits would be applied to their MBA through Albany Law School.
John Dion, Associate Professor of Marketing and MBA Program Coordinator, expressed the importance of this flex option as many of the students in the program are working professionals or have families of their own.
“A lot of students want to have that synchronous experience with the professor, but they can’t always make it to the classroom,” said Dion.
Dion worked with Assistant Dean and Director for Online Programs at Albany Law, Tom Rosenberger, to create a collaborative degree that would allow students to get the most out of the program they are in.
“It was easy figuring out that working together would be a good thing… we spent more time on the logistics to make sure it would be a seamless experience for the students,” said Dion. “It feels like you are doing everything through Saint Rose from a practical perspective, but at the end you will end up with a MBA from Saint Rose and a certificate in Government Affairs and Advocacy from Albany Law,” he added.
Rosenberger, who is a Saint Rose alum and worked for the school for 15 years, saw an importance in getting this collaboration off the ground. “Not only was it an opportunity to re-engage with my home for many years, but it was an opportunity to bring value to the strong and successful Flex MBA with an academic focus not currently available,” wrote Rosenberger in an email.
The two began working on this program in January, and got it approved in Spring of 2022.
They decided on the concentration of Government Affairs and Advocacy over two other options of financial compliance or risk management.
“Being in the capitol… I think having an MBA coupled with government affairs is a very powerful combination,” said Dion.
The union between Saint Rose and Albany Law was encouraged by the schools’ location in the capitol region, as well as what would work best for the students in the program.
Students are also given the option to choose between two different tracks within the advanced certificate; government or lobbying and advocacy. With these tracks they can take courses on administrative law, government ethics, lobbying law and ethics, and many other subjects.
While these tracks are offered, students are not limited to one or the other and can select any of the offered courses to go towards their 9-credits. The tracks work as a concentration of sorts, but is not required by the degree.
“The planning process has underscored something I learned during my time at Saint Rose: Relationships matter,” wrote Rosenberger. “At the end of the day, Albany Law School and The College of Saint Rose are neighbors, and – even in a world of online and Flex learning – the ability to partner with folks down the street feels like the right thing to do.”
Students can apply for this advanced certificate program after completing 18 credits of their MBA and must apply through the Law School Admissions Council application service offered by Albany Law. The cost of the program is $846 per credit, but grants and scholarships are available.
