The University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management will join the university’s medical center in downtown Phoenix in early September, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton announced Wednesday.
The move will bring 50 students downtown immediately and up to 180 students by this time next year, said Hope Schau, associate dean of MBA Programs and a professor of marketing at the university.
Schau said increased access to technology and security were important factors in the move from the school’s current Scottsdale location.
“Currently in our Scottsdale office building, students feel remote from the University of Arizona,” Schau said. “So when we had the opportunity, it seemed like a good move. Our lease was up so we had to think of an alternative location, and there are a lot of vibrant, exciting things going on downtown.”
The Eller College expanded to the Scottsdale area in 2007, according to its website.
The Phoenix campus will have two of the Eller College’s MBA programs: the Evening and the Executive MBA programs. The Executive program lasts 16 months while the Evening program lasts 23 months. Both offer expedited programs with flexible schedules, according to the university’s website.
The Evening MBA was ranked 25th among graduate business schools nationwide in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report survey.
The Eller College will join the university’s medical program downtown, which Schau said will allow the two schools to collaborate more freely and share facilities. The two will both have their classes in the medical school, which Schau said would offer collaboration space. The Eller College’s students will join the approximately 250 students at the university’s medical school.
Vice Chair of the College of Medicine Student Government Sean Maiolo said he looks forward to the Eller College joining the downtown community. Maiolo, a second year medical student, said that more higher education in downtown Phoenix is a positive for all students in the area.
Jeff Schatzberg, vice dean of the Eller College of Management, said he saw this as “a better long-run opportunity.” He said that partnering with the medical school will lead to better opportunities for both programs, and he hopes the move will draw more students and people that enjoy a local atmosphere.
“We saw much more potential with downtown, and being with the medical school gives more of a University of Arizona feel,” Schatzberg said. “It feels like a campus. Students can walk to the classroom, they’re a couple blocks from the light rail, it’s a draw for people to make it easier.”
Schatzberg, also a professor of accounting at the university, said that the campus move wouldn’t affect course curriculums or the delivery of courses, which will still be based on similar lectures, casework and interactions.
UA has not announced any other plans to move additional schools to downtown Phoenix.
Contact the reporter at mbarry5@asu.edu
