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NEWS
| OCTOBER 6, 2005
Business Administration
Spaniolo, dean to travel to China
Next week they will attend graduations
for UTA’s Beijing and Shanghai programs.
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| The Shorthorn: Alex Pierce |
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By Elaine
Marsilio
The Shorthorn staff
President James Spaniolo and Business Administration Dean Dan Himarios
will travel 7,000 miles next week to participate in UTA graduation
ceremonies in China.
The events are part of their trip to the University of Science and
Technology in Beijing and Tongji University in Shanghai. The institutions
provide classroom space for UTA’s executive master’s
degree in business administration program, which offers Chinese
corporate executives an opportunity to earn a UTA diploma while
staying in their country.
This will be Spaniolo’s first tour of China, whereas Himarios
has visited the universities about three times a year since he implemented
the program in 2002. It is the largest program of its kind offered
by an American university in China.
“This is an important initiative that the College of Business
has pioneered, and it’s one of excellence,” Spaniolo
said.
The two administrators will also attend commencement ceremonies
for incoming program students during their two-week stay.
Himarios has requested that Spaniolo visit the overseas universities
since March 2004, but Spaniolo said the timing was too close to
his first year as president. Spaniolo started at UTA in February
2004.
Provost Dana Dunn traveled with Himarios for graduation ceremonies
in 2004. Associate Provost Michael Moore flew to Shanghai and Beijing
in summer 2004 to accompany a member of the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools, the university’s accrediting institution.
Moore acted as a UTA representative during his 10-day stay to make
sure the executive program was approved by the association. The
courses are now accredited.
Spaniolo said the trip gives him a chance to see an extension of
UTA.
“This is a big deal, and it’s a very impressive program,”
he said. “This is a way of saying to our partners and to the
students who are enrolled in this program that this is important
to the University of Texas at Arlington because the president is
there.”
Through the program, UTA faculty travel to China and teach the business
students. In addition to Shanghai and Beijing, there are classes
at universities in Shenzhen, China, and Taiwan.
“We’re using our faculty, and we’re using their
facilities to deliver our program,” Himarios said. “It’s
a UTA program, a UTA degree and UTA faculty.”
The program also allows executives to attend classes at UTA and
receive diplomas by studying here for a year. Himarios said the
overseas portion of the program started with about 50 students at
one site and now has grown into about 400 students enrolled in China
and Taiwan.
Himarios said the program’s growth is limited by its number
of UTA faculty able to teach in China and students who enroll.
“The demand for the executive MBA degree is increasing because
China is growing so rapidly,” he said. “It’s a
great thing for China because they are trying to integrate themselves
in the world economy. It is also a good thing for us.”
CORRECTION
In the information graphic accompanying this story,
Beijing was misspelled.
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