Paved road to MBA for Eckerd people through Nova Southeastern University agreement

Left: (l-r) Professor Naveen Malhotra with NOVA Southeastern University representatives Michael Abraham and Les Ross and PEL Executive Director Amanda Hagood on Eckerd College's South Beach this past April.

by Anne W. Anderson

Photos courtesy of Amanda Hagood

Eckerd people -- including recent graduates, alumni, and employees -- will find the road to an MBA much smoother, thanks to a recently signed articulation agreement between Eckerd College and Nova Southeastern University (NSU).

Initiated by Professor Naveen Malhotra several months ago, the agreement means Eckerd people with a 3.2 undergraduate GPA and who meet other requirements are automatically accepted into the MBA program without having to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and receive a $6,200 tuition award (applied over the duration of the degree program). Applicants do not necessarily have to have an undergraduate business degree.

"Many students put off pursuing a graduate degree because they are hesitant about taking the GRE or, in this case, the GMAT," Malhotra said. "This agreement removes a perceived barrier."

Nova Assistant Directors Les Ross and Michael Abraham gave an information session at Eckerd on April 28 to about a dozen attendees from PEL, the Office of Advancement, the Center for Innovating Learning, and Admissions. Ross and Abraham presented information about Nova's MBA program through the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship and about other graduate programs Nova offers. Following the session, Malhotra and PEL Executive Director Amanda Hagood gave the visitors a tour of the Eckerd campus and shared lunch with them in Café Bon Appétit.

On June 27, Malhotra and Hagood paid a return visit to Nova's Tampa Campus, where they joined Abraham, Ross, and Racquel Khuri, NSU's Tampa campus director, for lunch and a tour. They learned more about some of Nova Tampa's unique offerings, including their M.S. in Cardiovascular Sonography and their Anesthesiologist Assistant program.

Right: On a visit to Nova Southeastern University's Tampa campus, Hagood tries her hand at scanning a computer generated "heart" housed inside a mannequin, under the watchful eye of NSU's Samuel Yoders, EDS, RVT, and Program Director of Cardiovascular Sonography.

Other Eckerd articulation agreements

Eckerd College has several other articulation agreements, Malhotra noted. Since 2004, business students from Hillsborough Community College, who have earned a two-year degree, have been able to transfer smoothly into Eckerd's bachelor's degree program. 

"Part of the articulation agreement with HCC is that PEL accepts HCC general education courses as equivalent to PEL general education courses," Malhotra explained. "With the addition of the Nova agreement, we now have a way for students to come into PEL, complete their bachelor's degree here, and then move on to graduate work."

Malhotra also said the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee MBA programs accept an Eckerd bachelor's in business areas as equivalent to one from an AACSB accredited college, programs which usually are required to have a separate college of business. 

As of May 23, 2016, eligible students completing majors in other areas who are interested in attending law school also can articulate into programs at Stetson University and receive $15,000 or more in scholarship funds.

While seldom applicable to PEL students, Eckerd also has an agreement with Florida State University's Law School that makes Eckerd students who fulfill a series of requirements "eligible for priority review for early admission" into FSU's law program. 

"Such agreements indicate the high regard in which Eckerd College's academic programs, including PEL, are held," said PEL Associate Dean of Faculty Margret Skaftadottir. 

Anne W. Anderson is PEL's director of blended and online learning 

and is co-editor of The PEL Connector.