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SARATOGA COUNTY – The Sage Colleges is expanding its Capital Region footprint. The private, liberal arts college has announced it will soon begin offering a Master of Business Administration program at the Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) TEC-SMART facility in Malta this fall.

Aside from Empire State College, no other higher education institution offers MBA programs in the Saratoga area.

“There really aren’t a lot of choices, particularly for an MBA, up towards the North Country,” explained Kimberly Fredericks, Ph.D., associate dean of Sage’s School of Management. “We know that there’s a niche up there. It’s a growing community – Saratoga, Malta…really Saratoga County in its entirety is a growing community, and we wanted to make education accessible and flexible.”

Administrators say classes will be offered in an accelerated format – two classes one night a week- evenings from 6 to 10 p.m. The fall 2015 classes will include “Management of Change and Innovation” and “Human Resource Management.” It is the same MBA program offered at Sage’s Albany location, only now it’s accessible in Malta. 

“So many kids and adults are driving a long distance, so I’m going to either catch them on their way to work or next door to their employers so education can be accessible, affordable and flexible,” said Frederickson. “We cater to working adults in all of our graduate programs currently. We have night classes and sometimes once a week or even once a month because everybody works.”

The professional MBA program is designed to develop leaders who can manage complex organizations and who have the desire and capability to move into high-level positions. For nearly three decades, Sage MBA graduates have taken major leadership roles in business, government, health care and non-profit organizations. The program is accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

Fredericks says the college may add coursework for additional programs in the future, but wanted to start with an MBA program because of Malta’s growing business community; like the Luther Forest Technology Campus (LFTC) for example.

“Because we’re a smaller institution, we can be flexible. We have some skill sets in our faculty that not everybody has,” says Fredericks. “For example, we have an intellectual property attorney who can do things with patents, intellectual property or tech transfer that might be attractive to that market up in Malta.” 

Due to its location at HVCC TEC-SMART, Fredericks also explained it puts the college in a good position to potentially offer continuing education coursework or seminars to the more than 3,000 employees at LFTC.

“We love being part of the community. We listen to the business community and adapt to what skill sets they want employees to have and we listen to our students and I’m able to put on electives and try certain courses out, because we’re smaller,” said Frederickson.

So far it seems as though Sage’s MBA program in Saratoga County is being well-received. The program has reached its cap at 30 students for the upcoming fall semester. However, applications are still being accepted and Frederickson says adjustments can be made to fit a high demand. 

In the next year, school administrators say they hope to see the program grow and become a partner in the Saratoga County community.  The five-year goal for the college’s “Sage in Saratoga” initiative is to offer more graduate- and undergraduate-level programs.

The Sage Colleges is the university to have a presence in three counties – Albany, Rensselaer and now Saratoga.

 

To learn more about The Sage Colleges MBA program in Malta, visit sage.edu/management.