Russell Sage is absorbing a master’s degree program from the College of Saint Rose as the longtime Albany college shutters.
Making the move to Russell Sage as Saint Rose closes after more than a century is the Flex Master’s in Business Administration, the only program of its kind in the Capital Region. Central to the program is a hybrid teaching model, wherein students have three options for viewing classes: live in person, live online, or via recorded class sessions.
John Dion, a former Saint Rose marketing professor who is coming over to Russell Sage with the MBA program, says the variety of presentation methods is key for working adults. And Dion says if you choose one presentation method, you’re not stuck with one or the other.
“If you are going on a business trip, you can join the class, from your hotel room, if you want. It also works very well for people with young families, because sometimes you're not able to get to campus. Or sometimes you have some other commitment and you can't even join the class by Zoom. You don't have to worry about ever missing the class because you have that recorded lecture as a backup,” Dion said.
Pete Stapleton, Sage’s Assistant Provost for Strategic Initiatives, says the program fits with the college’s educational mission.
“We'd been looking a number of ways to continue to meet the student demand, we were adjusting some of our own class formats to better meet the student demand,” Stapleton said.
Dion says the program came about after hearing prospective students’ concerns over trying to balance school and professional lives.
“They knew they needed that advanced degree in order to advance their career. But they traveled for work or they had families, and this allowed them to have the safety net they needed to complete that degree,” Dion said.
Jen Gish is Sage’s Vice President for Marketing and Communications. She notes the connections have always been strong between the two Capital Region campuses.
“I think our response was, ‘what can we do to help in this situation? Support students, number one, support the employees, faculty of Saint Rose, with any opportunities we might have for them,’” Gish said.
Amanda Ettinger is Consumer Engagement Manager with Beech-Nut. She says, as a working professional in the MBA program, its flexibility is key with two young children and a husband who often travels for work.
“Being able to kind of pick and choose week to week how I would like to take the class, if I can be in person, I really try to be at school. But if I need to watch remotely or if I need to watch it back, because my husband can't be home that evening, it just really tied in well with where I'm at in my life right now,” Ettinger said.
Ettinger adds, having completed her undergraduate degree in 2012, the online format was slightly unnerving. Going back with a goal in mind, she wanted to have more interactions with her professors and classmates.
When WAMC first spoke with students in March, they mentioned feeling blindsided by the announcement of Saint Rose’s closure amid declining enrollment and financial pressure. Ettinger says she was just as surprised.
“I was actually at my friend's wedding; I was the maid of honor in her wedding. And I got a text from one of my friends at work who said, ‘did you that see Saint Rose is closing?’ I'm like, ‘I'm sorry, what?’ So I started looking it up. And I was getting some of the news articles about the announcement. And I was totally blindsided,” Ettinger said.
Ettinger says, since she’s taking the program one class per semester, she wasn’t as impacted by the closure as other students, but adds she’s grateful she’ll be able to continue on the same course as she would have at Saint Rose, with many of the same professors.
“Dr. Dion was my advisor. I know he's going there. I know he's already underway with bringing the FLEX program there. So I'm hoping that it's going to be a very seamless transition,” Ettinger said.
David Balk, a 24-year-old Buffalo native, is another Saint Rose student moving with the program to Russell Sage.
“The way it was set up was perfect for me. And yeah, having it closed. I was like, ‘I don't know what I'm gonna do now, I might, because I work full time, and go to school after work, I might have to quit my job if I want to finish my degree,’” Balk said.
Like Ettinger, Balk says he has mixed feelings about Saint Rose’s closure, adding there’s been distance since he’s taking the program online and didn’t study for his bachelor’s there, but says it still hurt to find out about the closure.
He says the transfer process was simple enough, adding the most stressful part was trying to find the right program to fit his needs and goals, and notes the move of some Saint Rose professors with the program aided his decision.
“I was really trying to figure out what the shortest path is going to be; how can I make this as similar as possible to my Saint Rose experience? And I think that what Russell Sage is offering is the perfect fit, where I'm not going to have to stay any longer,” Balk said.
He says he’s on track become a school district business leader when he graduates next May, with plans to work in the Buffalo metro area.
“I think that that is something that I'm going to have to be specifically focused on is, ‘hey, there's a lot more money coming in, more people are moving into these areas, we're going to be dealing with more taxes because more people will be living in the area.’ And I think that a lot of these school districts are going to be expanding,” Balk said.
More information about the program can be found here.