Wake Forest University's MBA school announces Roanoke-area scholarship recipients

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management announces that Don Halliwill and James R. (Randy) Woodson have been named recipients of scholarships totaling $93,000 to the school’s Fast-Track Executive MBA program.

Halliwill, executive director of finance at Carilion Health System, was honored with the Wake Forest MBA School’s Roanoke College Management Institute Scholarship for $31,000, which covers 50 percent of tuition. Applications are being received now for next year’s institute scholarship. It is open to any alumnus or current participant of the Roanoke College Management Institute, which provides management training specific to the Roanoke Valley as identified by local business leaders.

Woodson, executive vice president at Valley Bank, has been named the recipient of the Wake Forest MBA Roanoke Valley Scholarship of $62,000, which includes 100 percent tuition. Applications are being accepted for next year’s scholarship, which is open to any eligible individual from the Roanoke Valley.

Roanoke resident Jon Casto, a 2003 graduate of the Fast-Track Executive MBA program, says the experience helped him earn a promotion. “The Wake Forest MBA changed my life,” says Casto, vice president of process management at Coral Graphics. “It was not because I had the MBA but because of how I performed at work during and after the MBA experience.”

The Fast-Track Executive MBA program equips experienced professionals with the tools they need to gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced, high-tech business world. The innovative program’s intense schedule allows busy, time-strapped executives to earn their Master of Business Administration degree in only 17 months, rather than the traditional two-year format.

Classes begin in August with an initial weeklong orientation and residency. The program then settles into an every-other-weekend class schedule that minimizes students’ travel time to the Wake Forest campus in Winston-Salem, N.C. Overnight accommodations are included in program tuition.

The program is designed for upper-middle and senior-level executives preparing for higher management positions. Classes meet every other Friday and Saturday at the university’s Winston-Salem campus, a two-hour drive from Roanoke. Students develop global and strategic perspectives that give them the breadth of knowledge necessary to recognize and cope with fast-paced change and complex challenges. Students use their work experiences to augment classroom discussions and apply coursework lessons immediately in their companies.

An integral part of the program is a two-week international management study tour, which further addresses the need to understand global business practices. Students select the trip that best fits their career or company objectives. Trip costs are included in tuition. Recent tour destinations have included Japan, PR China/Hong Kong, Central Europe and Latin America.

For more information about the Roanoke Valley scholarships or about Wake Forest’s MBA programs, contact Jamie Barnes, director of the Fast-Track Executive MBA program, at 866.WAKE-MBA (866-925-3622) or visit www.mba.wfu.edu.

Wake Forest offers five MBA programs. All of the programs are accredited by the AACSB International ~ The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Wake Forest is also an active member of the Executive MBA Council.