New online graduate degree prepares engineers for management roles
The college’s second 100 percent online professional master’s degree, the MEM is designed for practicing engineers looking to amplify management and leadership skills and learn methods to direct business initiatives, projects, and team members.
Like the online Master Global Engineering Leader (MGEL), the new degree bridges gaps between the fields of engineering, business management and policy. Both degrees are delivered through a partnership between the College of Engineering, the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and the Fisher College of Business.
The curriculums of the MEM and MGEL both include core courses in leadership, financial accounting, project management and technology innovation. Instead of technical tracks offered in the MGEL degree, MEM includes a choice of additional engineering management courses as electives to further prepare students for management positions.
“We launched the MEM degree in response to feedback received from engineers who were interested in the MGEL degree,” said Professional & Distance Education Programs Director Bob Mick. “While many are eager to pursue an online graduate degree in engineering management, not everyone is interested in the technical tracks. The MEM provides the perfect alternative.”
Unlike similar engineering management degrees, the Master of Engineering Management culminates with a capstone course in operational excellence. This provides grad students with the opportunity to solve real-world challenges utilizing skills learned while implementing operational excellence principles in a company or organization.
Delivered completely online with no on-campus requirements, the MEM and MGEL provide working engineers flexibility to complete either degree selecting their own pace and typically taking one or two courses per semester. The MGEL degree continues to enroll students every semester and since launching a few years ago has admitted more than 80 students, with nearly 25 completing the program. More information on both degrees is available at https://professionals.engineering.osu.edu/online-professional-masters-degrees.
In addition to online graduate degrees, the college’s Professional and Distance Education Programs office also manages non-credit certification programs and short courses.
In January, The Ohio State University College of Engineering ranked 19th in U.S. News & World Report’s latest nationwide assessment of online graduate programs, up six spots from last year. The college also offers an online Master of Science in Welding Engineering from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
