Montana State University (MSU) has designed their Masters of Science and Engineering Management (MSEM) program for the working individual. But perhaps what is most interesting is their ability to customize your learning experience to your own personal goals and needs.

Lisa Brown, Program Manager at Montana State

"Our program is very flexible with our course selection," says Lisa Brown, Program Manager. "We have people in various elective tracks, even individualized tracks. We work with students to find electives that will help them in their careers. These will make up the 15 technical credits for the degree."

Some of the technical tracts like physics and chemical engineering can require students to come on-campus; however, this would be the choice of the individual faculty member. Currently, only two tracks (construction management and Land Resources Environmental Science) are completely online, but MSU is looking to include more fully online tracks.

"Elective tracts can vary drastically from construction management, safety and risk management, land resources, environmental science, biological engineering, and many more. We want to target the program to student needs," said Brown.

The remaining 15 credits are made up of business courses. Fortunately, these courses are 100% online. "Our students tend to like the online platform. They have weekly deadlines, conversations, and webinars, but pretty much they can log in whenever their work schedules allow through the Desire 2 Learn platform. We have found the quality is the same online as on-campus. Some of our instructors also prefer the online format as they get more one-on-one time with students."

Course screenshot on the Desire 2 Learn system

The target audience for the program is engineers who "have at least two years of experience in engineering, construction, and science that want to start managing personnel, projects, or move up the corporate ladder," Brown said.

This means that MSU attracts "non-traditional students. It can be a difficult adjustment to return to school for some students.  Make sure you are dedicated and can check into the course at least once a day. You want to make sure you don't fall behind."

Brown also mentions that the program's students are working professionals. Therefore, they tend to know what they want and have a strong motivation. "Work with your instructors a lot," she suggests. "Use them as a mentor since they have a lot of industry and academic knowledge."

Brown has a point about the experience of her faculty. One instructor had a top job at HP and another, the construction manager program lead, was herself a successful construction manager. Thus, the faculty has both experience and the ability to relate that experience to their students.

Another benefit of the MSU program is the fact that the school "is classified as a top tier research institute with very high research activity according to the Carnegie classification.  We want to connect students with our research faculty. This can open up unique opportunities for them. We want our students to apply their MSEM knowledge to industry partners."

Brown adds, "Our local labs work closely with the MSEM program. We are fortunate enough to have a donor, Ralph Hutcheson of Scientific Materials, who has funded graduate fellowships for students to work in photonics/optics with the goal to eventually open and manage their own businesses."

The program itself has only been around for 2 years, so they may still have some kinks to work out (including all the on-campus courses without online counterparts). The program started, however, due to the frustration of local industry, including donor Ralph Hutcheson. "Employees found that our graduates have great base knowledge, but as they move up the ladder they don't have the foundational background to think with the different mindset of leadership and management," explained Brown.

"There are some overlaps between an MSEM and an MBA but our business courses are looking at the science and engineering field. We get a lot of employer buy-in as students may create a business plan for their workplace. We structure our courses so students can apply their work knowledge to the class and vice versa."

Though new, the project has best practices and goes under review every semester. If areas of improvement are found then action plans are put into place. Best practices are also in place to limit cheating and improve the accessibility for students with disabilities.

Why would you not get an MSEM from Montana State University:

• You want to take a program with a few more years under its belt so they can work out whatever kinks might arise
• Your track isn't available online and you cannot get to the MSU campus

Core Courses

15 credits; online

• Leading and Managing the Human and Financial Enterprise
  (MSEM 501) 9 Credits, Fall
• Leading the Technical Enterprise
  (MSEM 502) 6 credits, Spring

Construction Track

15 credits; online

• Construction Management and Productivity
  (ECIV 504) 3 credits, Summer
• Quality Assurance and Risk Management in Construction
  (ECIV 505) 3 credits, Summer
• Sustainable Construction Management
  (ECIV 506) 3 credits, Fall
• Law of the Construction Industry
  (ECIV 507) 3 credits, Fall
• Professional Paper
  (ECIV 575) 3 credits, Spring

Individually Designed Track

15 credits; some online; Courses approved by advisor

Images courtesy of Montana State University.