Whitaker Scholars program puts MBA in reach of Rice employees

Whitaker Scholars program puts MBA in reach of Rice employees

BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News staff

Jeff Frey has worn many hats at Rice — Martel College resident associate, member of the Staff Advisory Committee, lecturer in the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. But it is in part because of his primary role — Rice employee — that the manager of Web Services will take on a new role: Rice student. Beginning this fall, Frey will be working toward his MBA at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, thanks to the 2008 Whitaker Scholarship he was awarded last month.

The scholarship, granted by Rice and the Jones School, covers full tuition for up to two Rice benefits-eligible staff members at any time in the MBA for Professionals or MBA for Executives program at the School of Management.

“I’m excited to be given this incredible opportunity,” Frey said. “I’m looking forward to learning more advanced business principles as a foundation, their application from the faculty and some real-world examples from my classmates.”

WILLIAM DEIGAARD	JEFF FREY

Offered through the Whitaker Scholar program, it is a recognition of the importance Rice places on investing in the development of high-potential staff and in the important contribution that a Rice MBA can make in that development.

“Through this program, we want to develop employees who might have leadership futures at Rice and facilitate their growth by offering this resource to them,” said Mary Cronin, associate vice president for Human Resources. “It’s a way for these employees to take advantage of the educational benefits in place at Rice with the support of their current leadership.”

Whitaker Scholars
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Rice is named one of Houston’s best places to work Frey applied for the competitive scholarship with the support and encouragement of his bosses, Vice Provost for Information Technology Kamran Khan and Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman, and his family, as well as the recipient of the first Whitaker Scholarship, William Deigaard, director of networking, telecommunications and data center.

“[The MBA program at Rice] is a very valuable experience, and I think that making it available to Rice staff can really bring useful skills to the campus community,” Deigaard said. “I’m thrilled to see that Jeff Frey received [the Whitaker Scholarship] for the second year.”

Knowledge, experience, skills

Like Frey, it was through the encouragement of colleagues at Rice that Deigaard decided to pursue his MBA. However, even though he had been accepted into the Jones School program, he had no idea how he would pay for it. “I was leaning toward approaching my parents, hat in hand,” he said. “The scholarship made it possible for me to get this education.” 

Now with his first year in the MBA for Executives program under his belt, Deigaard has already gotten a lot out of the program, such as an understanding of strategy, how to communicate more effectively, how to nurture a team environment and other skills he can put to immediate use.

Going into the program, Deigaard felt he had “a solid breadth and depth of technical skills, good instincts about organizational behavior and lots of experience leading unique teams. However, I never quite felt I had good glue to pull all these skills together in such a way that I can really apply them to real business challenges.”

Frey looks forward to being able to immediately apply the principles he learns to the operation of Web Services, which he views as a small business in and of itself, complete with a staff, a budget, clients, marketing efforts and more. He anticipates what he learns from faculty and fellow students will strengthen his management skills, built over the years through opportunities he was given in other jobs he has held.

That is the idea behind this program, said Cronin. “Every job you move to at Rice — or anywhere for that matter — you bring to it knowledge, experience and skills mastered at a previous job. Through this program, we hope to foster that growth in those who might have a leadership future at Rice, whether in their current department or others.”

In some ways, the idea is a reflection of the career of the man for whom the program is named. A 1953 graduate of Rice, the late Gil Whitaker returned to the university in 1997 as dean of the Jones School. The expertise and leadership experience in both business and academia that he brought to the business school helped build it into one of the best in the nation.

“The Whitaker Scholars program was developed about the same time he was stepping down as dean of the Jones School, and it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge him,” Cronin said. It also coincided with the Jones School’s establishment of its MBA for working professionals program, which Rice employees could conceivably take advantage of as full-time staff members.

Reaping dividends of diligence

Frey heads into the MBA program knowing it will be a lot of hard work. He’s been told to plan for about 40 hours of study a week, plus classes every other Friday and Saturday. But he’s up for the task and has already proven he’s not one to quit. In May he received his master’s degree in computer science from Kent State University — 10 years after he started it.

“I had completed the course work, it just took me that long to get around to writing my master’s thesis,” he said. “Jobs and my work took me away from that task.”

But over the past two years, he completed his thesis  — “Finding Song Melody Similarities Using a DNA String Matching Algorithm” — while juggling work and extracurricular commitments.

Deigaard can attest that the hard work is well worth it. “If I had known then what I now know about the program, I would have tried to attend the Rice program regardless, even without the scholarship,” he said. “It’s an excellent program with tremendous faculty and great fellow students.”

About the program

To be eligible for the Whitaker Scholars program, applicants must be full-time, benefits eligible employees of Rice who have direct supervision of projects and/or other employees at Rice or are in positions requiring knowledge of business and/or financial principles.

They must be admitted to and enrolled as a student in the Jones School, have the full support of their dean or senior administrator and agree to a minimum two-year commitment to remain employed at Rice after graduation from the MBA program.

Whitaker Scholar applications are due by the Jones School’s February deadline for MBA applications.

To learn more about the Whitaker Scholars program, visit www.rice.edu/whitaker. For additional information, contact Elaine Britt, director of benefits in Human Resources, at britt@rice.edu or 713-348-6074.