Cal Poly delays launch of Santa Barbara MBA program
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will continue to recruit students for its master’s of business administration program in Santa Barbara but the launch date has been delayed.
Officials at the Orfalea College of Business said they had been asked by the office of the Chancellor of the California State system to delay the launch.
"We continue to accept applications and we’ll provide applicants with updates,” said Brian Tietje, Cal Poly Dean of Education.
“We’ve got the accreditation, the space and the faculty. We’re ready to roll,” said Bradford Anderson, associate dean at the Cal Poly business school.
The delay is likely to be related to concerns raised earlier by California State University Channel Islands whose Martin V. Smith School of Business also has been looking at expanding to the South Coast. CSUCI representatives said they were not in a position to comment, pending further communications with Cal Poly.
The announcement was made in Santa Barbara in advance of the first organizational meeting for prospective candidates at the school. The full-time MBA program at Cal Poly is about 40 students per year; total enrollment in the MBA program is 70 to 80 students Tietje said.
The Santa Barbara Cal Poly program was a new offering for the Orfalea College of Business. The program was expecting about 20 enrollees in its initial program, which would be supported by fees and an endowment created by Cal Poly donor Paul Orfalea, which would mean that no taxpayer funds would be used to underwrite the startup.
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