When Dean Anthony Davidson joined Manhattanville College in the summer of 2011, he was not a man in search of his first success.
The longtime university dean, consultant, author and entrepreneur instead saw great opportunity in leading the School of Graduate & Professional Studies.
“For me it really was the opportunity to build and grow,” Davidson said. “Manhattanville is in a growth stage.”
Since Davidson came on, the graduate school has redesigned some of its degree programs and expanded its offerings, adding advanced certificate programs and features such as the innovative Education & Research Center for Managing Risk.
“We redesigned the four programs in the space of six months, whereas normally the turnaround is one a year,” Davidson said.
The revamp of the finance curriculum, for example, has proved his point that change was needed.
“Since we created these very clear tracks between Main Street and Wall Street, we have seen 30 percent increase in enrollment.”
This month, as the graduate school kicks off its 20th-anniversary celebration, such forward motion is firmly in the spotlight.
“The world has changed very, very quickly,” he said. “I would say that today you need to change your curriculum every three years, max.”
Before it might have been every 15 to 20, he said.
For Manhattanville, timing is key. The school, originally established for adult and continuing education, evolved into a full-fledged graduate school in 1993 with the launch of the master”™s of science degree in organizational management and human resources development. Today, it offers six master”™s degree programs, in marketing communication management, international management, business leadership, human resource management and organizational effectiveness, sport business management and finance, in addition to advanced certificates.
Throughout, instructors are seasoned professionals who hold senior positions at companies that have included Morgan Stanley, ABC Sports, Pitney Bowes, Verizon and Major League Baseball, among many others.
“My philosophy on education is that it needs to be built around material that has relevance in today”™s workplace,” Davidson said.
Hence, there is an emphasis on real-life experiences and working with the practical as opposed to the strictly theoretical.
As Davidson pointed out, the school”™s ties to the business communities of Westchester and Fairfield counties, as well as Manhattan, are ever growing, already providing opportunities for networking, internships and employment.
“It”™s a great location, not only from a physical beauty standpoint,” he said of the Purchase campus. “So many large companies, Fortune 100 companies, are in Westchester. Of course, we”™re very close to Greenwich and Stamford.”
Davidson, who spent the decade before the Westchester move at New York University where he last served as dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies in business and a clinical professor, said the moves at Manhattanville can only help today”™s employees, whether they are returning to school for additional skills or to move into a new field.
Additional skills can make you more valuable when companies face harsh realities.
“When they consolidate, can you do something else as well?” Davidson said. With additional training, he continued, “You have the ability to be more useful to your organization.”
While Manhattanville is quite focused, Davidson said it”™s not all nuts and bolts.
“I think people get very scared by ”˜career-specific”™ or ”˜industry-focused,”™” Davidson said. “They think we”™re going to be a vocational school. It”™s not that.”
Overall, he said, “People need to embrace the fact that you can take your skills and education and apply them in all different ways.”
At the end of the day, that can only add to your reputation.
“I believe in the ”˜value-added”™ employee,” Davidson said. “You just have a lot to bring to the table.”
Laura Persky, one of the graduate school”™s program directors handling business leadership and marketing communication management, said all aspects of the Manhttanville programs work toward the same goal. A career center, for example, is a way for students to gain more from their graduate experience.
“We provide a lot of resources like that to help our students move their career along,” she said. “It”™s not just classes.”
No matter what course they choose, Davidson said a post-graduate education at Manhattanville will enhance an employee.
“I think many people today are really looking to the fact that ”˜I may not be the next CEO of Pepsi or IBM, but I can be a really good senior-level employee,”™” he said.
It”™s not about the “piece of paper” that a student receives, but what that certificate or diploma represents ”“ and where it takes them.
As Davidson said, “To me, this is about building a school, and the rewarding part is making a difference in the lives of people who come to our programs.”
