With more than 1,100 aerospace entities operating in Oklahoma, including five military installations, the state’s extensive education system is working to ensure aerospace businesses have access to a pipeline of skilled workers. Currently, 12 Oklahoma colleges and universities offer aerospace degrees. The University of Oklahoma is currently developing a master’s degree in aerospace defense in its Price College of Business. The degree program could be ready in the next two years.
A recent article by Dale DeWalt for The Oklahoman discusses the new program.
OU preparing MBA program for aerospace defense contractors
The University of Oklahoma is developing an aerospace defense master’s degree in the Price College of Business that could be ready for students in 2019 or 2020, according to industry leaders familiar with the program.
Officials from the university are only in the planning stages but are moving fast, a process that includes speaking with the industry’s corporate representatives working in Oklahoma. They queried people such as Madeline Mitchell, a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, about whether the industry could use a pipeline of students learning about how to manage the business side of aerospace defense.
“Having a say in shaping that potential program curriculum, we could not ask for better collaboration from universities,” Mitchell told the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber at an event last week.
Price College Dean Daniel W. Pullin did not confirm the school’s interest in such a program, but in an email he said the university is “excited to play a leading role in making aerospace a bold part of Oklahoma’s future.”
