Vassar and SUNY-New Paltz to Offer New 4+1 Accelerated MBA Program

Top officials at Vassar and the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz have announced the creation of a Master of Business Administration program that will enable Vassar students to attain an MBA degree one year after they graduate.

Vassar President Elizabeth H. Bradley (left) and SUNY New Paltz President Darrell P. Wheeler (right) formalized the new MBA program at The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts on September 16.

They made a joint announcement, then signed a memorandum of understanding officially creating the new program. “This collaboration with SUNY New Paltz expands opportunities for our students by combining the strengths of a liberal arts education with advanced professional preparation in business,” Bradley said. “The program provides a clear and affordable pathway for students who want to integrate creativity, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship with the practical skills of an MBA.”

Bradley said the idea for the program arose out of conversations she had with Wheeler at dinners she hosts periodically with local college presidents. She described Wheeler as “a person with a lot of ideas to share. I thought there have to be ways we can work together.”

“For decades, the MBA at New Paltz has helped entrepreneurial students across the academic disciplines unlock the full potential of their education and future career prospects,” Wheeler said. “Our dedicated School of Business faculty have worked tirelessly to ensure this program is flexible for busy students and relevant to contemporary market trends.”

SUNY New Paltz’s MBA program is a three-semester, in-person program with hybrid and online learning opportunities for flexibility. The program offers concentrations in Healthcare Management and Business Analytics, as well as a general MBA option. The School of Business also supports social entrepreneurship initiatives and connects students to the Hudson Valley Venture Hub, a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and investors. The MBA program is accredited by AACSB International, the leading global standard for business education.

Two Vassar seniors who plan to enroll in the program at SUNY New Paltz next fall said they were grateful for the opportunity to combine the liberal arts education they are receiving at Vassar with the practical skills they will gain at SUNY New Paltz. “This shows what institutions of higher learning can do to fulfill students’ needs,” said Justin White ’26, a six-year Navy veteran. “We veterans understand the importance of critical-thinking skills combined with technical expertise.”

Cher Mei ’26, who won a top prize at Vassar’s first-ever Entrepreneurship Competition in 2024, called the new partnership with SUNY New Paltz “an amazing example of interdisciplinary education that will add to the liberal arts education we get at Vassar. It’s something many of us in Vassar’s entrepreneurship program can benefit from.”

Aaron Hines, Assistant Dean for Graduate Business Programs at SUNY New Paltz, said he and others in his department were excited about the program. “Students with degrees in the liberal arts benefit from the MBA experience by learning data-informed decision-making, financial analysis, business strategy, and organizational leadership,” Hines said. “Soft skills they have already attained like communication, empathy, ethical reasoning, and teamwork are in high demand in leadership roles. Our MBA program helps the liberal arts graduate expand and accelerate career opportunities with great organizational impact and high potential earnings. Overall, we aim to prepare our MBA students for purpose-driven leadership in today’s workforce.”

Additional benefits include scholarships to bring tuition in line with in-state rates for non–New York State students and preferential consideration for teaching-assistant positions at SUNY New Paltz for those admitted.–Larry Hertz

Portrait of Carl Rice, Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek and Roman Studies.

Karl Rabe

Carl Rice, Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek and Roman Studies, was awarded an Associazione Internazionale di Studi Tardoantichi (AIST) Research Award, which supports the work of early-career researchers. The award ceremony was held this November in Naples. While in Italy, he participated in a seminar in which he and other scholars discussed their research projects. Rice is a historian and scholar of late Roman society, culture, and religion. He is currently working on his first book, which explores the entanglement of normative religious identities and legal privilege of citizenship during the late Roman Empire.

President Elizabeth H. Bradley was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, MA, in October. The academy was founded during the American Revolution “by John Adams, John Hancock, and 60 other scholar-patriots who understood that a new republic would require institutions able to gather knowledge and advance learning in service to the public good.” Members are elected for “exceptional contributions in their fields and professions.” Bradley, a noted public health expert, is now deeply engaged with research on the performance and quality of higher education institutions in the United States. This year’s inductees also include activist Gloria Steinem, novelist Amy Tan, and Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.

Portrait of Mita Choudhury, Professor of History on the Evalyn Clark Chair.

Karl Rabe

Mita Choudhury, Professor of History on the Evalyn Clark Chair, was awarded a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in the School of Historical Studies in Princeton, NJ, for the 2025-26 academic year. This prestigious fellowship allows for focused research and the free and open exchange of ideas among an international community of scholars at one of the foremost centers for intellectual inquiry. During her stay, Choudhury will work on her book-length project,“The Silent Chain: History and Reckoning in the Catholic Church,” which examines sexual violence in the early modern French church. Centering around recent Black feminist scholarship, its analysis challenges traditional church histories by foregrounding sexual violence, trauma, subjectivity, and silence found in 17th- and 18th-century court records from French archives.

Portrait of Michael Reyes Salas, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies.

John Abbott

Michael Reyes Salas, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, has received fellowships from the Institute for Citizens and Scholars and the Camargo Foundation in support of his book project “Fragments of Carceral Memory.” This comparative visual and literary study examines French Antillean-Guianese, Puerto Rican, and Northern Irish photo-texts of prison ruins. The book seeks to answer the question of why some former prisons and jails achieve cultural heritage site status and remain preserved while others are razed to oblivion.

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